Pricing of jobs - how is it done?

In this afternoons session we had a look at how to price a job for a client both for studio and location based photography.

Quality of the work required- technical ability
- Quality of the work produced
- Quality of product wanting to sell
- Expectation of the client with regard to quality

Volume of work required
- Client will expect a discount especially if used on a regular basis
- Economies of scale with briefs where there are repetition of shots

Photography time
- Add 10% as a safety blanket
- If regular work e.g. weekly, it is even more important
- Set up and dismantling time of set
- Invoicing, Meetings, discussions, phone calls may be built in to the invoice
- Travel
- Collection and delivery of product

Ability to pay
- Terms of payment - End of month, deposit etc
- Make sure you are paid
- Prior to costing work how quickly client will settle invoice - T and C's
- For payments over 30 days add interest
- How secure is the client - is their business doing well? Are they stable?
- Consistent work flow (also gives stability and confidence of payments)

Competition
- Quality and prices of competitors work
- Need to know if quoting against a supplier


Price with consideration
- Want to ensure that this is accurate
- Do not give this out over the phone.
- Take information and think and get back to the client


Materials and costs
- Model fees
-Set building
-People used to assist (stylists, home economists etc)

Add on services
- Format of the images
-Retouching
-Post production work, supply prints


Has to be worth it
Charge a figure you are comfortable with and feel is accurate
Have to make enough on it - margin

Although I was aware of how to charge for my own personal time for actually taking pictures, there were some factors that I did not consider which were bought to light in this session.
After breaking down the different areas, it gave me a better understanding of how to price future jobs in order to both make money and also ensure a fair price for the client. This can help to secure further work as they would be more likely to consider using me as a resource for further briefs.