Personal Project Rates

Project rates are sort of the in-between rate – you’re not getting paid against a time, and you’re not budgeting an entire project, with multiple folks. Though, many principles from personal project rates apply to creating a budget for a wider project. But with personal project rates, you’re estimating what you believe you should cost over the entirety of a project. If you know what to expect from a client and a project, the Personal Project Rate is actually a pretty good way to roll. 

For budgeting project rates, I recommend estimating how much it would cost you to complete the tasks based on a day rate, multiplying it by 1.5x and calling that the estimate. 

With a project rate, it’s important to define terms – such as quantifiables deliverables, or timeline requirements. This can be casual, but should always be in writing. 

For most of my post-production and VFX clients, I bill against an estimated project rate, and flag for overages as we go.