I need your opiniion. I have to do an invoice for a job that took 3 1/2 days working about 8-9 hours a day. Since it did’nt involve 3d modelling, and it was just work on illustrator, around how much should an hourly rate be? I would normally do 25 an hour, and they know this. And oh, there were some technical difficulties, as I was working in-house and the computer went down and was out of comission for a couple of hours. Your input please.
I would pay you $25 an hour, that’s your hourly rate. 2D work can be as important as 3D work, it’d just another step in the design process.
How do you pay the bills on $25 and hour??
Is this client a friend?? They’re getting a steal! If I were you, I would take $100 hour and tell them it took you 6 hours or just quote the job for a $900 or something. Last thing you want is people thinking you’re cheap labor. You’re client doesn’t need to know your technical difficulties or that it took you 20+ hours. Why give them a reason to think you are incompetent. I know the score: You want them to think it is easy for you to do this but its not THAT easy. Time is money. If you told them it would take 10 hours and it takes 20, charge them for the 10 if you feel bad but hopefully you can estimate correctly the 2nd time around. Are there people that are better at Illustrator than you? I’m sure there are. There are also people richer, wise and smarter but I don’t think you should suffer for it.
The unwritten rule for estimating computer work is estimating how long it will take you to complete the job and then multiply that figure x2.
Part of the job is dealing with corrupt files, hard drive problems, crashes, power outtages, hurricanes, emails, etc.
Two things. I wouldn’t suddenly up the fee from $25 to $100, nor would I lie about how long it took me.
What happens if the client comes back and wants something urgent, expecting you to be able to turn things around in an unreasonable time, because that’s how fast they think you work because you lied?
Don’t undercharge but at the same time, don’t lie on your invoices… Respect your client, don’t rip them off.
that’s plenty to pay my bills… 
I think it’s redundant but important to point out that hourly rates for freelancers (while $25/hour is on the low end) should be considered relative to the city they are working in and level of expertise…
otherwise I agree that one should learn from underestimating, but don’t bite a hand that feeds.
I would charge your full rate.
On the next job for this client I would let them know in advance that you will be increasing your rate to $34-36 an hour. It’s probably too much to shellshock an old customer from $25 to $50.
Then try increasing your rate on new clients and see if your success rate stays the same if your billing rate is increased to $40-$47 an hour.
Keep on increasing your rate until you feel that you are losing too high a percentage of jobs.
I would biill your client for your entire hours spent minus the computer issues. Unless you gave them a firm estimate of 10 hours. - In that case I would think of the job as a $250 job and not hourly and just better estimate next time.
I think the best thing to do is charge what you are worth.
I don’t think you can up your rates just for the sake of it and get away with it (certainly not in my trade where everyone knows everyone and what they charge).
Do your designs always sell massively? Are you getting a good reputation? If yes, then put your rates up. I never increase my rates with an exisiting client until I have achieved good sales for them. That’s fair to me.
$25/hr minus non-productive time sounds about right. If you have enough work it pays the bills, if not get a day job.