How do I charge

[Tim Holmes]

Hi Folks:

 

I am new to the ArchViz community, and would like to begin taking some work to supplement my income. I am really not sure how to charge for it. I have read over a couple threads here and elsewhere about pricing. The problem is while they speak about several different models for pricing (hourly, by the square foot, etc) they don't give any idea of prices per service.

 

What I would like to know, in general terms is:

 

1. Roughly what do you charge per hour for ArchViz modeling

2. Roughly what would you charge for a residential visualization for a 1600 sq/ft home, an interior, and an exterior

3. What would you charge for a full interactive (walkthrough) model of the same 1600 sq/ft home

 

Thanks

TIM

[eduardasvuskvariokas]

Don't forget the part that at least in my place is quite important - the quality of your work.

If your work is very high quality you can get away with charging more. Similarly if you work isn't so hot you can't expect to receive the same amount of money as someone like Bertran Benoit or someone similar.

[Tim Holmes]

Eduardas:

 

Quite true, I would rank my skills at the low end of medium at this point, but I think improving. Here are a couple samples from a project that I am currently working on

 

 

Im not looking to get rich (at least at first) on this, but adding a bit to the bank account would be nice

 

Tim

[akshayarora]

Hi Tim,

 

I would advise you to work on your skills - grind yourself more into learning and something impactful creating.

At initials, some freelancing incomes look good but for the long term, it's a big trap which will only make you growth idle.

[TomD_Arch]

1. What would YOU charge for your work. What is your time worth to you?

2. I don't know anyone in this industry that charges for renderings based on the Sq. footage of a project.

3. Don't say "interactive(walkthrough)" They are two different things. An interactive is an immersive experience where you can move through an environment at your rate/ speed/ direction. A walkthrough is an animation where a camera follows a set path for a set time and ends or loops back to repeat.

 

 

Not to sound like a jerk, but honestly there has been so much written on this subject in these forums, if you can't spend the time to research and track it down, you aren't working hard enough. It's there. Spend some time looking at the gallery here and other studios and examine the level/ quality of work they are doing.

 

 

As an architect who's passion is doing ArchViz, I have struggled with the idea of going full-time freelance because it's a tough industry. You don't just create a website with some renderings and expect people to start emailing you. If you don't know someone offering you work or can introduce you to people who need work, you need to figure out how you are going to get work.

 

 

Once again, not trying to be a ****, but your renderings need a lot of work. I'm not sure how much of a background you have with building and design, but there are a ton of things in your interior image that lead me to believe you don't have much. You need to understand how buildings go together. That window frame with the logs coming through the frame drives me crazy looking at it. "Building Construction Illustrated" By Ching would be a good book to start with. Get familiar with Architectural photography. Analyze what they are doing to create those shots, i.e.: Image Making. Look at how the light works, how they frame the shot, etc. Then come back to the modeling.

 

 

So much!

 

 

Anyways, Cheers!

[akshayarora]

1. What would YOU charge for your work. What is your time worth to you?

2. I don't know anyone in this industry that charges for renderings based on the Sq. footage of a project.

3. Don't say "interactive(walkthrough)" They are two different things. An interactive is an immersive experience where you can move through an environment at your rate/ speed/ direction. A walkthrough is an animation where a camera follows a set path for a set time and ends or loops back to repeat.

 

 

Not to sound like a jerk, but honestly there has been so much written on this subject in these forums, if you can't spend the time to research and track it down, you aren't working hard enough. It's there. Spend some time looking at the gallery here and other studios and examine the level/ quality of work they are doing.

 

 

As an architect who's passion is doing ArchViz, I have struggled with the idea of going full-time freelance because it's a tough industry. You don't just create a website with some renderings and expect people to start emailing you. If you don't know someone offering you work or can introduce you to people who need work, you need to figure out how you are going to get work.

 

 

Once again, not trying to be a ****, but your renderings need a lot of work. I'm not sure how much of a background you have with building and design, but there are a ton of things in your interior image that lead me to believe you don't have much. You need to understand how buildings go together. That window frame with the logs coming through the frame drives me crazy looking at it. "Building Construction Illustrated" By Ching would be a good book to start with. Get familiar with Architectural photography. Analyze what they are doing to create those shots, i.e.: Image Making. Look at how the light works, how they frame the shot, etc. Then come back to the modeling.

 

 

So much!

 

 

Anyways, Cheers!

 

Good One Thomas. I would love if you can suggest a few more names of books?

[Tim Holmes]

Hi Thomas, I appreciate your candor and your input. I'll continue to work to perfect my craft.

 

Tim

[Scott Schroeder]

This may help.

https://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2680363#Comment_2680363

 

The only real freelancing advice I have is stay away from freelance sites like Fiverr. Those places are toxic and the competition to win the bottom wage is incredibly strong.

 

Where I used to work charged based on square footage. While it worked most of the time, it wasn't always the best indicator of how long a project would take. A 3,000 square foot home that is all minimalist modern finishings may not take as long as the same home done in a more traditional style with tons of trimwork and details. Square footage also doesn't account for if you need to model the custom furniture or create custom textures.

 

Your best bet to success as a freelancer is to get well rounded skills all across the arch viz spectrum. I work with freelancers every so often and most of them can't really deliver what I ask of them because they can't find it on 3dsky or Turbosquid. Quite a few freelancers are great scene assemblers, but poor scene creators. You really never want to get yourself into a position where you tell the client you can't put that piece of furniture or that texture in the scene because you can't find it on the internet to buy. You need to be able to create it.

[jesusgomez2]

This may help.

https://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2680363#Comment_2680363

 

The only real freelancing advice I have is stay away from freelance sites like Fiverr. Those places are toxic and the competition to win the bottom wage is incredibly strong.

 

Where I used to work charged based on square footage. While it worked most of the time, it wasn't always the best indicator of how long a project would take. A 3,000 square foot home that is all minimalist modern finishings may not take as long as the same home done in a more traditional style with tons of trimwork and details. Square footage also doesn't account for if you need to model the custom furniture or create custom textures.

 

Your best bet to success as a freelancer is to get well rounded skills all across the arch viz spectrum. I work with freelancers every so often and most of them can't really deliver what I ask of them because they can't find it on 3dsky or Turbosquid. Quite a few freelancers are great scene assemblers, but poor scene creators. You really never want to get yourself into a position where you tell the client you can't put that piece of furniture or that texture in the scene because you can't find it on the internet to buy. You need to be able to create it.

 

 

Well.. yes and no, some clients ask for impossible tasks. Prop modelling, sculpting, texturing etc it is a PLUS, tons of work, time and skills are involved and with a range of prices of 400$-1000$ per render you can not pretend to get 100 assets hand made just for you.

 

 

 

In that case, maybe yo need to hire a 3D team.

[jesusgomez2]

Well, Scott Schroeder, i think that is not as easy as you say.

 

A cgi architect models the architecture, some bespoke furniture etc. Charging 400$-1000$ per render it is not posible to give you 100 custom props just for your need. Modelling, detail sculpting, uvw mapping, texturing, etc requires skills, TIME and an EXTRA effort to recreate a scene with the architecture, camera composition, lighting, postproduction, material creation, landscape creation etc.

 

Some clients ask for imposible challenges with a low budget, in that cases you may need to hire a 3D team.

[TomD_Arch]

Actually, I think that's EXACTLY what Scott said. See second parapgraph.

 

 

 

"While it worked most of the time, it wasn't always the best indicator of how long a project would take. A 3,000 square foot home that is all minimalist modern finishings may not take as long as the same home done in a more traditional style with tons of trimwork and details. Square footage also doesn't account for if you need to model the custom furniture or create custom textures."

[jesusgomez2]

Obviously you can't charge per square foot, i did modern houses and an arabic palaces and the complexity of details is another world.

 

Actually i was replying the last paragraph. Sometimes is not worth your time an effort, because people don't really underestand the work behind a single chair.

[Scott Schroeder]

Some clients ask for imposible challenges with a low budget, in that cases you may need to hire a 3D team.

 

Sounds like you need new clients rather than hiring an army to do their bidding.

 

Not every image needs to be of the quality where you will put in on your website. The images that will make you the most profit are the ones you hit with the "Good Enough" stamp. Rather than sculpt that detail, texture it. Yeah it's janky, but it gets that image out the door. We all too often get hyper anal about details, but that's not what makes us money. Those "Good Enough" images are what fund your images that go the extra mile. I can give you a 1,000% guarantee that for every image MIR, Steelblue, Brick, Beauty and the Bit, etc put on their website, there are at least 3-4 projects that will never see the light of day as they are good but not great. But those projects make profits.

 

I see it all too often when doing portfolio reviews. One is full of images that took 3-6 months per image, and one is full of images that are good but not perfect that took 3-6 days per image. Which one do you think we'll hire?

[jesusgomez2]

That can be exactly what happens to you with the freelance. I got clients asking for standard that can be made in 3-6 days and other that took 1 month at same price, which one do you think they will acept?

 

 

priorities i guess..

[M V]

Hi Folks:

 

I am new to the ArchViz community, and would like to begin taking some work to supplement my income. I am really not sure how to charge for it. I have read over a couple threads here and elsewhere about pricing. The problem is while they speak about several different models for pricing (hourly, by the square foot, etc) they don't give any idea of prices per service.

 

What I would like to know, in general terms is:

 

1. Roughly what do you charge per hour for ArchViz modeling

2. Roughly what would you charge for a residential visualization for a 1600 sq/ft home, an interior, and an exterior

3. What would you charge for a full interactive (walkthrough) model of the same 1600 sq/ft home

 

Thanks

TIM

 

To actually give you answer to your questions, here we go.

 

1. Roughly what do you charge per hour for ArchViz modeling

Working on the side, in my basement, doing the level of renderings you posted. Maybe $150 each. Keep the details simple and consider the fact that you will most likely not get a W9 from a job under $600. "Good, Fast, Cheap - Pick 2" , is what I always say. I think you will be in the fast/cheap area, which is fine.

 

2. Roughly what would you charge for a residential visualization for a 1600 sq/ft home, an interior, and an exterior

Me? I would charge a lot more than $150. I have 15 years of training, an architecture degree, and my visual eye is probably worth more, to be honest. This all comes with time though.

 

3. What would you charge for a full interactive (walkthrough) model of the same 1600 sq/ft home

Be careful of this trap. Full Interactive? A full VR model? some 360s that create a virtual walk-thru? interactive, like you can change out materials and finishes live? This needs to be defined better but some full VR interactives can run in the thousands of dollars and take a lot of know-how.

 

This all takes time and experience. If you have a passion for it, you will get there, just keep learning and get as much experience as you can without totally selling your soul. No $5 renderings on Fiverr. That website should be burned to the ground.

 

You said something about getting rich - maybe jokingly. I am not sure what your current professional background is but I want to be clear. You are not going to get rich doing this, espcially in the US. That's not why any of us are here or ending up in this profession. I think there may be some misunderstanding that we are like architects (they don't make that much either). There are a few studios that can charge quite a bit but understand those firms have dozens of people working on a project, massive overhead, etc. I repeat - NO ONE IS GETTING RICH IN THIS INDUSTRY.

Edited April 12, 2019 by matthewvalero

[neilmcbean]

I think there are a couple of considerations here. First off, you need to charge what you need to live and invest in your future. I made a simple rate calculator for this: https://zigtheapp.com/rate_calculator/

 

The point is - if you can't charge what you need, then you need to look at something else or build up your skills. As others have said, freelancing isn't just about putting up a shingle. You have to stand out, you have to chase work, develop a network and build your skills.

 

I'm not an architect, but I've been a matte painter, character artist, and VFX supervisor. What I suggest to people starting out is this - find something great and replicate it. Then do that a few more times with different environments. If you can match a great image you'll learn modelling, lighting, and composition. Then work on some original stuff - base it on public domain assets. Work with iconic structures. Deliver emotion and you can make a mark. Set a high bar for yourself and take advantage of communities like this one to help you hit it - there are great people here that know their stuff and are willing to help.

 

And take in as much as you can - read, read ,read.

 

Adam Zollinger is putting together a good primer. https://www.udemy.com/ue4-an-advanced-real-time-arch-viz-project/?couponCode=LAV_SALE

 

It's really about being good enough to earn enough to do something you love to do.

Edited April 13, 2019 by neilmcbean