Pricing help ...

[James Manford]

Right, so i've been filming weddings for well over 4 years now.

One of the clients I made a wedding film for when I first started recently got in touch and asked me to make a property tour video of his penthouse in cyprus as he plans to rent it out. I just came up with a really cheap price from the top of my head as it was essentially a slideshow with minimal editing involved. He supplied the photos / videos.

He liked what I did so much that he is now offering me more work.

He owns a boutique estate agent and would like me to re-design his company logo, interview him and his staff and make a video explaining what they do and then make more property videos where I actually go out and film / photograph it myself.

I know how to do all of this. But I don't have a clue about pricing ... any advice would be helpful.

1. What should I charge to create a company logo / make an interview video of him and his staff explaining what they do ?
2. What should I charge per property tour video that I make ?

If I low ball him ... he will expect to pay that price all the time. At the same time I definitely want to do it even at a low price as I would like this sort of work in my portfolio.

Some feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Mike Watson]

Come up with three rates: a half-day shoot rate, a full-day shoot rate, and an hourly editing rate. Once you figure this out, bidding out every project won't feel like pulling numbers out of thin air.

You don't mention what your wedding rates are, but I would start with those and work backwards.

Originally Posted by James Manford

If I low ball him ... he will expect to pay that price all the time.

I always start high and work down. I start with a price that I think is 10% too expensive. If they balk, I cut hours. I don't cut deals, I just start shaving hours (so that they are paying less and I am working less).

[James Manford]

Thanks Mike.

Coming up with figures I would like to charge based on three different rates is a great idea. I'll be giving it some thought today.

[Bill Grant]

James once you figure out your hourly rate based on what you need to make to stay profitable, you can build your daily rate and half day around that. I base daily rate around $150/hr. Every day of shooting gets a day of editing and a half day for revisions and delivery. So 1 day (8hrs) with an edit is $3k. Easy to lay out and understand. Hope that helps. This is also how I price weddings, (basically)
Bill