Justifying My Rate

Hi ******,

That’s a perfectly fair question for you to ask. It’s a tough economy and you need to be sure that you’re getting what you pay for. I want to give this the attention if deserves so please forgive me if this gets long-winded.

I can see how it may appear arbitrary, but my rate is actually pretty common for a senior creative professional. I started charging this rate almost a decade ago, before I moved here. At that time, I worked for an agency billing my time out 50% higher than that. There will always be people who charge less and many who charge more than me. But here’s my bullet list:

• Senior level designer (12 years exp.) focused solely on interactive design and UX especially for the actions sports and hospitality industries
• Offering creative direction, design, development, project management services
• My work is efficient and I don’t nickel & dime (cumulative hours are fewer than competitors)
• I work less and produce more; with pride and accountability
• I charge all clients based on the same rate to avoid any conflicts
• Flipside to self-employment: Insurance, equipment, taxes, work space, plus family and household expenses…

At the risk of sounding dismissive, the people who are charging less don’t seem to be getting the job done for you. But that’s not to say there isn’t someone out there who could do the work for less. Admittedly, your site is very well done and I sincerely applaud that effort. Still, my understanding is that you’re not happy with the value you’re getting from that developer in terms of availability and response time.

I don’t typically compete with Utah agencies. But actually my costs tend to be less overall because I simply do the work more quickly and with less BS.  I’ve seen evidence (just today in fact) of Salt Lake agencies doing unnecessary work to pad the hours. I don’t believe in that. Many Utah agencies are able to charge less per hour because they pay their employees well below the national average. In fact, the going rate outside of this region is up to 40% higher. Many local agencies are not able to hire or keep senior-level talent, which drives down the quality of work. Suddenly, what looks like a deal on paper quickly dissipates as the hours add up due to inefficiency and inexperience. I’ve been maintaining this rate for almost 10 years and I’ve never had a problem keeping my clients happy. I have clients all over the country in larger and smaller markets who are happy with the value they get from me.

I work very efficiently. No team meetings or strategy sessions eating up hours and I don’t bill lunch to the client. I don’t typically bill for meetings, emails, or phone calls, just the actual work. In an effort to bill honestly and avoid padding the invoice, time is billed in 5-minute increments. Not rounded to the hour. And please note that my total estimate for a full site build is still much less than agencies.

I limit my projects to maintain the quality. And I only take projects that make the most of my abilities. While I don’t make exceptions for different project types, many agencies offer different rates for different job functions. Often developer rates are less than designer rates, and junior people are billed at a lower rate than senior people, etc. In the past I’ve worked at agencies where the junior talent billed out at $75/hr or so and the Creative Director was more like $200. So it’s important to note exactly who and what you’re getting from an agency.

I can certainly understand where your concern may also involve the nature of this work. Maintenance is important, but it’s different than creative work. However, if I take on this project it will be no less important to me than my largest design project.

If I were to negotiate rates it would be unfair to my other clients. Also, it would be difficult to prioritize projects that pay less. I believe all projects should be top priority. I do offer discounts based on significant payment in advance or for a large commitment of hours. We could also consider a flat monthly retainer but that rarely works out for both parties. However, we can proceed with estimates for each task or set of tasks before I begin work. I believe in fairness and transparency so please let me know if that works.

Anyway, I hope this helps.
Joe