# Advice on pricing a job



## Cindie (Sep 6, 2013)

Hello to all, my name is Cindie from out here in Virginia.  I am an amateur photographer/videographer, have been playing with it on and off for many years - all digital.  For years I have photographed my equine events and created 'videos' to music...and a few years ago started playing with video.  VERY MUCH a beginner am I and have never been paid for the work, and BOY is it a lot of work.   ANYWAY, just recently the parents of a friend of mine asked me to make a 'video' of their daughter for her 50th birthday.  They provided a boatload of pictures of her growing up and about 100 were scanned for the project.  Luckily I had a good choice of some recent digital photos and a few videos.  I suspect I have about 15 hours into the project.   The video is complete and set to custom music and burned to DVD.  MY QUESTION to you professionals is, How much would one charge for this?  I have absolutely no idea what to charge for it.  Thank you for your help, I greatly appreciate it.


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## Trever1t (Sep 6, 2013)

Welcome to the forum. Unfortunately only you can answer this question. Not only do we not know your talent but we also can't base your value on anything. Somewhere between $1 and $2000 is my best guess. Seriously though, you have to take into consideration your time, how you value your time, cost of equipment to satisfy job etc....


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## Light Guru (Sep 6, 2013)

Cindie said:


> Hello to all, my name is Cindie from out here in Virginia.  I am an amateur photographer/videographer, have been playing with it on and off for many years - all digital.  For years I have photographed my equine events and created 'videos' to music...and a few years ago started playing with video.  VERY MUCH a beginner am I and have never been paid for the work, and BOY is it a lot of work.   ANYWAY, just recently the parents of a friend of mine asked me to make a 'video' of their daughter for her 50th birthday.  They provided a boatload of pictures of her growing up and about 100 were scanned for the project.  Luckily I had a good choice of some recent digital photos and a few videos.  I suspect I have about 15 hours into the project.   The video is complete and set to custom music and burned to DVD.  MY QUESTION to you professionals is, How much would one charge for this?  I have absolutely no idea what to charge for it.  Thank you for your help, I greatly appreciate it.



A price should have been agreed upon BEFORE you started working on the project. You have already put in a lot of hours, what happens if they don't like the price you set and refuse to pay you. It's also a good idea to get a deposit when taking on a project that gong to require a lot of work. 

As for what you should charge I think Trever gave a great answer.


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## texkam (Sep 7, 2013)

> How much would one charge for this?


Whatever you think is appropriate based on the above, plus Uncle Sam's cut.


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## Cindie (Sep 7, 2013)

Thank you for your replies, all excellent advice.  I contacted a friend of mine who also does this sort of work on the side and described my project and he said his works start at 250.00 but I consider him superior to me in skill level.  I agree I should have set a price from the GIT Go but never having charged for this I felt embarrassed about it.   Since these are friends I am going to let them pay me whatever they want.  Next time...though....I will remember what you pro's have taught me.  THANK YOU.


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## texkam (Sep 7, 2013)

Consider charging them a $250.00 donation to a mutually agreed upon charity. This does 2 things. It establishes a greater sense of worth for your services going forward and it keeps you as an amateur until you're willing to research and take care of legal implications for future business endevors.


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## KmH (Sep 7, 2013)

Cindie said:


> Hello to all, my name is Cindie from out here in Virginia.
> 
> I am an amateur photographer/videographer, have been playing with it on and off for many years - all digital.
> 
> ...


FIFY.

For such a project I would charge $250 too, but per hour. So at 15 hours my invoice would be for $3750.

Your 'costs' include much more than just your time. They include your talent, a portion of the cost of your scanner (or what the scanning cost), your computer, your software, the electricity used to power the computer and the lights, any travel that was involved, etc.

$250 divided by 15 hours = $16.66 an hour. That's not bad pay if you work for someone else that pays all the business expenses.
When the business expenses come out of your pocket, At $16.66 per hour it's likely you're indirectly paying the customer to let you make the DVD.

You apparently think you cannot justify charging $250, which means indirectly paying the customer even more for letting you make the DVD.


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## 12sndsgood (Sep 7, 2013)

With friends it's even more important to get a price upfront. this way they can decide beforehand wether they want to do it or not. taking on a project and then saying here's what I want kind of puts them in a tough position.


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## AdamJones (Sep 7, 2013)

Make sure you cover ALL costs and make a profit, consider all that you have done and the value you put on your time as well.

www.adamjonesphotography.co.uk


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