Corporate editing charges, by the hour or by the project?

[Darryn Carroll]

Hey all, so I have been doing my "corporate style" projects as a total package as far as pricing is concerned. My first nightmare has me rethinking, do I change my policies or just suck it up for this one project?

My liaison has requested many changes, which I can deal with since I basically offer a "edit till you love it" type program. Today I learn that I will be almost starting from scratch because her manager wants many changes. Not the end of the world, but certainly a giant pain in the butt!

I will do what I have to do in this case, but do you other pros have different programs to eliminate this from happening?

Thanks and Happy and Prosperous New Years to all!

[Chris Medico]

The thing to do is for your fixed price jobs make sure your deliverables are clearly stated. For any of my fixed price jobs I stipulate the number of review/edit cycles in the project. I include a cost per hour for edits above that. I'm more than happy to do 100 review/edit cycles. The fixed price only includes the first 2. After that its by the hour.

That approach has allowed me to satisfy the customers that want fixed priced jobs while not giving the store away with an endless loop of re-edits.

If you don't have such a clause in your current project contract you may have to suck it up and get through this one and put it down as a learning experience.

[Mark Ahrens]

I quote the job as an estimate based on their description and my inquiries.
When we begin to diverge from the budget i let them know that we're off track.
This can be triggered by, added shoots, getting hung up on particular elements, mass changes to the scripts, excessive changes, etc.

I don't believe in a limited number of revisions. The process is largely evolutionary when clients don't have a very clear idea of what they want, need or have (visual assets) - which is most of the time. I don't want them to feel like they're working in a closet.

I had a job recently that went grossly over budget (40%) . . . I billed the full amount of time, but then discounted the invoice 40% because i felt i hadn't stayed on top of the job carefully enough and warned them.
The video was such a success they ignored the discount and paid the full amount. These are the elements that build relationships. Now, i wouldn't do that with a new client, they're on shorter leashes.

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Darryn Carroll

Today I learn that I will be almost starting from scratch because her manager wants many changes. Not the end of the world, but certainly a giant pain in the butt!

I have a clause in my letter of understanding that addresses the whole "who ACTUALLY gets to AUTHORIZE changes and who signs off on the edit?" debate. Saved my butt a couple of times.

[Ken Diewert]

When I bid on a project, it's usually a flat rate. I find that most clients want/need some cost certainty. I generally build in a buffer to allow for the painful clients... but one thing that I always try to do is to keep the client happy. Part of this means making sure that they understand the limitations (usually budget induced), before we begin. The more clear your interpretation is of their vision... the more likely you are to have a happy client.

I recently had a client that was of the higher maintenance variety... but I gritted it out, and was just expecting to move along happy to get paid. Then I got a glowing recommendation from the client to a colleague of theirs, which has led to a great 3 year contract (plus a 2 year option).

So always try to be nice... It's easy to blame the client, but we are the pro's who have the experience and know how to lead them through the stormy seas.