I had a meeting this morning with a design/build contractor who I convinced to use my rendering skills to produce...well, nice renderings. I am a planner by trade with a solid foundation in Revit, 3DS max, rhino...+ post production (adobe suites). The usual.
I've used these skills as a salaried employee but never as a independent designer...
What do I charge an hour? After reading Architects Getting f'd on Craigslist , see people asking $15-25/hr... 25 sounds decent to me. Obviously125 would be ideal.
What's realistic number?
Working in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and New York.
Take what you think is a base annual average salary, divide it by 2080, increase it for withholding taxes, other taxes, and imputed desk rent (whether or not you're actually paying desk rent), and the amortized cost of any software/equipment not otherwise reimbursed, and treat the difference is your "overhead" markup (also computed on an hourly basis). That should get you into the right ballpark.
The only difference between hiring a firm or an independent contractor should be the profit (the markup a firm charges above and beyond salaries and overhead).
Also, I'd go ahead and get professional E&O, loss or some variety of insurance like that. You don't necessarily want to spend 200 hours on a wrong project or have your future clients leave you high and dry.
How to Bill Appropriately
I had a meeting this morning with a design/build contractor who I convinced to use my rendering skills to produce...well, nice renderings. I am a planner by trade with a solid foundation in Revit, 3DS max, rhino...+ post production (adobe suites). The usual.
I've used these skills as a salaried employee but never as a independent designer...
What do I charge an hour? After reading Architects Getting f'd on Craigslist , see people asking $15-25/hr... 25 sounds decent to me. Obviously125 would be ideal.
What's realistic number?
Working in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and New York.
Take what you think is a base annual average salary, divide it by 2080, increase it for withholding taxes, other taxes, and imputed desk rent (whether or not you're actually paying desk rent), and the amortized cost of any software/equipment not otherwise reimbursed, and treat the difference is your "overhead" markup (also computed on an hourly basis). That should get you into the right ballpark.
The only difference between hiring a firm or an independent contractor should be the profit (the markup a firm charges above and beyond salaries and overhead).
Also, I'd go ahead and get professional E&O, loss or some variety of insurance like that. You don't necessarily want to spend 200 hours on a wrong project or have your future clients leave you high and dry.
ah yes... insurance. How did I forget that? The cost of that gets factored into your imputed overhead as well.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.