Ready for freelance?

[joshduncan]

Hi I'm an arch student thinking about doing some freelance visualisations.

These are renders I've done for a uni project of mine and I'm wondering what kind of rates or flat fee's i should be charging for renders of similar quality.

 

[marius e]

That depends on many factors.........

 

How quick are you compared to people in the industry?

Can you model custom furniture in time when specified?

Will you be able to light, model, post process work in deadline time?

 

Its one thing to model and light a personal project and a very different thing when a client comes and needs a project to their requirements in deadline time.

 

Dont think you will get an answer on 'fees', you will have to feel your way through that and become experienced with various projects.

[joshduncan]

How long would a typical deadline be for residential projects? I fully modelled, textured and lit the above scenes in about 3 days.

 

I would have thought being told what to do for a fairly complete project would minimise the amount of time spent dicking around making changes to your design and doing the furniture arrangements from scratch etc.

 

Yeah I figured i wasn't going to get any kind of specific dollar value answer to that, just concerned about setting the price too low initially and then always having that fee expected. Plus there is the issue of being a student and potentially being expected to be dirt cheap.

[CliveG]

If you behave professionally you can justify professional fee's almost irrespective of being young / old or a student or disabled. Your client won't care if you're the elephant man as long as you deliver. There are numerous threads on the subject of "how much" and of course as you know, there is no one definitive answer.

 

There is one simple fact though and it is to never forget that we're talking about a business transaction and like all business transactions it has to work for both parties. If you are charging a customer $100 he, as a business, probably has to feel he's got about $110 - $120 worth of value out of that expenditure. Otherwise he'll be looking elsewhere. Dicking around as you put it, is NOT what he's interested in, the less aggravation this business transaction involves the more likely he is to keep doing business with you.

 

In reality, and this isn't meant as any sort of discouragement, unless you're exceptional, you're probably better off trying to make contact with local companies that may employ you, even in a freelance capacity, this put's a buffer between you and that end client and allows you to learn the ropes, make contacts and see the realities of the industry whilst still making a buck. A company will probably be a bit more forgiving and patient with you than a customer who has larger imperatives than being sensitive to your development. If the company that gives you a go exploits you financially it may be a small price for you to pay initially because you'll learn a lot and as soon as you're able you'll move to a situation that values you better. But if they're smart they'll know this and pay you better if they want to keep you anyway.

 

That's my $47.50c worth anyway!

 

Good luck.