How long does it take to make a map?

[Gnarl]

Are you concerned that you are being cheated? Abandoned? What's the real problem?

The problem is that I'm the one making the prices, not my cartographer. The sad truth of the country I live in is that artists here have very poor self-esteem and they'll bend over for just about any price above minimum wage ($250 per month). On the other hand, if I let him decide the prices, he'll charge me two to three times as much as I should pay. That's just how Peru works. I need to be careful not to get ripped off but I also need to be careful not to rip my cartographer off. It would be much easier if I could trust the people I work with but that's now how my country works...

I talked a bit with one of the cartographers working for Wizard of the Coast and Paizo. He wanted to charge me $200 to $300 half page dungeon maps and $300 to $500 for towns. I also know these guys are paid $20 to $40 per hour so that means a dungeon map is roughly 10-15 hours of work and a town map 15 to 25 hours. I suspect that these guys work really fast and I have a feeling I would be paying my cartographer too little if I use this as a baseline for my prices.

So that's why I asked how long it takes to make a map. Unless you guys think I should pay him more, he'll be paid the equivalent of one to two days of work for a dungeon map and two to three days of work for a town map.