How Much Should I Charge for the Video? Full Guide
We go over how to figure out how much your video services are worth to potential customers, including gear, travel costs, and the editing process.
Nowadays, there is a high demand for professionals with experience in video editing. Without a doubt, you should make the most of your abilities and use them to earn a great living.
But what rate should you charge customers for your services? Since rates can vary greatly depending on the project and the editor’s level of experience, it can be challenging to establish a fair price as a freelancer.
But a person’s life is really the real answer. Here’s a method for how to start computing it. And while this advice will be helpful, it might not be accurate. That’s beneficial, though, as it will enable you to ascertain your exact worth and the best way to convey it to potential customers.
Determining How Much to Charge as a Freelance Video Editor
It’s important to keep in mind that there are some variables that can make these numbers somewhat shaky before we dive into the specific figures and methods of figuring out a fair price to charge for your video editing.
Although we can undoubtedly determine an average fair value, keep in mind that the following factors may cause your rate to differ slightly from someone else’s. As a starting point for the amount you ought to charge as a freelance video editor, I’ll also give you some actual figures.
Hourly Rates by Your Level of Expertise
It should go without saying, but you will undoubtedly start at the bottom of the rates if you are fresh out of college and have little experience working on professional projects.
Don’t stress or worry about it. In such a cutthroat field, it’s not uncommon to even accept a few free gigs to build up a strong portfolio before charging for real work.
When I first started out, I did this, and after just two or three gigs, I had customers approaching me and asking for my time. At this point, you can start to assign your work a monetary value.
The value of your time should be a constant consideration as you advance, though. You can’t work for free forever; time is a valuable resource. The general rule of thumb is to bill an hourly rate that takes into account both the project’s complexity and your level of experience.
If you’re a novice editor working on a straightforward project, for instance, you might bill $25 to $35 per hour. However, $75 to $100 per hour is very attainable if you have many years of experience and a strong portfolio.
In conclusion, your rate will rise as your experience and portfolio expand.
Hourly Rates by Geographic Location
This is a big one: Your rates will vary depending on where you live, the cost of living there, and the general freelance environment there. For instance, experienced video editors in New York City typically bill upwards of $150 or more per hour for their services.
You might have to charge a little less if you reside in a small town in the middle of nowhere, though, simply because there aren’t as many wealthy clients who are prepared to pay top dollar for your services.
Knowing the going rate for freelance work in your area will help you set your own rates appropriately. Later, we’ll discuss some specific numbers you can anticipate in various areas.
Hourly Rates by the Type of Client and Level of Work
As a self-employed video editor, you can work with a variety of clients. Some of them will be independent YouTubers or tiny businesses with meager resources. In these circumstances, you might have to reduce your rates in order to secure the job.
Other customers will be huge corporations that can afford to pay top dollar for your services. Your expected rate will be significantly influenced by the kind of client you work with.
Let’s get into some specific figures you can anticipate charging in various scenarios now that we’ve covered some of the factors that can affect your freelance video editing rates.
Charging a Fixed Rate
A fixed-rate guarantees a certain amount of money. If you charge by the hour, the client might decide to stop the project midway through. Or you might finish the job sooner than you anticipated. A fixed fee guarantees that you will at least receive a specific amount of money for the project in both scenarios.
An hourly wage encourages laziness and slow work.
The client considers it expensive to pay a premium hourly rate. You might find it challenging to accept that you are paid $80 per hour. The client is not aware, however, that you must pay for your equipment, that taxes account for more than 30% of that sum, and that you do not receive any vacation or retirement benefits.
But if you charge $800 for a 10-hour video project, that works out to an hourly rate of $80. It is much better to pay someone $80/hour and not know how long it will take than to pay $800 for a video.
If the agreement permits it, you might be able to add the extra hours to your bill if they were the client’s fault. For instance, in the past video projects I’ve worked on, we’ve provided two rounds of edits: one after the rough cut and another after the fine cut.
If they return after we have given them the “final cut” with more notes, we reserve the right to charge them extra.’
Factors to Help Determine Your Pricing Structure
There are two main ways in which you can charge for video editing services:
- You can charge by the hour
- You can charge by the project
Each method of setting your fee has advantages and disadvantages, and it frequently comes down to what you or your client prefer.
Pros and Cons of Charging by the Hour
In order to charge by the hour, you simply keep track of the time you spend working on a project and multiply that amount by your hourly rate.
For instance, if you charge $50 per hour and it takes you five hours to finish a project, you would bill the client $250 for the entire project.
The main benefit of charging by the hour is that you can easily keep track of your time and make fairly accurate time estimates for projects.
Additionally, since you are aware that you will be paid for the time spent on revisions or additional work from your client, you won’t need to worry about it.
Simply because of that, this is my preferred method of billing. I’ve had some bad experiences in the past with clients who abused my time without setting clear boundaries.
It can be challenging to estimate how long a project will actually take you to complete when you bill by the hour, which is a drawback.
As an illustration, you may predict that a project will take five hours, but it actually takes ten. In these circumstances, you would have to charge the client for the additional time.
Clients may frequently feel overcharged or underpaid as a result of this. If you are a very effective editor, that could work against you as well. (This is me!) Simply because you complete a task quickly does not entail that you should be compensated less.
As you can see, this strategy has some advantages and disadvantages. Having some experience will help you and your future clients figure out what suits you the best.
Pros and Cons of Charging by the Project
In comparison to billing by the hour, project-based billing is a little more challenging. In order to use this technique, you must calculate how long the project will take you to complete and multiply that number by your hourly rate.
For instance, if you bill $50 per hour and it takes you ten hours to finish a project, your total charge to the client would be $500.
This approach is advantageous because it provides you with a fixed payment amount that you can anticipate getting for each project.
When you have some experience under your belt, it is also much simpler to predict how long a project will take you to finish. The drawback of charging per project is that you might find yourself putting in more time than you had planned.
For instance, you might predict that a project will take ten hours, but it actually takes fifteen. In such circumstances, you would still only bill the client for the ten hours you projected.
As a result of your perception that you aren’t being paid for the effort you put in, this can frequently cause frustration on your part.
There are some benefits and drawbacks to this strategy, just like with billing by the hour. Even if you charge by the project, there are some things you can do to safeguard your time.
You could, for instance, include a clause in your contract charging an additional hourly rate for any revisions above a predetermined included number. They will be aware of what to anticipate from the beginning, and I won’t feel like I’ve been taken advantage of.
Prior to beginning any work, make sure that a written contract is being created. In order for you to both understand and know what to anticipate from one another, it should contain all of the project’s requirements.
The choice of pricing strategy that is best for you and your company ultimately rests with you. It all depends on what you or your client prefer; there is no right or wrong answer.
Try some things out to see which feels most natural to you. And if you think your compensation is unfair, don’t be afraid to make changes.
Things to Remember When Deciding Your Charging
Read the Terms
Get a clear understanding of the project’s payment schedule, including whether you’ll be paid on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Here’s how to get started using contracts if you’re a freelance editor or videographer.
To accurately estimate the project’s duration for the client, you must first have this information. To put it bluntly, if you’re just getting started, you might feel like you’re throwing darts in the dark for a while.
You will undoubtedly reach a stage where estimating the time required to edit a project will come naturally to you.
Clients Affect Videographer Rates
Versions, lifts, and revisions all come into play when you consider the customer; this is the crucial point. This is crucial if you are paid a flat rate because you will need to outline the details of your compensation upfront. You receive 125 hours of unedited video from the client, 65 of which are interviews.
They want you to cut it down to a 30-minute documentary for primetime TV, and you better be accurate with your estimate, so what do you do?
Otherwise, you run the risk of suffering a significant financial loss. You may also need to put in a lot of your own time to complete the project if you significantly underestimated the workload.
Transparency Helps Set Editor Rates
Last but not least, learn as much as you can about the project beforehand. This holds true regardless of whether you’re looking for a long-term job or a temporary position. It’s a good idea to learn how much money has been allocated for the project’s editing before providing a quote.
You may need to adopt a “sliding scale” policy, so keep that in mind. to generate a range of prices for different professions. Make sure that any project cost-cutting is done for the best possible reasons. It might be to forge a relationship with a client, land a prestigious job, or exercise your creative side.
As an alternative, you could use the adage “fast, cheap, good—pick two” if a client keeps asking you to lower your rate. Then, if they continue to return, you must be doing something right; as a result, don’t be reluctant to admit it.
Conclusion: Charge What You’re Worth
As a final reminder, never be afraid to demand what you are worth. Don’t be afraid to charge more if you have a lot of experience or if you focus on a particular aspect of video editing. If you are providing high-quality work, your clients will be happy to pay you what you are worth.
Although you can be flexible, the best way to guarantee fair value is to be upfront about your expectations, depending on the project. It may take an hour to make one small change and export a new draft because your computer needs to render everything first.
Hopefully, this helps you come up with a better estimate for the cost of your video editing services. Please feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions, and I’ll do my best to respond.
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