anybody ever have this problem? ...choosing your rates

[Lifeforce]

Hi. I got a problem. I have a client who I did some Actionscript work for. He liked it and now he's sending some more work my way. This is great but I charged a really low rate for the first project since im sort of a newbie. And im realizing that if im gonna do this for a living, I need to charge more for my work. Should I raise my rates on him now that he knows the quality of my work? Anybody ever have this problem? Thanks. see ya.

[jamble]

It's a tough one, he would probably expect that all future work be done at a lower rate. You need to strike a balance between offering a quality service and a good price. Usually clients are happy if you offer a detailled breakdown of how you arrive at a cost so perhaps work on that aspect of the quote?

[MG315]

describe to him that you are providing a higher quality product/service and you are more skilled now than you were before. Since your skills have increased, so has your hourly rate. Then detail your estimated time for the project and multiply it by the hourly rate.

If you show him increased quality (which is difficult with coding) you can justify a price increase.

...or estimate it would take longer (you want to double your rate, estimate twice as long as you think it will take.

[OddDog]

the tipical error of lowering prices to get the client ....


well the little experience i have had on this, i did it on my first job, results in me never doing it again !!!


very difficult to change the perception of value in the mind of the client ...

[hurricaneone]

Honesty is the best policy.

I think you should explain to your guy that you low-balled 'em first time around to close the deal, but you're gonna have to crank your rates up to a realistic level for future work - citing the need to eat, pay rent, etc.

I wouldn't recommend making some crazy demand, like jumping from $10 to $100/hr - try to be reasonable about it. With that, if they don't go for it, then you know that they were just looking to take advantage of your low prices and not your skills.

[Lifeforce]

Thanks for the replies. I've decided to do one more project for my old rate then explain the situation when the next job comes or after I finish this one. At least im benefiting in that I'm getting some experience eh?

[dlowe93]

Originally posted by MG315
If you show him increased quality (which is difficult with coding) you can justify a price increase.

It's not just quality that comes into play, it's efficiency as well. Consider what you can do over the course of an hour now as opposed to what you could do when you started.

I can do things now in a few hours that used to take me days, all due to skill and experience. I try to avoid quoting by the hour since it really doesn't work to my advantage to work as efficiently as i can,

d.

[defuzz]

if you do do him more work at your old rate, tell him before you start that it will go up soon. If you have done work at a lower rate without telling him its an introductory rate then he will rpesum it is the normal rate and could get annoyed if you up your rate.

[younghistorians]

Take a look at some of the links in my sig


http://alistapart.com/stories/fee/

[Lifeforce]

cool thanks for those links. I'll give those a look. I already agreed to do the project. We didnt actually discuss rates so he's probably assuming the old rate... Ah well, I'll figure it out. I got another gig at a much better rate signed anyway so Im not too worried. Anybody ever have to juggle a couple projects at once?