visualisation for a brand new city

[lyca]

Hi again

 

I've created my company 6 month ago and jobs are comping around, but last weekend a friend introduced me to the ceo of big real estate company who is planing to built a whole new city somewere in the carraibean, and he wants me to quote him the visualisation of this project, of coarse i know there are other competitor on the project, so i have to think about my approch.

not to under value it and ending working hours and hours for free, but staying competitive

anyone with good business skills here could give me some ideas ?

what question would you ask, what kind of prework would you do to show them your vision ? they have around 500 houses, with urban equipments, vegetations, parks etc. it's quite a big challange for me and i will probably need some help on this one if get it.

woooow but i'm so exited !!!!

[afterglow]

how many house types are there?

 

as a one-man-band, i wouldn't take on one of those jobs unless you have some good reliable contractors available to you... whatever u do, don't under-quote it, because those big housing estate jobs have a tendency to draaaaaaaaaag on.........

[chiquito]

Its a good start.

What I would ask:

Are there any phases in the projects development? is there a housing prototype? are all houses going to be the same? Topohraphic survey, is it acurate? what is the proposed plan? Landscaping, shapes, types of trees, age of the trees. Streets, urban equipment...

What are they intending to show? is it going to be 1 shot, many? animation? selling brochures? etc. Whats the time deadline. How do they manage payments, who will correct your progress, and against what?

Everything that you do not make clear will haunt you latter on.

I think that being acurate on the way you aproach a project, by asking precise question will lead you to a more precise quotation on your pricing.

I hope it helps.

[webo]

It might be tough for you to get this type of project if you haven't done one already. If you are competing against companies that have large project experience your chances are slim. If your work is good and your connections are solid then you might have a good chance because you will have the element of trust on your side. If not, then your best chance is to team up with a reputable company that has the experience and will help you get the job. The down side to this is that you will have to share the fees and the recognition. But, that might be ok because you will gain the experience and expand your portfolio.

 

Also, I suggest you chose a company with Caribbean/Tropical project experience. The only company I would consider recommending to you is Neoscape. They have the experience and talent (and they are very cool people).

 

Good Luck. I hope you get the job.

[Spooner04]

I know a guy that did a very large project like this, instead of charging a flat fee he worked out a deal with the development company where he was paid a monthly fee/retainer for a little over a year. He hired on several guys for the length of the project and it really helped improve the 3d animation portion of his company. You're going to have to take into consideration that you'll need a pretty big render farm for a project like this. good luck

[lyca]

thanks for all your answers, all of them has helpful ideas

it is true that i never did such a big project, but havang 10 years experiance in film, compositing ans graphics, i would be able to manage this one, i can organize the project and outsource the critical parts to hight end company's like.

but the mean point will be to quot exactly what they need, so thanks chiquito or the questions.

[chiquito]

Dont let the size intimidate you. If you got that far its because you earned the chance tio be there. If you got there by luck or chance, carry on, persue either of them. Make the most out of it.

Have a plan B if you get overpased or similar, so you can count on assitance from a possible associated firm or similar.

[webo]

Most clients prefer flat fees so they can minimize costs/risk. An hourly rate is a safe deal for the artist, but it's too open ended for most clients. It doesn't hurt to offer it anyway.

 

One more thing, clients like to compare apples to apples. You might want to find out what project scope the competitors are bidding on. Do something similar, but add something of value that the client will want. Some extra bells and whistles...

[lyca]

I think flats are best for smaller ans middle projects, but a pur rate quatation is a risk id you have to much competition.

A mix of both could do the things, ex: i charge him X€ for every diffrent bulding model, and offer him always 3 level of details for the rendering with 3 price level, this way i'see the client's reaction than adapte for 2nd offer.

 

the trap with this kind of project is realy that get an never ending story and that the client does to much changes that was quoted

[JonRashid]

I would give a flat fee as client's seem to prefer this. However I would break this up into it's component parts. Ie breakdown the asset build so he has a price per building. This helps when buildings are changed or added. Also do the same with what you have agreed to provide. That way if you have agreed a fee per minute and the animation length increases both the client and yourself can guestimate the increase in cost. If you break it all up into it's component parts it's not as daunting. It's just the same as doing 10 smaller jobs but with the benefit of being able to re-use assets. Go for staged payments as it reassures both parties that things are going well. If you have payments on blocks of assets you can then incorporate a signing off for those assets at that point. It's also a good way of farming out work and keeping a control of costs.

Keep an eye on rendering time. Using a storyboard allows you to stage each shot with the minimum assets possible in each scene. As soon as possible do test renders so you can keep an eye on how long it's all going to take.

Apart from that good luck