It it fair to price per hour of work?

[Naima]

I am wondering how usually people rate their own work ? Is it fair t rate it according to how much time you took to complete it?
Does time involved in brainstorming count?
Does time involved in solution finding count?
And finally what if someone is way faster than you and can produce similar results? Should you rate yourself differently?

[mewo2]

When you price your work, there are two important questions:

1) What's the lowest amount you're willing to accept?

2) What's the highest amount the client will pay?

If the first number is larger than the second number, then there's no deal. If the first is smaller, then you can negotiate.

The amount of time taken is something that you should factor in when you're answering the first question. How much is your time worth to you? Do you value your time spent brainstorming in the same way as the time spent "working"? Personally, I treat any time I'm concentrating on a client project as being equal, no matter what I'm actually doing. But this is a personal decision about how you rate your time. It's worth working out what hourly or daily wage you're willing to accept, so you can always be sure you're not being ripped off.

When it comes to the client, they don't care how much time it takes you, or what you spent that time doing. The value to them is purely based on the finished product. In some cases, they may be willing to pay more for speedy delivery, but even then, they don't care how much work you've done, just that the product is in their hands in time. If someone else can do the job faster than you, it makes no difference to the client - they're still getting the same thing.

[Azélor]

You rate according to the time you think it will take not the actual time it took. Crucial difference because you need to agree on price before starting.

You first need to estimate how many hours it's going to take you and multiply that by an hourly rate reasonable to you. Considering that you are self employed you should charge higher than the rates you would normally have by working for an employer. But of course the rate depend also on your talent and the complexity of the work. If the client thinks it's too high you can negociate or move along, that's up to you.

If the other is faster he might be more experienced and might charge more for the same work. Artists aren't too talkative about that so it's hard to know but the is some competition.

[ladiestorm]

Going back to your original question, personally believe it's not only fair to price your work by the hour, in some cases,.it's absolutely necessary! Here are some things that any paid cartographer should consider when determining the price for a.client:

Size of work - does the client want a world map? Or a map for a tiny village? Or a city map? Does the client want the map to fit into a book? Or do they want it poster size? Villages can be done in relatively few hours, a world map in possibly a few days, where as city maps could take weeks, or even months to create!

Detail of work - does.the client want just a basic map with topography and indicators where cities and capitals.are located? Or do they want an artistic rendering complete with ruins of an ancient civilization?
Do they want just the locations of points off interest? Or do they want the locations of every well, pond and tree?

Problem solving/changes/alterations/ miscommunications- no matter how good you are at making maps, when you're doing something for a client, the need to 'fix' something is GOING to happen. Most of the time, the client has some kind of an image in their mind of what.the finished product 'should' look like. Problem is, you can't see inside their head. Also, depending on what they are using the finished product for... they may change.their mind about what they want. Meaning you are.going to have to go back and rework what you have already done. Sometimes it's a simple fix, sometimes it will take hours to rework... If you don't add these considerations.into your pricing, you could end up ripping yourself off. You can always lower the price at the end if you estimated too high.

Speed of work - how soon does the client want the work accomplished? Is he expecting something done in a few.weeks? Or is this a project that you have 2-3 months leeway to work on? Can you easily work on the project around your regular schedule or do you have to push everything else aside, and work for non stop hours at a time to complete it within the deadline? I would think that the sooner they want it done, according to their specifications, the higher the price.to.complete it, because you are having to dedicate more of your time to complete it.

Licensing - do you get.to retain the copyright for your work? Or does the client want ALL rights signed over once the job is done? If it's the former, then maybe you can charge a little less. If it's the latter definitely charge.more... after all this is YOUR blood,.sweat, and tears going into this product. Your creativity, and your artistic talent. If they want full and exclusive rights.to it, your won't even be able to put it in a portfolio as an example of your work. That's the equivalent of creating an invention for the company you work for, and when all is said and done, the royalty patent goes to the COMPANY and not to YOU. You should DEFINITELY expect a higher payment for that.

Level of Talent - I don't know how talented you are when it comes to making artistic maps. I've been out of the loop for a while here at the guild, and my availability on the site is going to continue to be hit or miss for a while longer, so I'm going to use myself as an example for this one. I've been making maps for a little over a year, now. I can't hand draw maps, I use a program for my mapping. I've done a couple of payed commissions locally that have earned me a little bit here and there. I do have maps I've made here at the guild, and some here really like what I do. But compared to, say, Mike Schley, J. Edward or Mouse? I'm no where near their level of Talent, even with the aide of a mapping program. So do I expect to be payed the same commissions that they can demand? Lol, absolutely not!!! Am I selling myself short? Maybe, but at the end of the day, my pricing is what I feel comfortable with for the amount of work I provide. As long as I'm okay with how much I'm paid...that's all that really matters. What I'm trying to say is... Only you can decide how much your time is worth, and while you do need to balance it with how much the JOB is worth, at the end of it all it depends on what you're comfortable with.

[Straf]

Sorry ladiestorm but I couldn't resist in screengrabbing this. If it offends you I'll take it away, it was just the post count made me imagine you laughing maniacally with lightning flashing and that:

ladiestorm666.png

Anyway I've never done any commissions for maps but I have done freelance in areas that I am knowledgeable and good at. It's only after the event when you think you've probably sold yourself short, especially when you give them a price and they accept it, then you deliver it weeks before they expected it. If you're in demand then you're going to have to work out how much you might lose working on one project over another, for example. If you have less work and you don't have to pick and choose then just work to a reasonable hourly rate. If the client doesn't want to pay that then either negotiate or move on.

Don't be bullied though. I have seen some absolutely disgusting exchanges between would be clients who expected work for free or very low cost who have then gone on a social media campaign against the artist. There are people who think anything on the Internet should be free because everyone selling anything online must be a billionaire already.

Anyway good luck!

[Mouse]

Helloooooo Storm!

Welcome back!

Er... sorry Naima