Pricing an Annual Report
Posted: August 6th, 2020 | Author: admin | Filed under: Business | Tags: Annual Report Design Pricing | No Comments »
A company wants to hire me to do their 10th financial report. I’m trying to figure out my price for them (I’ve never worked for them so I don’t know how time consuming of a client they are). It would be 30-40 pages (4 color) and I would be responsible for:
- Creative and art direction (conceptual, photoshoots, etc.)
- Design (2 initial designs and meetings to come to a final approval)
- Project management/trafficking (scheduling project, interacting with printer and photographer)
- Production (layout, corrections, preparing for printer, releasing, checking proofs)
- Press checks (on site checking print quality and approving).
The conceptual and design would be done over the next 3 months (just to set the scheduling, decide on concept, design, and approval — probably about 50-100 hours total). Then I would be working on production, design (always some more), project management, and press checks in June, July, and August (perhaps about 360 hours — based on 30 hours a week for 12 weeks). This is a rough hour assessment which would total 460 hours. It could go drastically up or down depending on the client.
My questions:
- WHAT IS THE STANDARD FEE FOR THIS SERVICE IN THE NEW YORK CITY AREA FOR THIS PROJECT?
- WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST I BILL THE CLIENT CONSIDERING I AM COMPLETELY
COMPETENT AND EXPERIENCED IN EVERY AREA THEY NEED? - HOW DO I PRESENT THEM WITH THE FINAL PROPOSAL?
My personal background — generally I charge by the hour, 50/h is absolute minimum for straight production but design/art direction goes up to 100/h. I am basing my rates on my experience and standard New York City pricing.
Answers to Your Questions
I am not based in New York and have no standard fee knowledge of what the going rate is for an annual report there. However, I suspect that the costs are very similar to my area which is Dallas Texas. As for the time you are planning to put in (360 to 460 hours) is quite a lot. Most companies are not willing to spend $30,000 on an annual report unless they are hiring a large firm like DDB that would have a staff of 10 or more working on the project, including copy writing and more. My suggestions below reflects what I would charge in my one person studio. My pricing also does not reflect copy writing, the client must provide this service.
Also, the time frame of 3 months is quite a long time to continue on a project. You need to force your client to try to get everything approved for final design within a month. On the second month, they should finalize and go to press. The more room you give your client to make changes and stuff, the longer the project will be and the more mistakes will happen.
Listed below is what I suggest for pricing. However, since the company is a non-profit, they will be tight on cash, even if they are a large company.
WHAT IS THE STANDARD FEE FOR THIS SERVICE IN THE NEW YORK CITY AREA FOR THIS PROJECT?
Photo shoot
Cost per day photo shoot direction = $1,000 (10 hours, does not include photographers fees, development or photo retouching)
Project Management/Working with Printer/Press Checks
Cost = $1,000 (10 hours)
Design/Production/Art Direction/Concept/Proofing
Per page cost = $300 to $400 (40 pages / 3-4 hours per page)
Total cost = $12,000 to $16,000
Revisions/Alterations/Changes/
First 3-4 hours no charge
Cost over 4 hours billed at = $100 per hour
Total approx. cost of annual report = $12,000 to $18,000
WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST I BILL THE CLIENT CONSIDERING I AM COMPLETELY COMPETENT AND EXPERIENCED IN EVERY AREA THEY NEED?
I suggest you bill between $12,000 and $18,000 for a very high quality annual report. This depends on what you think they would feel comfortable spending and how much you feel you could cut in order to get the job. Don’t forget you still have a photographer you have to pay – that will be in addition to your total cost.
HOW DO I PRESENT THEM WITH THE FINAL PROPOSAL?
Present them with 2 options on price range, and let them know you would be flexible based on what they need. Many clients have big eyes on what they want to do until the pricing closes them. Don’t be so set in stone about your pricing, give them options on where they can save money and still get a great product. Remember to take care of yourself and make money. Nothing is worse than working on a project that you underbid on.
I used my base rate of $100 an hour, but to get the job, I would be willing to go down to about $60 to $75 an hour. You might even consider doing a flat $60 to $75 per hour and put them on a retainer and charge them hourly.
