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Hi,
For the first time I worked as an independent contractor. It was for a newsletter. The newsletter turned out to be 20 pages long. I worked over 100 hours. I am reluctant to send that many hours, I think they might have sticker shock with my rate. Can I ask what is the average time spent without being ridiculous or exessive?
I turns out to be 5 hours per page. Is that an exessive amount of time to spend? I need some guidance here. My goal is to be fair with my pricing.
Thanks!
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I work slightly differently than Bob...
I estimate the number of hours I think it will take and give the client the estimate. However, I let the client know that this estimate is based on certain expectations from them--final, approved copy (ha!), "x" number of edit proofs, "x" number of designs before additional charges, excessive research time for graphics, etc. That way, I'm covered when I send my invoice that is greater than the original estimate. I do try to estimate realistically and always warn the client when extra time is going to be incurred.
As far as the OP's original question...
If the job was a fairly basic newsletter, 5 hours per page does sound high--but only you know all the details of the job.
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Yes--two slightly different methods with basically the same result. Just wanted to let the OP know about the client's "oh, by the way"s as I like to call them.