I've been asked to quote by hourly rate rather than project brief. How should I set my rate? The client doesn't know what work they need yet
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- @Nikky Lyle might be able to help you here - she has plenty of resources on her site.And Major Players publish salary guidance on their site that might help too.
- It depends on how Senior you are. YunoJuno and Major Players publish salary surveys you can download that may help you:- https://www.yunojuno.com/freelancer-rates-report (mostly senior rates)- https://www.majorplayers.co.uk/salary-survey-2022-launch/?source=google.com
- I have a collegue who works primarily in the events and entertainment sector with several clients working Ad-Hoc and all their work is based on an hourly rate - but he has a very good trust based relationship with his clients, and he is very disciplined scheduling and invoicing. I always work to a fixed, agreed project fee that has clear outcomes and deliverables. We each work in a way that we know suits us best - and we'd each be uncomfortable working in the 'other' way. What I'm saying is if a client insists on an hourly rate - I'd spent time thinking about how I'd make it work for me and drafting some form of agreement/peramiters - or you're going to be trying to work under a cloud. Being upfront with the client is important and might be what they need to hear. If it desn't work for you personally - I'd pass.
- @Gavin Kemp this is really helpful Gavin and very reassuring that my approach to pricing up until now has been sound. I was thrown by the request to price this way. For sure, our pay needs to reflect our expertise above our time.Thank you for taking the time to reply.
- Hi Katie,I would suggest that this is one of those occasions that you need to decide what is in your best interests and how would you like to work.As a freelancer (through my company) I am very concerned if my prospective client does not know what they want and are asking me to price on that basis and asks for an hourly rate. Whilst it’s not necessarily a red flag I find myself keeping an eye on the flag pole at the very least.If someone wants an hourly rate it’s often to compare it to another hourly rate as a misguided view on pricing. I know experienced designers working for typically £50-70/hr when someone comes in at £30 I want to work out why, they will be working close to minimum wage when you look at your costs and utilisation rate (that may be around 60%).I would have other pricing strategies in my mind such as a retainer based on a fixed number of hours a month, because the last thing you want is 2 hours here and 3 hours there in an unstructured way. I have a minimum invoice value that depending on the client is £150 ex VAT for product photography, for all other work I won’t quote for less than half a day, otherwise people will mess you about and given chance will try to salami slice your rates.It’s always good to check in these circumstances if what the prospective client is asking you to do could sit inside or outside of IR35 if you are working through a company.Hope this helpsGavin
- @Monica Ferraz thank you, that's very helpful. Much appreciated.
- Hi Katie, you are Senior Designer, between £280/£320 day rate.
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