Charging money upfront / Different fees for different clients?

I sometimes work in a similar way, providing freelance graphic design services to larger design agencies or marketing companies alongside working for my 'own clients'. I also contract the services of web developers, copywriters and other comparable suppliers from time to time.

Most of the time I only invoice these sort of jobs at the end of a project or period of work whereas I would charge a percentage up front to my 'own clients'. On larger projects (for both sets of clients) I'd invoice in stages though rather than all on completion so that the fees don't mount up too much before being paid. However, I'm understandably more trusting of established clients that I've built up a relationship and understanding with (and have a good track record of paying) than I am of a new client. I'd expect a new supplier to take the same cautious approach with me in the same situation and I think this is pretty universally accepted.

I think a very important part of these issues are communication with your clients. Discuss your terms with them in advance - I'd have no objection if my web developer asked for a percentage upfront or staged payments, but I'd want to know before I put the proposal in to my client so that I could build those costs in to make sure I wasn't left out of pocket or carrying an disproportional amount of risk. Make sure your t&cs give you adequate cover too.

Regarding whether to charge a lower fee to web companies than your own clients, I'd say it may well be the way to go. I charge a lower rate when freelancing for other companies than I do for direct client work. Partly because of fitting within the going rate, but also because it reflects the amount of non-design work involved in each. For my own clients, I have to do all the leg work and admin. If working for a marketing company/larger design agency much of it is done for me so in many ways it's reasonable that the hourly rate is lower.

Thanks for the detailed response 😃 I'll have to redo my T&C's as they are quite out of date now.

I see what you mean about charging less for large design agencies. At the minute, I think my fees are the same because I am already charging quite low fees.

At least, I think my fees are low anyway! Some agencies find them shockingly low, but other agencies want to try and haggle me down even lower!

Here is the pricing structure I have so far that applies to both my own clients and design agencies. Of course, prices may vary depending on how simple / complex the job is, but this should give the general idea.

-Logo Design (3 concepts, revised until client is happy): £50
-Website Design (Homepage + 2 Sub-pages, revised until client is happy) - £180
-5 Page Website Slice / Build (from pre-designed template) - £150
-5 Page Website Design & Build - £300 (discount)
-CMS integration (e.g. Modx, Perch): £100
-Wordpress Theme development (+ slicing & markup): £200

Does that sound very cheap in your opinion? I don't think I could really go any lower than that, but some agencies expect ridiculous amounts of work for a really measley fee.

For example, I spoke to one agency who wanted (for a website) 3 different homepage concepts, together with the HTML for the chosen concept for £300!! I wouldn't be able to carry out that sort of work for any less than £500 really.

Do my prices sound unreasonable to you? Or should I think about increasing them?

By saying that you might want to charge a lower rate to agencies than to your own clients I was really meaning that you might want to raise your fees for the second group. Some of those fees seem a little low at first glance (in particular the logos) but it really depends what is being delivered in each case. As a general rule I work on an hourly rate when working for other agencies etc but submit quotes for each job for my own clients.

Fees are always going to be influenced to some extent by market forces but beware of undercutting too heavily - it can give the impression that you're desperate for work or that you don't value what you're promising them. If an agency tries to haggle you down to what you feel is an unfair price call their bluff and walk away – if you resent doing a job because you feel you're being severely underpaid it doesn't do anyone any favours as you'll probably rush the job out or won't do your best work. Nobody wants to be a busy fool.

I've found working out my prices to be one of the hardest parts of the job. Too low and you appear to lack quality and don't get a decent return for your work. Too high and the work goes elsewhere meaning that you've wasted all the effort getting to the stage of making contact with that client and getting to the point of submitting your quote. I think I've missed out on work for both of these reasons in the past.

I see what you mean! I think I will raise my prices some more once I get the ball rolling a bit more.

I'll be sure to not give in to those who want me to work for ridiculously low prices then.

Freelancing

If you already have good terms and long association with your clients, you can request the payment for your services after the task is accomplished. However, when working with a new client, ask for the payment upfront.