How to get paid form work

[smithdoor]

For what its worth (I was read on another forum [Wedding photography rates?])

When I am pricing out a quoted price is always better than by the hour
I give at less
1. some detail what is including (time on job site, number of photos and if book is made(
2. when I will be done with the work (photos and books)
3. some detail of quality , equipment and materials you use.
4. What not included and will not do

I have work in Manufacturing Hangar doors, Custom work machine work and gunsmith I not been ever paid for photography work
Ever one was happy even if had to go back the quote and say it was not in the quote and will be happy to do that for this price
This save and made a lot of money for me and almost all time they happy too. They will be one or two a year that will need some free just give them a few thing and will save you lot of headache then next time change them extra for the headache,

Note: By the hour is almost always they will say you took to long so and so would do it for $xxxx.xx

Good luck
Dave

[C_Remington]

Huh????

[smithdoor]

TYPO
This site does not let me edit after 2 hours

Huh????

[Andrew O'Neill]

So what you are saying is never work by the hour. Tell client what you will and will not do for them and how long it will take. Show some examples of your work so client gets an idea of what you can do for them.

[Kirk Gittings]

I'm not sure if English is your primary language but I have had trouble understanding your posts since you joined. The OP above is incomprehensible to me. You might want to start over with your question.

[Daniel Stone]

A wise man told me long ago "It's easier to go down on price than to go up"

•Don't underestimate your worth(really think about this: "What is MY(your) TIME worth?)
•Bill accordingly for materials(including marking up saleable items like prints/products/etc if you're selling something to them(like an album, etc.))
•Make things simple to understand(not just for them, but also for you) on your pricing schedule & product offering.

[Michael Clark]

Don't know how a wedding photographers charge know, back in the 80's the studio I worked for charged by which package the Bride and Groom selected. It was an end product from start to finish, the only extra charges would be for extra prints or keeping the photographer on location longer than the agreed time which did not happen very often. But now with digital I would not think its not to much different, I don't know. Working by the hour at a wedding would be awful stressful to me but I'm much older too.

[AtlantaTerry]

In general quoting any photography job by calculating time is a bad idea.

Several things can happen:
1. if you take less time, the client will "suddenly" find more work for you to do
2. if you want more time the client will fight you about paying for it and you will likely (sadly) agree costing you money
3. if you need to take more time to do a good job the client will start to pressure you to finish on time thereby compromising the quality of your work product. Of course, later on they will forget that they pressured you and insist that the work received was not good enough therefore you should reshoot.

What is better is to quote on each finished edited product (wedding albums or framed portraits or mounted LF transparencies or whatever...).
The advantages of quoting on a per item basis are:
1. no time pressure to finish early
2. if the client wants to add "surprise" work they know up front what it will cost them
3. no stress on your part to take as much time as needed to do a good job
4. everyone knows the money involved up front - there are no surprises

This subject brings up the fact that I think "packages" are a bad idea. The more work you do, the less you get paid! That would work if we were cranking out 10,000 chocolate chip cookies per day because with something like that there is what is called "Economy of Scale". But when creating photographs such as weddings, portraits, product shots, architectural views, etc. each image has to be lit, composed, photographed, processed individually. There is NO economy of scale (other than machine-made enlargements).

/end rant

[C_Remington]

Terry, you're post has lots of contradictions.

In general I think any artist trying to bridge the chasm to businessman is challenged beyond his core competencies. It's not obvious at first but it becomes painfully so when it is time to settle up with their customer.

I think many artists want to be paid to be an artist.

"You can't rush art!"
"It costs what it costs"
"Do you want it done right or do you want it done cheaply?"


Further, if a service provider really is an expert, he should be able to work in either billing model; fixed, project base, or hourly, with the same result. It all comes down to:

1. Truly KNOWING you can do what you say you will do because you've done it a hundred times and you've experienced all the issues, know the risks, how to mitigate them, etc.
2. You can accurately calculate the cost of materials
3. You are firm on how to charge for your time and are consistent
4. And most importantly, you can manage along the way for scope creep and change management
5. You can communicate clearly up front, during, and after with your customer

You need to put together a REAL estimate with CLEAR deliverables and timing expectations.


As a buyer/customer, I try to NEVER agree to an hourly agreement with ANY service provider. I ask for an estimate. After negotiating (I also never accept the first offer) and we agree on final deliverable, cost and timing it's on.


Any change in deliverable (scope of service) or timing will result in a change in cost.

[smithdoor]

I agree this statement
Never say to your self or your client "this it only take 1 or 2 hours and low cost Film Processing only cost".

Back in the 70's I knew a Wedding photography He and his two sons start . They had four employes working only the one son and the father part of time did the photographic work. The rest work on photo after the weddings were over and all photo was processed by others. Bottom line remember there is a lot of work after the shots are done.

Dave

Terry, you're post has lots of contradictions.

In general I think any artist trying to bridge the chasm to businessman is challenged beyond his core competencies. It's not obvious at first but it becomes painfully so when it is time to settle up with their customer.

I think many artists want to be paid to be an artist.

"You can't rush art!"
"It costs what it costs"
"Do you want it done right or do you want it done cheaply?"


Further, if a service provider really is an expert, he should be able to work in either billing model; fixed, project base, or hourly, with the same result. It all comes down to:

1. Truly KNOWING you can do what you say you will do because you've done it a hundred times and you've experienced all the issues, know the risks, how to mitigate them, etc.
2. You can accurately calculate the cost of materials
3. You are firm on how to charge for your time and are consistent
4. And most importantly, you can manage along the way for scope creep and change management
5. You can communicate clearly up front, during, and after with your customer

You need to put together a REAL estimate with CLEAR deliverables and timing expectations.


As a buyer/customer, I try to NEVER agree to an hourly agreement with ANY service provider. I ask for an estimate. After negotiating (I also never accept the first offer) and we agree on final deliverable, cost and timing it's on.


Any change in deliverable (scope of service) or timing will result in a change in cost.