Working out my hourly rate?

Wauds Design

New Member
Hi

Just started freelancing after 15+ years at agencies, but I never really got involved with costings.

I'm unsure how to price myself, and was wondering how others worked out what there hourly rate would be? Or do people use set prices these days?

I realise there are different rates for different designers, etc but just wanted to know how people worked out what was right for them?

Thank you
Mark
 
Calculate how much you need/want to earn per month (fixed costs + profits), then calculate that down to days/hours.
 
I registered with an agency in London recently. Typical day rate for a senior designer (this was for packaging design in my case) £250 per day working on site. I'm new to freelancing and I wish I could calculate my hourly rate by dividing my anticipated wage over the week, but the reality is initially it will take time to build up clients. I worked for a company outside London for £200 per day on site. Remotely I knocka bit off. Hourly I Googled the averages and about £25-30 hour. Some clients want me to price by project, which is basically the time I anticipate multiplied by the going rate. Of course you will want to price competively for something that will look good in your portfolio!
You should charge a deposit and give your clients T&Cs. I found Work for Money Design for Love invaluable for guidance on this.

No one likes putting figures on these things, but that's my 2p! :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
Honestly I just work out how much I'd be happy to do the job for (I price for the job in most cases) then divide it by the expected number of hours so you can then work out if it's a 'fair' wage and would cover the costs, if not increase it... or you can just do the usual £x hours but remember to consider things like outgoings for rent/software etc
 
Thanks for all your comments.

I had started with working out how much I want/need to earn and create an hourly rate from that, but often those prices don't always match the client expectation for prices.

Thanks
 
I'm living the newbie duality of talking to proper agencies and companies on one pricing structure and then offering my soul on UpWork etc for a bag of crisps!
 
Thanks for all your comments.

I had started with working out how much I want/need to earn and create an hourly rate from that, but often those prices don't always match the client expectation for prices.

Thanks
lol.. outside of bigger clients only a small amount are aware of how much time and effort is needed to do the work we do because they think that it can be done for free because their best friends aunt's pet cat has a copy of photoshop...

Essentially if they're not prepared to pay the price you need to survive on they'll be more hassle than they're worth in my experience... it is actually ok to say no to a client after all lol.
 
I had started with working out how much I want/need to earn and create an hourly rate from that, but often those prices don't always match the client expectation for prices.

You need better clients. As arrogant as that sounds, it's true. Design is a service for business, hence it comes with a bit of a premium. I've got clients who never even worry about my rates because they're always happy with the work and they make a return on that cost. On the flip side I've had people try and barter me down to practically nothing just because they've paid £X in the past.

It really depends on what the client's design needs are. I try and quote as a fixed fee rather than per hour, this helps to soften the blow a little, but it takes experience to estimate the time correctly. Out of curiosity what was the rate you're offering? I charge £35 an hour, which is inline with what my peers are charging though I actually do offer different prices for smaller clients because larger ones offset that difference. I'd rather have a client come back to me time and again than just get paid for one job and never see them again. When times are slow, it's the quick, small jobs you can get paid straight away for that actually help keep you afloat.
 
I never quote an hourly rate, purely because it would scare people off as they simply don't know how fast I work or how many hours it takes for each job.

Pricing and quoting comes with experience, though I still struggle even after all these years. I try and give a client a range of prices - if they want a premium job,
they pay a premium price, and vice versa. It's always useful to ask if they have a budget in mind, then you can work accordingly to that - but make sure you let
them know they will be getting a budget job.
 
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