The average cost of design per hour....

On average, what is your hourly design rate?

  • Up to £10

    Votes: 17 9.9%

  • £11 - £20

    Votes: 43 25.1%

  • £21 - £30

    Votes: 58 33.9%

  • £31 - £40

    Votes: 30 17.5%

  • £41 - £50

    Votes: 16 9.4%

  • Over £51

    Votes: 7 4.1%
  • Total voters
    171
bigdave

bigdave

Well-Known Member
With recent controvasy over quoting low and public quoting I thought it migt be interesting to have some visual representation of the average price per hour charged by members.

I don't intend this to be a public name and shame for budget / over inflated pricing so just ticking a box on the poll would do.

You never know, it could actually be very useful for prospective clients to see roughly what forum members as a collective charge before requesting a quote and either getting a shock or getting greif.
 
Not a terrible idea. Only thing that would be a potential problem would be if the same folks that low-balled previously then started low-balling on the poll, thus skewing....
 
True, but as long as the majority of frequent users submit their vote, the few would stand out as a minority.

Something that I hadn't thought about untill now was that this could alienate anyone who is seen as charging 'over the odds' when it comes to quotes.... hmm.... perhaps this is a bad idea?...
 
But if you're busy then you'll congratulate yourself at charging more than everyone else... and if you're too cheap you might be convinced to put your charges up.
 
It is a balancing act, certainly. I charge quite a lot to my bigger clients (national organisations paying consultancy rates) and less in other cases; I could certainly be busier but don't need to do much work at the higher end to earn a living wage - the danger being in the temptation to turn your nose up at the smaller fees.
 
Dave L said:
It is a balancing act, certainly. I charge quite a lot to my bigger clients (national organisations paying consultancy rates) and less in other cases; I could certainly be busier but don't need to do much work at the higher end to earn a living wage - the danger being in the temptation to turn your nose up at the smaller fees.
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I'm with Dave. I have three rates for three different type of clients. I base it on the exposure that the work will have and the size of the business. My middle rate is my usual hourly rate.
 
I currently have 3 rates:

Rate 1 is my higher normal rate.

Rate 2 is trade rate and a 'one time special offer' rate for when I feel a perspective client may be wobbling over a quote. It's often very helpful for them to perceive a bargain is being had. On one occasion I had a client add extra work onto the job to benefit from the special price, bumping it way over the cost of the original quote.

Rate 3 is a student rate. I make almost no profit on this rate but I've found it's a great way of advertising myself. Students who are running events are often quite open to the idea of my logo and website being on their posters, flyers etc, if they get a discount. I don't put my details on student rate business stationery but I see that as a good way of building a future client base (and steering them away from the dreaded Vistaprint).
 
To be fair I just pretty much have one rate which can fluctuate slightly depending on the particular job and the instinct I have over it i.e. if I can tell it's going to be a bit of hassle etc.

The idea of charging upwards for larger corporations though is something I think you'd have to consider, just need to get that work in first!
 
I think by the time you get to working for large corporations you're working to a budget set by the corporation rather than an hourly rate.
 
bigdave said:
I think by the time you get to working for large corporations you're working to a budget set by the corporation rather than an hourly rate.
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I agree but then what is a 'large corporation'? If a project that I complete brings in 100k in revenue for that company on the back of my help, then I consider it large, but its not in the greater scheme of things. I would still like to think that I still can put my weight behind selling them my pitch and convincing them my quote is correct for that size budget.
 
This isn't entirely relevant to the design industry but I know a guy who sprays cars for a living and a couple of years ago started renting a workshop where so he could work for himself.

After getting frustrated at some people wanting him to drop his prices even lower than he already had, he started using two different rates; one honest standard rate he would charge for doing the work, the other that was 30% or so higher than his standard.

If someone came to him because they thought they could get some work done on the cheap, he would charge them the second rate so that they could haggle him down to a price that was basically his standard rate. Or he'd say "I'll do it for [standard rate] but that's absolutely as low as I can go or I make a loss".

This way, the customer thought they were getting a good deal but was actually paying the going rate.

His prices were already lower than larger crash repair centres, and the paint and equipment were expensive. The spray guns, the essential tool of his trade cost £600 each alone. Sound familiar?.
 
Paul Murray said:
This way, the customer thought they were getting a good deal but was actually paying the going rate.
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Fair play to the guy - but it's shameful that people should have to resort to this kind of over-inflation bargaining in order to get the asking price that they have carefully considered for their services.You can bet those customers wouldn't stand for the same in return.
 
I almost always qoute on how long i think it will take me to complete
plus 20% for smal users plus 50% for big users amd where inbetween for all others

9x out of 10 i get the work, and possibly 1 out of 10 i think my maths dont add up... I mean I can knock a small broucher site in a matter of hours from start to finish, if i get a few hundered for it, i feel ike i did really well... its when u get that picky, pushing annioying client that always knows exactly what they want, but cant tell you what it is.... thats when it all goes wrong
 
This is something I'm struggling with at the minute.
How do you price for a smaller organisation against a bigger one when you're offering them the same service?
 
Tony Hardy said:
This is something I'm struggling with at the minute.
How do you price for a smaller organisation against a bigger one when you're offering them the same service?
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It all comes down to the exposure that work gets and what its worth to them. For instance, if you do a logo for a woman who makes cakes and all she is going to do is use it on some Vistaprint business cards, the exposure will be pretty low, as its probably word of mouth. On the flip side if you do a logo / brand for a company / product that will be advertising on TV or in a newspaper and the logo you create is what will be drawing in the customers then you charge for high end.
 
But then there's a debate of, 'the more people that see it, the better for me so I can go in cheaper'? But then they're the corporations with the biggest budgets.

So if you were designing for these three clients;
1) Farmer Giles Fresh Eggs, 5 page site, 1 corporate identity/livery
2) I.R.Tosser Investment Bankers, 5 page site, 1 corporate identity/livery
3) Coca Cola, 5 page site, 1 corporate identity/livery

Would you have three price brackets?
 
Tony Hardy said:
But then there's a debate of, 'the more people that see it, the better for me so I can go in cheaper'? But then they're the corporations with the biggest budgets.

So if you were designing for these three clients;
1) Farmer Giles Fresh Eggs, 5 page site, 1 corporate identity/livery
2) I.R.Tosser Investment Bankers, 5 page site, 1 corporate identity/livery
3) Coca Cola, 5 page site, 1 corporate identity/livery

Would you have three price brackets?
Click to expand...

Yeah thats exactly what I've got, three price brackets.

The other thing is that sometimes a bigger client can also overlook you when you quote too little.

A lot of it is to your discretion. As long as you keep on top of what you charge who and why otherwise it could come back and bit you on the arse. But what you charge 'client x' is down to you and you don't have to defer from that or explain yourself.
 
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