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I use a simple formula for pricing - what I make times four: - 1/4 what I make - 1/4 equipment and software cost and amortization - 1/4 corporate profit (I h

I use a simple formula for pricing - what I make times four: - 1/4 what I make - 1/4 equipment and software cost and amortization - 1/4 corporate profit (I have a company setup) - 1/4 corporate cost overhead + corporate tax so if I make $100 per hour - total cost is $400 + VAT per hour. Cost per my hour is the variable here - because some things are more expensive than others. 3D VFX costs up to $400 per hour, while a simple coding session or a gfx session might be $50. Thus it can vary from $200 to $1600 per actual working hour. It depends on the complexity of the task. Also, after a certain threshold of needed working hours I tend to switch to a billable day unit vs hours. Other things like if I need to go on location/set etc. play an additional role. same goes for time needed, but in more loose terms: Whatever I think it will take times four - and most of the time that estimate turns out to be right (sometimes due to me, sometimes due to client). But that is just me, over the years I found out that this metrics works best for me.

vgurgov 16y ago
After reading some 208 words that it took you to reply that q, i still didnt get how do you actually estimate time that it will take you to do some prjct. You reply can be pretty much summarized as: "I have overpriced hourly-based model" which is 202 words less than what you wrote.
- Keyframe 16y ago
  Where did I say anything about overpriced model? Being smug doesn't help you. Prices are what they are because market dictates them like so. VFX Supervision costs roughly $3000-$5000 USD per session of roughly 2-4 hours. That is the standard rate. Price has its reasons why it is so high, not one of those is "because I say so". If you work on web sites for a client for $50, that doesn't mean it is a standard rate everybody else bills. To address your second point, which was inferred in the text. Calculating time needed is, in my case, always based on experience. My experience, in my line of work, is pretty much in line with others in the field. For a trivial example, if you know that doing a 'flying logo' shot of 15 seconds takes you 2 hours to create from provided materials - you multiply that by 4 to give an estimate to your client. Because there will be revisions which eat time. In the end, I am rarely at the estimated amount because I have a safe buffer of X4, so client never gets screwed by getting a wrong estimate. It's better to overshoot an estimate than undershoot it. Because client can budget accordingly both time and money, which is really important in VFX. In the end client will get billed at that amount or less, or overshoot budget due to complications on his end.

vgurgov 16y ago

After reading some 208 words that it took you to reply that q, i still didnt get how do you actually estimate time that it will take you to do some prjct. You reply can be pretty much summarized as: "I have overpriced hourly-based model" which is 202 words less than what you wrote.

Keyframe 16y ago
Where did I say anything about overpriced model? Being smug doesn't help you. Prices are what they are because market dictates them like so. VFX Supervision costs roughly $3000-$5000 USD per session of roughly 2-4 hours. That is the standard rate. Price has its reasons why it is so high, not one of those is "because I say so". If you work on web sites for a client for $50, that doesn't mean it is a standard rate everybody else bills. To address your second point, which was inferred in the text. Calculating time needed is, in my case, always based on experience. My experience, in my line of work, is pretty much in line with others in the field. For a trivial example, if you know that doing a 'flying logo' shot of 15 seconds takes you 2 hours to create from provided materials - you multiply that by 4 to give an estimate to your client. Because there will be revisions which eat time. In the end, I am rarely at the estimated amount because I have a safe buffer of X4, so client never gets screwed by getting a wrong estimate. It's better to overshoot an estimate than undershoot it. Because client can budget accordingly both time and money, which is really important in VFX. In the end client will get billed at that amount or less, or overshoot budget due to complications on his end.