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We hire huge agencies that don't even cost $240/hour. I'm sure there's a couple niche people who can charge crazy dollars....but I'm skeptical.

by taude 9y ago

TaylorGood 9y ago
As an Art Director we used three large agencies to cover needs, ranging $140-175/hr. Given this was a finance company, they didn't know creative as much. The issue I discovered was these agencies were inflating service hours. One example was the need to modify a four page powerpoint. Invoice came back as $6,800. So the issue wasn't rate, but durations..
- jermaustin1 9y ago
  Having worked with agencies through a client, I have seen their billing process. They might not have inflated hours. Assuming you have a creative, a project manager, delivery manager, and a sales manager in the agency, each task/project has to go through each of their hands. That's an hour each for the managers and how ever many hours for the actual work itself as the base delivery price. Then the internal back and forth between the delivery manager and the creative to insure that everything is "to spec". Then the project manager to report on status each day and the sales manager to take you to lunch and discuss the how amazing everything is with the project, and that the BEST people are working on it. So 3-4 hours of work can turn into 20 hours of billing (plus expenses).
  - TaylorGood 9y ago
    Thanks for this. It's true. Our main agency had a process of the Account Exec telling the Art Director who delegated to his team of designers. That is at least three people at varied costs.
- pwthornton 9y ago
  People focus far too much one rate and far too little on output cost. Different companies are wildly more efficient per hour of work never mind that many just do much better work. Rates are kind of ethereal. Maybe they are padding. Maybe they are just slow. Maybe they are throwing several resources on it. I don't know. This is a big problem with procurement. People fixate on hourly costs and not total cost of project.
- wastedhours 9y ago
  Trying to nail this down can be a hair-pulling experience. I know estimations are a ridiculously hard thing to do, but that's kinda the reason I'm engaging them as an expert. I also know they want all the work you can throw at them, but just getting a sense of whether this is a 1 hour or 5 hour gig so I can evaluate the ROI before briefing it in is impossible. This is one of the things I want to address (my side-gig doing marketing consultancy) - one rate, whether that's strategy or design work, up to the client how to use it (and telling them to use someone else if not good value).
throwawayy2018 9y ago
FWIW, I charge $300 / hr as a mobile/full stack developer (and I'm based in TX). My clients are mostly startups. I have more work than I know what to do with, and have for quite a while. Probably raising my rate to $350 soon.
- Toast_25 9y ago
  Do you promote yourself? How?
  - throwawayy2018 9y ago
    Not at all. I've been at this for a while, so most of my work comes from previous clients or others in my network. It took a while to build that up, but now that it's in place, it's a pretty steady source of work. Most people who are referred to me know what I charge, so there's not much haggling. People want results and I have a reputation for delivering them.
    - TaylorGood 9y ago
      How many hours a week are you deciding to work?
- ioddly 9y ago
  That's amazing, well done. Where do you meet clients in town?
  - throwawayy2018 9y ago
    Thanks! Good question. Most of my inbound comes through referrals. I've been at this for about 8 years, so my referral network is pretty healthy. First few years were rough though! In general, the real "trick" to a successful network (as least for me) is just to be friendly and do good work. Lots of coffee meetings, phone calls, and lunches. :)
- kofejnik 9y ago
  We have a few smart capable devs (mobile/full stack/etc) who would be happy to help your clients :) email in profile
eagsalazar2 9y ago
Agreed. $400/hr outside of SF Bay, 10 years ago, for CMS and e-commerce websites?? I've hired lots of devs and other agencies in the bay and that does not match my experience at all. For very niche stuff maybe. For freaking WordPress and Shopify, anything more than $175/hr and you are being robbed. For generic custom dev work (iOS, react, backed) $250/hr is near the top for very reputable studios.
- muzani 9y ago
  Wordpress and shopify are fast. One developer charging $500/hour might be able to do it cheaper overall than developers charging $50/hour.
- apatters 9y ago
  People are charging $175/hr for WordPress? This makes me wonder what the hell have I been doing with myself for the past 8 years. My agency charges $50/hr for WordPress devs who know what they're doing. (My email is in my profile!)

We hire huge agencies that don't even cost $240/hour. I'm sure there's a couple niche people who can charge crazy dollars....but I'm skeptical.

by taude 9y ago

We hire huge agencies that don't even cost $240/hour. I'm sure there's a couple niche people who can charge crazy dollars....but I'm skeptical.

TaylorGood 9y ago

As an Art Director we used three large agencies to cover needs, ranging $140-175/hr. Given this was a finance company, they didn't know creative as much. The issue I discovered was these agencies were inflating service hours. One example was the need to modify a four page powerpoint. Invoice came back as $6,800. So the issue wasn't rate, but durations..

jermaustin1 9y ago
Having worked with agencies through a client, I have seen their billing process. They might not have inflated hours. Assuming you have a creative, a project manager, delivery manager, and a sales manager in the agency, each task/project has to go through each of their hands. That's an hour each for the managers and how ever many hours for the actual work itself as the base delivery price. Then the internal back and forth between the delivery manager and the creative to insure that everything is "to spec". Then the project manager to report on status each day and the sales manager to take you to lunch and discuss the how amazing everything is with the project, and that the BEST people are working on it. So 3-4 hours of work can turn into 20 hours of billing (plus expenses).
- TaylorGood 9y ago
  Thanks for this. It's true. Our main agency had a process of the Account Exec telling the Art Director who delegated to his team of designers. That is at least three people at varied costs.
pwthornton 9y ago
People focus far too much one rate and far too little on output cost. Different companies are wildly more efficient per hour of work never mind that many just do much better work. Rates are kind of ethereal. Maybe they are padding. Maybe they are just slow. Maybe they are throwing several resources on it. I don't know. This is a big problem with procurement. People fixate on hourly costs and not total cost of project.
wastedhours 9y ago
Trying to nail this down can be a hair-pulling experience. I know estimations are a ridiculously hard thing to do, but that's kinda the reason I'm engaging them as an expert. I also know they want all the work you can throw at them, but just getting a sense of whether this is a 1 hour or 5 hour gig so I can evaluate the ROI before briefing it in is impossible. This is one of the things I want to address (my side-gig doing marketing consultancy) - one rate, whether that's strategy or design work, up to the client how to use it (and telling them to use someone else if not good value).

throwawayy2018 9y ago

FWIW, I charge $300 / hr as a mobile/full stack developer (and I'm based in TX). My clients are mostly startups. I have more work than I know what to do with, and have for quite a while. Probably raising my rate to $350 soon.

Toast_25 9y ago
Do you promote yourself? How?
- throwawayy2018 9y ago
  Not at all. I've been at this for a while, so most of my work comes from previous clients or others in my network. It took a while to build that up, but now that it's in place, it's a pretty steady source of work. Most people who are referred to me know what I charge, so there's not much haggling. People want results and I have a reputation for delivering them.
  - TaylorGood 9y ago
    How many hours a week are you deciding to work?
ioddly 9y ago
That's amazing, well done. Where do you meet clients in town?
- throwawayy2018 9y ago
  Thanks! Good question. Most of my inbound comes through referrals. I've been at this for about 8 years, so my referral network is pretty healthy. First few years were rough though! In general, the real "trick" to a successful network (as least for me) is just to be friendly and do good work. Lots of coffee meetings, phone calls, and lunches. :)
kofejnik 9y ago
We have a few smart capable devs (mobile/full stack/etc) who would be happy to help your clients :) email in profile

eagsalazar2 9y ago

Agreed. $400/hr outside of SF Bay, 10 years ago, for CMS and e-commerce websites?? I've hired lots of devs and other agencies in the bay and that does not match my experience at all. For very niche stuff maybe. For freaking WordPress and Shopify, anything more than $175/hr and you are being robbed. For generic custom dev work (iOS, react, backed) $250/hr is near the top for very reputable studios.

muzani 9y ago
Wordpress and shopify are fast. One developer charging $500/hour might be able to do it cheaper overall than developers charging $50/hour.
apatters 9y ago
People are charging $175/hr for WordPress? This makes me wonder what the hell have I been doing with myself for the past 8 years. My agency charges $50/hr for WordPress devs who know what they're doing. (My email is in my profile!)