What to charge

I usually quote a job out simply by multiplying the time I estimate it will take by my hourly rate, as you describe. This at least works for the basis of the quote. I may well charge a larger client more than a smaller one, but that's usually because their budget is bigger and therefore the time I can spend on their work and the level of service I can promise them is different. Logo designs are a good example of this – whilst it would be great to explore countless options and research all possible avenues for each and every client the reality is that many small or start up businesses simply don't have the budget to pay for that. Not all larger businesses do either, but I will tend to offer a solution and level of service based on their brief and budget – better to offer an affordable solution where I perhaps just present two options to choose from rather than propose spending several weeks researching and designing ideas that they have no possible chance of agreeing to pay for.

I know some people think it's wrong to ask a client what their budget is but I always put this question to them. Granted, you don't always get a clear or even honest answer, but if the reason for doing so is properly explained it can help a lot. There's no point quoting a budget price if they want and are prepared to pay for a premium level of service (although some indication of this should be gained from the rest of your discussions with them). Same applies the other way around. Even a vague or evasive answer to the question can tell you a lot.

I may sometimes reduce my rate if I feel it will be regular work or is something that I think will present an additional benefit to have in my portfolio. Perhaps an avenue into further work elsewhere etc. As you say, if I'm very busy I'll maybe take the decision to charge a little more on any new quotes and if something seems like it will be a pain in the backside to work on I may make an allowance for that as well. Sometimes it's just having a gut feeling for a job's commercial value. All that said, it's important to make sure that your quotes for a given client are consistent with each other – no good charging a newsletter at, say, £200 one month, £100 the next and then £250 the month after that if each involves similar work, simply because you're desperate for work or stacked out at different times of the year.

Interesting reply Opus, thanks for that. I absolutely agree it makes sense to get a sense of budget and gear what you can do within that.

Also, as I said to Sarah, I know of freelancers that have a framework of hourly rates they charge depending on who it's for (large client requiring more indepth work/client offering repeat business/small business but enjoyable work/clients you know always want a million changes/rush hour rate/work I really want in my portfolio rate etc) so this stacks up with what you say about consistency in charging.

One other tip if the project is a bit complex or an unknown client, and if you are asked to provide a quote (i.e. estimate) rather than work for a fixed cost, might be to add in a 20% contingency to each estimate, and make it clear it will only be billed if the scope of work goes beyond that detailed in the quote. So author's changes/unplanned couriers/client decides they want expensive print finishes at 11th hour might fall into this category.

Clients may eye this with suspicion initially but if you say you will advise and seek agreement to costs before going above the basic quote rather than just suddenly bill it, most will get used to it.

The advantages are that it makes it easier to bill inevitable extra charges and by seeking prior agreement you're unlikely to get your invoice queried.

One potential downside is making sure clients understand what it is, especially if they're comparing your quote to another supplier.

It's not for every instance, but it might be useful if you have some 'unknowns' about either the project you're quoting for, or what the client is like to work with.

Interesting idea putting in the contingency quote. I usually include a pretty comprehensive list of things that may cause additional charges but that may be a better way of doing it - certainly worth thinking about. I do include an allowance for one round of amends within quotes but very rarely promise unlimited revisions - from experience I've found that reserving the right to start charging for amends after a certain stage focusses the client's mind earlier in the process and often means there aren't so many rounds of alts. It certainly cuts out some of the 'can we just try...' type of amendments.

I'd be interested to hear what everyone else does - I don't pretend for one minute that I've got everything right as yet and I'm sure there will be better ways of doing some things. Obviously I'm thinking from a graphic design point of view but I suspect a lot of this sort of thing will apply to a wide variety of industries.

Dave