Graphic-Designer-Filter: sanity check on quoting a huge project?

December 10, 2019 2:51 PM

I've been asked to submit a quote for something that's an order of magnitude longer (literally 10x) than what I usually do. Should I just 10x my usual quote, ie enough to buy a brand new car? Or is that insane? I know there are lots of blog posts out there about how to price graphic design projects, but either they are too vague or they focus on things I don't do (logos, illustration, etc). I just need a sanity check here, and if you want to share some of your pricing strategies that would be appreciated.

I'm a solo freelance graphic designer. I do a LOT of report design, mostly bridging the space between technical/scientific teams to public outreach materials. I charge a bit more than average because I have 10+ years experience in a niche area and I offer proofreading as part of the package. Also, I don't quote hourly because I find it makes my breed of clients uncomfortable and puts me at a disadvantage relative to other designers.

My usual report falls somewhere between 20 - 40 pages, with about 200 - 400 words per page depending on how dense vs 'designy' they want it. My usual rate is ballpark $2,000-$4,000 for a report of this size (keeping in mind this is CAD not USD, but input from Americans is welcome). The overall word count for these reports can vary a huge amount, but the absolute max is 10,000 words. If infographics are included I price those separately, per piece.

I've been asked to quote on a report that is going to be 85,000-90,000 words. (!!!) Based on some very rough calculations it'll be about 240-450 pages. Would it be reasonable to quote this at $24,000-$45,000? Have you designed a report of this size before (or contracted someone else for this), and do you feel like this is in the right ballpark?

I haven't done something of this size so maybe this price tag is totally reasonable and I'm just a bit nervous? I do feel confident I can pull it off, and I have a reliable subcontractor on tap if necessary. If it matters, the client will be getting other quotes because they are a government-linked nonprofit.

posted by 100kb to Work & Money (6 answers total)

Best answer: Many contractors will charge slightly less for large jobs because they have to do less overhead work - for the duration of the contract, they only need to deal with contract questions from one customer and they only need to pursue one organization for payment. Having to deal with 10 separate jobs takes more time than 1 larger job.

You may consider something like a 5-10% discount off of your usual metrics to account for the reduced overhead. Otherwise, I just checked your math, and so far as I can tell, this seems very sane.

When I started with project estimation, I was similarly surprised when numbers wrapped up to a large total sum. I was fortunate to have someone provide the insight that in a well-executed negotiation, you should be equally comfortable with your customer taking your proposal as with your customer rejecting your proposal. If you are performing work at a competitive rate, then if your customer rejects your proposal, they simply can't afford you and attempting to cater to their needs would result in you losing out on potential profit from other customers. If you're confident in your rates (which I have no reason to doubt), then yes, a larger job will cost commensurately more money.
posted by saeculorum at 3:03 PM on December 10, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I would consider that since this is a different kind of project, a different design approach may be needed. At 20-40 pages, I assume each page gets a fully custom design that you are fine-tuning down to the pixel. Your price “per page” is likely quite high. I wonder if the longer report you are quoting is likely to have a large number of pages (100-150 of them?) that are just text with no graphics? Or would it be better to come up with ~40 page templates and re-use them over and over again throughout the report? I think there should be a more cost effective option for them to accomplish their goal. You could offer a set of different price points with different levels of customization.
posted by amaire at 3:11 PM on December 10, 2019

Best answer: Back in my previous life, I retained graphic designers to provide similar services pretty regularly.. I don't know if the following is relevant to your work and this project, but I'm a bit bothered by the idea of charging 10x your rate if there aren't also 10x the amount of original design work establishing the document's overall look (including things like how chapters will work, standards for graphics, etc.) as opposed to layout work guided by the rules established during the design work, prooofreading and other services that are clearly proportionate to word or page count. The design work, including gaining the client's approval, providing multiple iterations, etc. doesn't seem to me to be strictly proportionate to length. So you might think about how x for your typical project breaks down and then how many multiples of each type of work you anticipate being required for this big project.

Sometimes I think I got a discount for big projects reflecting reduced costs of marketing and other overhead. Conversely, it's also arguable that there should be no discount because they are potentially putting you in the position of being unable to attract new clients or serve existing ones, which may be forced to go elsewhere as a result: both represent risks to the long-term viability of your business.

Congratulations on this big opportunity!
posted by carmicha at 3:11 PM on December 10, 2019 [5 favorites]

It sounds like it's more of a book than a report. If the price includes proofreading that means you will have to be going over every page with a fine tooth comb, and also managing all the revisions & back and forth on that scale will require additional organization work on your part to keep everything straight, especially if you hire a subcontractor. I think you should charge as much as you can and if they say no then they say no.
posted by bleep at 4:13 PM on December 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

I'm not charging enough. A 100,000 word thesis with multiple (over 100) tables and over 50 graphics took me 60 hours at $50 per hour. Conference Proceedings, cover design and separate page design for every page came in around the same. Would you like to sub some of your work to me? I've got a degree in graphic design and over 12 years experience in report design and journal proofing, 12 books I've formatted to publisher requirements with an average of 40 graphics each. I usually do university-based work, including checking references (APA). I say, whatever you can get away with but there must be others like me who would (unintentionally) undercut you.
posted by b33j at 7:48 PM on December 10, 2019

Response by poster: I'm not charging enough. A 100,000 word thesis with multiple (over 100) tables and over 50 graphics took me 60 hours at $50 per hour.... I say, whatever you can get away with but there must be others like me who would (unintentionally) undercut you.

b33j, I'm in Canada so the market might be different where you are, or the sector you're working in (also I can only subcontract to Canadians, unfortunately) but to me it sounds like you should raise your rate. Your example is kind of why I stopped charging hourly — if I'm fast I end up getting paid less per project than someone who is super slow, even if I raise my $/hour rate. And clients often think 4 hours at $50/hr seems like a better deal than 2 hours at $100/hr, even if the same or better work gets done in that time.

Anyway, I appreciate everyone's thoughts, it has been helpful to get some perspective.
posted by 100kb at 11:00 AM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]