Advice for potential paying shoots

[astrobrian]

I am being offered a couple of potential paying gig taking pictures of houses for a realtor, and also a remodeler wanting before and after shots of his work.

Just hoping to get suggestions to any do's and don'ts for either potential job.

Thanks

Brian

[TxTowman]

There is a service that does the realtor thing, they pay $5 yea, that's right $5.

I am not doing it for that.

Sid

[texkam]

Contract.

[Tom]

Get your tax license. Charge tax. Pay tax.

[kayumangi]

Determine how much travel, setup and tear-down does it take for each real-estate you're shooting. Same thing with the remodeler. If the hours vary then charge them a day rate, if you can control how long then charge hourly instead. Either way charge for your time on top of the costs for the actual images.

If you don't know how much is your time is worth then use your day jobs hourly rate and multiply it by at least 3 (because you want to make sure you have enough to pay taxes both state and federal).

Like mark said get a commercial contract, if you can't find something get one from John Meriles's site Photographer's Tool Kit | Wedding, Portrait and Associate Photography Contracts it's worth every penny.

[astrobrian]

Thank you all, good suggestions, keep 'em coming :) And yes, I was going with a day rate based off my day job, did not think about the 3x though, good points all around

[ronocnikral]

Originally Posted by kayumangi

If you don't know how much is your time is worth then use your day jobs hourly rate and multiply it by at least 3 (because you want to make sure you have enough to pay taxes both state and federal).

if my day job's hourly rate is $300/hr. should i charge $900/hr?

part of growing as a business person is learning how you undervalue your time. most people endure this pain. those who don't are very intelligent and lucky. charge what you think you are worth and go do it. come home, reflect back on what happened and if you got paid fairly.

you could practice this as well, do a shoot of your child. act like you are bidding it out. track all hours and materials is takes to do the job. tally up how much you really made.

There are certain things that cannot be adequately explained to a virgin either by words or pictures.

-fred schwed

[kayumangi]

And what's wrong with $900 per hour? If you're used to receiving $300 per hour then that amount is normal to you. It's all a matter of perspective after all.

I don't believe in undervaluing your time nor your work just to learn a lesson, because if I did, after the shoot I'd feel cheated.

[ronocnikral]

Originally Posted by kayumangi

I don't believe in undervaluing your time nor your work just to learn a lesson, because if I did, after the shoot I'd feel cheated.

It's all a matter of perspective after all. how can you tell me what my time is worth for doing something? hint: it's not tied to my day job's rate. it's a personal adventure, not what random people on the internet can tell you.

[kayumangi]

The OP asked for suggestions I gave mine. The job rate correlation is easier to digest because it is something familiar to everyone, specially non-full time togs.

As to whether its the best course of action to take, is entirely up to him. I reckon if he's aim was for a philosophical approach he wouldn't even bother making the post in the first place, would he?

[Admiral_A300]

Originally Posted by kayumangi

I reckon if he's aim was for a philosophical approach he wouldn't even bother making the post in the first place, would he?

No matter how hard you push the envelope, it's still stationary.

[mrsrice22]

There's a group on flickr that had some good info when I looked into it almost a year ago.

Once you factor in your costs (time, travel, <-- hehe, time travel, expenses, etc) then you can charge separately for:

1) time of photos - just like any other type of photography, lighting is key in real estate. You don't want your windows over exposed or the house to look too dim. You may even have to go back at different times to do sort of an HDR effect with multiple exposures to get the right lighting, especially if you're showcasing an amazing view from the front room.

2) Set up/staging - Will the realtor, home owner or you stage the house?

3) DVD of images, slideshows, etc - what do they want?

4) payment/product - decide if you're going to be paid hourly (factoring in all your costs for your hourly rate) and sell them a CD of the images or paid a percentage of their commission. (Some people think that realtors make a huge profit and that their entitled to some of it based on their images "selling" the house)

That's about all i can think of right now.