I do some side work doing various drawing cleanup/final markup type stuff, so I stick to a per hour charge versus per drawing or square foot. So sometimes I'm my own worst enemy if I estimate wrong. If you can come up with that, that could be a fair way of pricing it out.
I don't do this, but a coworker of mine does a per hour basis for things like meetings and major revisions, and a square foot basis for the first drawing and up to 2 revisions for the house.
Really $5000 for a custom cottage, garage and deck, $5000 is a good deal. That's what you'd pay ordering a pre-designed one from a plan book.
haha I posted this quite a while ago! I believe I ended up charging much less. My rates at at least half of the local competitors.. and it shows on client's surprised faces.
I still feel like I'm ripping them off though.. as it's all extra income.. :/
It really gets me how architects can charge up to $10,000 for some cottages when I go over them and decide I'd have only charged say.. $1000.
I feel your painkajiracadNovember 13 2007, 20:14:37 UTC
When I worked for myself out of my house, I charged a sliding scale PER SHEET. The idea was to ENCOURAGE the developer/originator THINKING AHEAD and PLANNING WELL (and therefore not wasting my time and his/her money).
It looked sort of like this (I'm using 1997 prices because that's when I stopped working for myself -- I didn't like the isolation.) YMMV
1st Draft $250
Other "draft" copies $100 [One of my "sells" was ZERO errors coming from my end. So I gave them incentive to look over what they got by giving $25 back for every error OF MINE they found. (yes, i kept photocopies!)]
Final Copy $200
50% or less redlined $100
more than 50% redlined $175
By pricing PER SHEET it didn't matter whether it took me a half hour or 25 hours to do a sheet -- it all balanced out in the end. (Besides, back then everybody wanted HARD COPY and that was a royal pain for me to produce.)
Re: I feel your painsularetalMarch 6 2008, 22:52:39 UTC
:)
I feel so limited.. the largest size I can plot at is on an 11x17. Otherwise, I'd feel more comfortable using a sliding scale per sheet.
I am sure in the future I will change my rate.. but for the moment I am just doing what I can. :)
Clients though... haha.. they sure like to deviate from the plans. Just today, I found out one fellow substituted joist hangers supporting a roof for nails.. without advising myself or the inspector.
For basic drafting work, I charge $35/hr but with my current workload, I may be bumping that up to $45. For more advanced work (usually involving more fancy photo manipulation, color work, etc...) I will charge $50/hr and up. I have not worked on a per job basis yet but, for the right price, I might consider it. The risk is always getting screwed in the end by some unseen complication that will burn up all your time and you still wind up with the same fee at the end. I'd try and stay hourly if you possibly can. I believe this is fair to you in that if there are needs for revisions or additions, there is already a cost in place for the work. Good luck!
thanks. it sounds like your plans end up nicer than mine :/
Since this post.. I have had unseen complications.. and many revisions later I have learned my lesson. I now state that I will do one revision without extra cost but after that there will be additional charges.
I still prefer the charge per drawing.. since it's still winter and I'm stuck indoors.. I hardly even notice. I put the tele on, sit back, and casually draw.
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I expect to make 20% of my income on plans.. so really.. that's pretty cool.
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Really $5000 for a custom cottage, garage and deck, $5000 is a good deal. That's what you'd pay ordering a pre-designed one from a plan book.
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I posted this quite a while ago!
I believe I ended up charging much less.
My rates at at least half of the local competitors.. and it shows on client's surprised faces.
I still feel like I'm ripping them off though.. as it's all extra income.. :/
It really gets me how architects can charge up to $10,000 for some cottages when I go over them and decide I'd have only charged say.. $1000.
I just can't help but shake my head.
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It looked sort of like this (I'm using 1997 prices because that's when I stopped working for myself -- I didn't like the isolation.) YMMV
1st Draft $250
Other "draft" copies $100 [One of my "sells" was ZERO errors coming from my end. So I gave them incentive to look over what they got by giving $25 back for every error OF MINE they found. (yes, i kept photocopies!)]
Final Copy $200
50% or less redlined $100
more than 50% redlined $175
By pricing PER SHEET it didn't matter whether it took me a half hour or 25 hours to do a sheet -- it all balanced out in the end. (Besides, back then everybody wanted HARD COPY and that was a royal pain for me to produce.)
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I feel so limited.. the largest size I can plot at is on an 11x17.
Otherwise, I'd feel more comfortable using a sliding scale per sheet.
I am sure in the future I will change my rate.. but for the moment I am just doing what I can. :)
Clients though... haha.. they sure like to deviate from the plans.
Just today, I found out one fellow substituted joist hangers supporting a roof for nails.. without advising myself or the inspector.
(shakes head)
Thanks for the reply!
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it sounds like your plans end up nicer than mine :/
Since this post.. I have had unseen complications.. and many revisions later I have learned my lesson.
I now state that I will do one revision without extra cost but after that there will be additional charges.
I still prefer the charge per drawing.. since it's still winter and I'm stuck indoors.. I hardly even notice.
I put the tele on, sit back, and casually draw.
Thanks for your reply.
Reply
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