I built some foamcore models for one of my professors and he paid me $15/hr. They were fairly involved - one was a quarter-inch scale model of a theater he was going to renovate. It took FOREVER.

model making should be much more expensive. a firm I was working at a few years ago had to pay 20$ish an hour - they were 3 - 4k models.


Clients who pay for models usually pay alot.

Model making is an expensive business, do no rip yourself off and charge a cheap rate. If you go to this site, this is a guy I know who builds models and normally gets anywhere from 5-15k for a model. here is the link.

www.237am.com

Would a per hour charge change if multiple people were working on a project?

Models are the kind of things that firms can bill the client for at a pretty steep rate, and clients will rarely complain because they are getting something physical in return (at least in my experience). $10 is really too little. I've worked in offices where the model makers made more than some of the licensed architectects, buts that's for another thread.

One thing you should do is to bill an hourly rate, plus cost of materials (keep every receipt and keep exact track of what you use).

If you are going to be doing this in the future, try to get a realistic handle on how long it takes you to make a model. It's vital part of being able to give a good cost estimate, although it can be hard to figure out.

Thanks for the information. Would it make a difference that I am currently in school and graduate in May. I definitly won't do it for under 10$ an hour, I don't need the money that bad.

10 dollars an hour for anything at this point is cheap.
i wouldn't be surprised if you could make something
like 8/hr at mcd's at this point...starting. i would
charge at least 15-20 (as a student)...and more typically on the
higher end...or just a flat rate for the model...it does
depend on how long it will take...and how intricate it is..

you understand that if you make enough on this model
that you'll be filing (most likely) a 1099 and paying self-
employment tax which is something like 33-40%..so if
you're charging $10 you're making $6...and they're not
paying taxes on your salary and not paying for your
health care.

however, it is also likely that someone is trying to get something
done on the cheap (how atypical for an architect) and
that if you charge too much they'll pick another student..
so i'd at least negotiate..

I made a basswood and laser-cut chip board site model while I was in school at a rate of $17/hr (I did not set the rate, but I thought that it was fair considering I was a student), and in the end it cost them about $1500, which was a bargain for them considering they didn't have a model shop and would have paid much more for a professional model builder. I also made the presentation box.

I hadn't thought about it like that. I would assume they are wanting something cheap since they are contacting students in the first place. I guess I could start with an offer of 15$ + materials.

$100k flat fee