Do you charge?

[Tint Wife]

For those of you who do sign work.... do you charge for artwork development or refinement? Lately I find myself putting in a couple of hours on some customers artwork, you know those 'could you create' or 'could you just change that', they start out fairly simple but then end up being altered a dozen times over before the customer is happy. I have never charged a fee to date and I doubt that I will for the things that take me a couple of minutes, but as much as I enjoy the creative side of this I am beginning to think that I have been short changing myself.... So does anyone charge??

[Fiveofeen]

Unless your business is called "Salvation Army Tint & Graphics" I sure hope so! They wouldn't do their work for free.

Just so you know graphic design work can cost in the $100 an hour range so don't be afraid to bill the client if you are performing quality graphic work for them.

[Guest Darknesswithin]

we charge a 1 time set up fee per design

[APTINT]

I feel like you have to charge for design because people are crazy and are going to want to change things 20 times before they're happy......especially if you have to pay someone to do the design for you, then 50% deposit before production, charge for design varies on what the custy has....and time of what you put in

[Tint Wife]

Unless your business is called "Salvation Army Tint & Graphics" I sure hope so! They wouldn't do their work for free.

Just so you know graphic design work can cost in the $100 an hour range so don't be afraid to bill the client if you are performing quality graphic work for them.

Thanks LTL, I never quite thought of it that way ... and to think that I have been accused of being smart

we charge a 1 time set up fee per design

Darkness, that could be a good way to start.

I feel like you have to charge for design because people are crazy and are going to want to change things 20 times before they're happy......especially if you have to pay someone to do the design for you, then 50% deposit before production, charge for design varies on what the custy has....and time of what you put in

Yeah, that's what's been happening. Fortunately I don't have to pay someone else to do the designing.

Thanks for the input guys....

[vanja]

You can always send them to get the design from a reputable design studio in your area.

After they hear the price for the designs there, they will be more than happy to pay whatever you ask.

[Tint Artist]

I have a graphic artist who designs all are graphics, banners and signs! On some designs and layouts he has spent days getting them ready and sometimes this doesn't include changes! No matter how small or big time is money! What you can do is give them an hourly rate of what design time will be but but not exceeding so many hours! But always charge for changes after 3 modifications or some people will change things over and over again!

[Jayz81]

Charge for your design time , but within reason. And what I mean by this is if it takes you 3 hours to design a simple sign, you can not charge for 3 hours , probably a half hour at most. On the other hand if you really good , and can do a awesome layout that should take 3 hours in 1 1/2 hours, by all means charge accordingly. I have had probably 5 graphic designers work for me in the past , of all different skill levels , and each were paid accordingly to their experience.

[blade]

$50/hr. set fee here. i'm usually pretty nice when it comes down to it though depends on the customer's attitude.