Quoting samples.

Hi all,

I recently read the article 'Quotes or hourly rates? Your pricing, how do you value your time?' posted by Julian and found it extremlly helpful on how to break down the costs. I'm a graphic designer in Australia new to the freelance world and have been fortunate to be getting more freelance work. However my business skills such as quoting are not really up to par! Does anybody have or know some samples I can look at of simple to detailed quotes?

This would be a great help

Regards
Jordan

Jordan

Do you mean simple vs. detailed jobs, or simple vs. detailed presentations? ;^)

In either case, it's really a matter of finding what works best for you. You may find as your practice grows, or as you have different kinds of clients, you may find the way you present this information changes.

You could start by imagining a typical job and writing down all the steps you imagine you'd do. Filling in information about each step separately could constitute a detailed bid. Combining one or a few step when it seems logical would give you a simpler bid. Don't forget to include materials and expenses, however you choose to account for them.

An exercise I often give students in my workshop on estimating projects involves looking at (US) government RFPs and (US) government grant programs as they nearly always include standard budget forms that offer guidelines for what to include and how. From this information we work out the information appropriate to include.

-Sarah

Hey Sarah,

Thanks for your reply. Your workshop sounds interesting. I do mean simple vs detailed jobs. How to estimate my the cost correctly and what should I be breaking down. There are obvious one of course ie expenses etc. I have a habit of under estimating the time it will take and seem to spend more time than I charge, which isn't a good habit.

To see a sample of a simple quote vs a more complex one would be ideal and then I could work around that.

Jordan

Jordan

Ah yes, the old "I gave them a bid, it took 250% of the hours I'd projected and they won't pay the difference!" problem.

Take heart: this happens to just about everyone when they start out, but if you're going to run a "real" business you will learn to do it pretty quickly. And there will be times even in a mature business when you discover you've under-estimated.

Funny, isn't it, that nobody ever worries about consistently over-charging clients? ;^)

Seeing someone else's bids probably isn't going to tell you anything helpful about the way you work though it might make you less nervous about your practices.

The best way to learn to price accurately is:

1. practice. As you do more work you'll become more comfortable judging how long things take.
2. keep track of everything. This is incredibly tedious, I know, but the only way you'll learn how long on average it takes [ital]you[/ital] to write a bid is to write a bid. The only way you'll learn how long it takes you on average to do any part of a job is to time it.
3. use what you know and what you learn. I can't tell you how often I encounter people who collect data about everything but never bother to analyze the information. But even if you can't stand to keep formal records, think back to how long things take you--in days, maybe if not hours--as you're drawing up your next bid.

Thanks for that it's been really helpful Sarah!

I've taken in what you said and been writing a couple of quotes these past few days and starting to understand how to break it down better. I'll become a pro in No-time!

Cheers

Jordan