What to Charge?

[jducasse]

A day care center which has 89 kids wants me to take pictures of the kids for their "Annual Picture Day". The have asked me to submit a bid.

Any suggestion on how much to charge? I do not want to overprice and loose the contract.

Thanks

[ghsmith178613]

A day care center which has 89 kids wants me to take pictures of the kids for their "Annual Picture Day". The have asked me to submit a bid.

Any suggestion on how much to charge? I do not want to overprice and loose the contract.

Thanks

FIRST THING:
what do they want you to produce? year book photos? prints for students and families?

SECOND THING:
WHY should you work for a single dime less than the other guy. the other guy has costs just like you. your salary, an assistant or two, camera, new data card, computer time, lights, insurance, transportation, running an office, office/studio building, lights, gas, water, sublet printing, retakes/reamakes for kids that don't show...... surely you must know what your daily operating costs are?

you are running a business here? right?

well, you asked how much. that's the short list of what goes into my cost for any shoot. that's how i price it.

oh, almost forgot, you get to deal with 89 screaming children. that's 178 anxious parents, 356 insistant grandparents. aunts, uncles, and cousins...
and.... drum roll.... you can't put a single darling face on pbase - they are minors....

good luck... you're gonna need it.

[gpaai]

I'd rather do a wedding and weddings freak me out.

[kerrym]

surely you must know what your daily operating costs are?

Why do you think they asked? Maybe they're just the humble photography nut, who loves it for a hobby, like most of us.

[ghsmith178613]

A day care center which has 89 kids wants me to take pictures of the kids for their "Annual Picture Day". The have asked me to submit a bid.

Any suggestion on how much to charge? I do not want to overprice and loose the contract.

Thanks

surely you must know what your daily operating costs are?

Why do you think they asked? Maybe they're just the humble photography nut, who loves it for a hobby, like most of us.

let me see if i can explain this again. ok. hypothetically, i have a client that wants all rights, in perpetuity, no credit lines ("photo by"), and you may not return to the place, plus a two kilometer radius from where you shot it for the rest of your life. my hypotheticall client want the gps coordinates where you shot this hypothetical scene.

the clock is running. you have thirty minutes to assign a price or my client will look elsewhere. infact, my hypotheical client will, in thirty-one minutes hire me to search all of austrailia, new zealand, and every body of land in the that part of the world to bring back an image that looks like the image he saw on pbase.

time's up! how much?

[kerrym]

how much?

That's exactly what they were asking - yet you question back. Why don't you give some examples of your costings, since you seem to have it worked out - but won't give any help. They had a genuine question - and I'm also curious to know what people would suggest.

This is not one of your classrooms here...

Forty years of photography.
Fifteen years of training young professional photographers

Pfft.

[madlights]

Do some sneaky stuff and find out the going price in your area for this kind of thing if you can. I'm in a different business...and you need to understand the competition (and set your prices within reasonable bounds). It would give you more confidence in setting a price...although really these things are hard to set prices on...I'd think. If that doesn't work out...I'd figure my costs...estimate the time involved and how much you think you are worth an hour...and how much a shrink will cost you afterwards Good luck!

[ghsmith178613]

how much?

That's exactly what they were asking - yet you question back. Why don't you give some examples of your costings, since you seem to have it worked out - but won't give any help. They had a genuine question - and I'm also curious to know what people would suggest.

This is not one of your classrooms here...

Forty years of photography.
Fifteen years of training young professional photographers

Pfft.

do you live with mommy and daddy, or is that sugar daddy?

[ghsmith178613]

Do some sneaky stuff and find out the going price in your area for this kind of thing if you can. I'm in a different business...and you need to understand the competition (and set your prices within reasonable bounds). It would give you more confidence in setting a price...although really these things are hard to set prices on...I'd think. If that doesn't work out...I'd figure my costs...estimate the time involved and how much you think you are worth an hour...and how much a shrink will cost you afterwards Good luck!

do it all the time - proms, weddings, quince aneras, grad photos, commercial work. call the competition. then compare their costs to mine.

is my profit need as much or is it more? do i have the same number of employees? do i have a "better" studio, house, car, vacations, health care, yada, yada....

it doesn't matter if you do this stuff for a hobby or not. you need to understand the standard business practice of costing and bidding a job. what did it cost you to create that single frame? what did it cost you to take that cross country road trip on photo safari? check with your tax preparer, then write it down, and write it off.

if we go back to the original post, jducasse was approached by a commercial concern.

THAT TAKES jducasse IN TO THE WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS.

he didn't want loose the contact OR under/underbid the job. My orignal advice was to do what real business people have to do every day -

KNOW YOUR DAILY COST OF OPERATING YOU BUSINESS. JUST DO THE MATH.

(hey madlights, thanks for letting me rant on your dime)