How much should I charge for shooting and editing 360º videos?
March 7, 2016 7:57 AM Subscribe
I have the opportunity to pick up a new side gig shooting 360º immersive videos for real estate agents. What is a good pricing structure that would make the service appealing to agents, yet make the time spent shooting and editing, worth my while?
On a sample video I have already made of a large modern house, actual shooting took about 45 minutes. Editing (now that I have climbed a bit of the Adobe learning curve and figured much of my workflow) I estimate to be at approximately 2 hours per video tops--most likely quite a bit less. I estimate the finished videos to be between 1-3 minutes long.
Adobe subscriptions are $30/month (unless this takes off and I can justify committing to an annual plan, then it drops to $20). Videos will be hosted on YouTube, so listing agents can share the links (MLS, Zillow, Trulia, Facebook).
So what should I be charging, given that I intend this just to be a little supplimentary income?
Here's an example of one of my videos.
Works only on the YouTube app on mobile, otherwise use your mouse on desktop. It is still rendering so it may be fuzzy for up to a couple hours.
On a sample video I have already made of a large modern house, actual shooting took about 45 minutes. Editing (now that I have climbed a bit of the Adobe learning curve and figured much of my workflow) I estimate to be at approximately 2 hours per video tops--most likely quite a bit less. I estimate the finished videos to be between 1-3 minutes long.
Adobe subscriptions are $30/month (unless this takes off and I can justify committing to an annual plan, then it drops to $20). Videos will be hosted on YouTube, so listing agents can share the links (MLS, Zillow, Trulia, Facebook).
So what should I be charging, given that I intend this just to be a little supplimentary income?
Here's an example of one of my videos.
Works only on the YouTube app on mobile, otherwise use your mouse on desktop. It is still rendering so it may be fuzzy for up to a couple hours.
Then again, if the video makes the home sell faster then the agent might care more about that than the actual increase in the price of the home, since this would represent recovered opportunity cost.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:10 AM on March 7, 2016
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:10 AM on March 7, 2016
Things like professional photography for a listing are very often paid for by the agent without the cost being passed through to the seller. The selling agent generally makes 3% of the sale price of the home, less another 30-ish% to their broker, and this is paid on a 1099, so estimate another third or so for federal and state taxes. In Albuquerque, the average listing will net the agent about $3,000 before you take into account their operating expenses - like pictures, videos, business overhead, etc.
A full set of professional pictures for a listing goes for about $125 in Albuquerque, so I would be surprised if a video like yours would go for more than about $250, and honestly I guess agents would only even consider it for their highest-end listings where the cost represents a smaller percentage of their commission.
posted by antimony at 8:31 AM on March 7, 2016
A full set of professional pictures for a listing goes for about $125 in Albuquerque, so I would be surprised if a video like yours would go for more than about $250, and honestly I guess agents would only even consider it for their highest-end listings where the cost represents a smaller percentage of their commission.
posted by antimony at 8:31 AM on March 7, 2016
Figure based on an hourly rate. That would include editing and other post production, of course. It would include what you deserve to be paid, plus some overhead include equipment and materials cost, transportation, dealing with the client, etc.
In my area, it costs $100/hour for just about anyone's time including car mechanics (huge overhead!) and exterminators (travel, but less overhead), etc.
Check to see if your state will require you to collect sales tax.
posted by SemiSalt at 9:06 AM on March 7, 2016
In my area, it costs $100/hour for just about anyone's time including car mechanics (huge overhead!) and exterminators (travel, but less overhead), etc.
Check to see if your state will require you to collect sales tax.
posted by SemiSalt at 9:06 AM on March 7, 2016
Response by poster: Yeah, I was thinking that this would only be of interest with high-end residential and commercial properties, where the video fee would be a smaller percentage of the commission.
Given the famously, uh, "parsimonious" nature of this town my gut was kind of telling me $195
posted by sourwookie at 9:52 AM on March 7, 2016
Given the famously, uh, "parsimonious" nature of this town my gut was kind of telling me $195
posted by sourwookie at 9:52 AM on March 7, 2016
In addition to selling the actual house/property, those videos are still novel enough to help pull in entirely new clients for the agency, so that's another angle you can pitch it from. (PS, I really like your video but think could use a little "you are here" floorplan hovering in the corner, if that's not a total pain.)
posted by teremala at 10:10 AM on March 7, 2016
posted by teremala at 10:10 AM on March 7, 2016
Some tangent advice -- one great way to feel out what something is worth to a particular client in **any** industry is just straight up ask "What's your budget?". The sort of answers you get from this straightforward question can tell you a lot about folks general thoughts on what something is worth, as well as a lot about the individual people you'll be temporarily working for.
posted by alana at 10:36 AM on March 7, 2016
posted by alana at 10:36 AM on March 7, 2016
1) What you charge now is not what you charge later; I'd do it for $200/video (and would consider that a low rate), then when you build up a portfolio of videos (say, 10), pitch to other real estate agencies at a higher rate.
2) In the futuer, I'd consider a rate based per shot/sqft, since a small 2br house with 6~7 shots (2 bedrooms, bathroom, living room, kitchen, 2 exteriors) is going to be vastly easier than a 6br house with 30 shots. $X per panorama with a minimum of 10 panoramas, say.
3) P.S. Some color correction / levels adjustment will be necessary to make sure that the space feels punchy and light; as it is, it feels a little bit drab. Seconding the 'you are here' floorplan, also.
Good luck! It's a good idea.
posted by suedehead at 10:52 AM on March 7, 2016
2) In the futuer, I'd consider a rate based per shot/sqft, since a small 2br house with 6~7 shots (2 bedrooms, bathroom, living room, kitchen, 2 exteriors) is going to be vastly easier than a 6br house with 30 shots. $X per panorama with a minimum of 10 panoramas, say.
3) P.S. Some color correction / levels adjustment will be necessary to make sure that the space feels punchy and light; as it is, it feels a little bit drab. Seconding the 'you are here' floorplan, also.
Good luck! It's a good idea.
posted by suedehead at 10:52 AM on March 7, 2016
Knowing nothing about your market, my gut tells me that $195 seems low.
Assuming 0.75 hours to shoot, 1.25 hours to edit ("quite a bit less" than 2 hours), and 0.5 hours travel time, you'd be paying yourself at a rate of $78 per hour before taxes, or your expenses (gas, adobe subscription, etc.) For professional work, you should really be expecting something more like $100/hr as mentioned above.
I'd also look at what folks in your area charge for real estate photography. I did a really lazy search, and came up with $145 for 1-1.5 hours. I'm sure the 3D video aspect of this is worth a hefty premium (even up to 100% over those rates).
Finally, you're entering into a field with potentially more "tech support" issues than what you'd get with photographs. Will you be hosting these all on your personal YouTube? How long will you promise availability for? Will you run into any bandwidth/upload limits on your YouTube account? Will you be encouraging agents to host them themselves? Will you have to teach them how to do this?
posted by sparklemotion at 2:46 PM on March 7, 2016
Assuming 0.75 hours to shoot, 1.25 hours to edit ("quite a bit less" than 2 hours), and 0.5 hours travel time, you'd be paying yourself at a rate of $78 per hour before taxes, or your expenses (gas, adobe subscription, etc.) For professional work, you should really be expecting something more like $100/hr as mentioned above.
I'd also look at what folks in your area charge for real estate photography. I did a really lazy search, and came up with $145 for 1-1.5 hours. I'm sure the 3D video aspect of this is worth a hefty premium (even up to 100% over those rates).
Finally, you're entering into a field with potentially more "tech support" issues than what you'd get with photographs. Will you be hosting these all on your personal YouTube? How long will you promise availability for? Will you run into any bandwidth/upload limits on your YouTube account? Will you be encouraging agents to host them themselves? Will you have to teach them how to do this?
posted by sparklemotion at 2:46 PM on March 7, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
I don't think you should be charging less than $300-500ish, so having done that math (assuming $5000 is a reasonable pay-off number), I hope this is an add-on that the agent will charge the seller for and not something the agent actually pays for.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:08 AM on March 7, 2016