Help! What's the going rate for graphic design contract work?

[sonick]

So I've been looking for a job lately after I graudate from school, but I stumbled upon a real estate guy looking to get some design and branding work done for his real estate business. He wants the following:

1. a banner which will be used for print advertising
2. business cards
3. presentation folders
4. notepads
5. a template for feature sheets
6. some consulting for my new website
7. new signs

I haven't done any one-off contract work like this before, and I have no reference point on how much is fair to quote the guy. Do I do it per hour? Per design?

Thanks

 

[flashback]

I would do it by hour. If you want you can have different hourly rates for different services, for example on a website, $20 / hr. for front-end programming, $30 / hr. for the design work. You can charge however you want, but I would strongly recommend billing hourly. Give him estimates for how long you think it will take and take into account up to 3 revision phases - let him know if he wants more revisions it will increase the hours.

There are some books out there that deal with the business side of design work, I'd recommend picking one up.

 

[TintinATL]

It's going to depend somewhat on where you are. I agree with what flashback says in general, but here in Atlanta at least, the rates he quotes are too low. In my business I regularly use freelance designers to supplement our own studio. Their rates are typically between $45 and $65/hr. That's true for basic HTML/Javascript coding as well. More serious backend stuff runs more like $50-75/hr and up.

Of course these are folks with established freelance businesses - if you are just starting out you may want to start at the lower end of the scale. However, I normally don't discuss the hourly rate per se. We always agree a price per project, or deliverable, and typically I ask for 2 concepts, plus 2 rounds of revisions to the chosen concept, to be included in the agreed price.

 

[cmrocks]

We've hired a fairly established freelance design girl to do our company website. She is charging us $55 an hour. I think the total contract was around $3500 or something.

 

[nerdykarim]

We've paid $60/hour for design work.

 

[stevepohlit]

Originally Posted by sonick

So I've been looking for a job lately after I graudate from school, but I stumbled upon a real estate guy looking to get some design and branding work done for his real estate business. He wants the following:

1. a banner which will be used for print advertising
2. business cards
3. presentation folders
4. notepads
5. a template for feature sheets
6. some consulting for my new website
7. new signs

I haven't done any one-off contract work like this before, and I have no reference point on how much is fair to quote the guy. Do I do it per hour? Per design?

Thanks
Hello - great to ask the question before proceeding. I would suggest that you take one of the components of the work your client wants done and do a sample. It is great to demonstrate you are interested in what the client wants and you want to exceed those expectations. There is a deeper issue here and that is you client want this material that you develop to assist in growing the business. So what is the real marketing strategy? Is offline more important than online. Who is doing the copy? If it is you then there is a lot more to be researched and tested before a final product can be delivered. I always recommend starting with one product and seeing if that works. Use it as your marketing tool. Let's assume you are successful. Then I would take the components of the project and price out a finished product based on a clear scope definition. I do not advise an hourly rate. I advise a price for a finished product that the client likes. I also advise progress billings with check points to make sure you are on track. Steve Pohlit http://www.asktheconsultant.biz

 

[montecristo#4]

I pay my designer $60 per hour. She just raised her rates.

 

[Connemara]

One hundred billion dollars.

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by Connemara

One hundred billion dollars.

If you were just going to post gibberish, why didn't you just say "˜Eleventy Billion Dollars', it has a much better nonsensical ring to it.

Anyways, it's hard to find going rates for certain jobs, so this is a helpful thread.

Jon.

 

[oDD_LotS]

I'm pretty sure the AIGA puts out a guidebook on average going rates by geographical area/job title/experience/whatever that might help you. It might actually be in .pdf format on their site, now that I think of it.

I've not done much paid work (mostly just conceptual work for class), but I've heard some people that like doing straight hourly, while others quote a total fee based on expected hours.

Good luck.

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

If you were just going to post gibberish, why didn't you just say "˜Eleventy Billion Dollars', it has a much better nonsensical ring to it.

Because you always say that and I'd rather chop ******* off than sound like you.