Neighbor's plumbing bill made me rethink my freelance rates

I was talking to my neighbor Bob last night, and he told me he paid $350 for a plumber to fix a toilet flapper. Took the guy 20 minutes. Bob said he felt ripped off but had no choice. Hit me hard because I've been charging $30 for simple graphic design jobs that take me an hour. Should I just raise my base rate to $125 regardless of how long it takes?

3 comments

3 Comments

fisher.jessica11d ago

Read something similar on a business forum the other week where a freelancer was charging $15 for logos. They raised their rate to $150 flat and actually got more clients because people equate price with quality. You're not selling your time, you're selling the solution to their problem. Bob paid for the plumber's knowledge and years of experience, not his time poking around the toilet tank.

ivan46211d ago

Yeah, have you noticed how people happily pay a hundred bucks an hour for someone to fix their sink but think $50 is too much for someone to build them a whole website? I had the exact same wake up call last year when a friend paid $200 for a locksmith to spend 10 minutes picking a lock. Meanwhile I was doing custom illustrations for $40 and feeling bad about charging that much. Raising my rates was the scariest thing I did but it was also the best move for my business. If a plumber can charge that much for a toilet flapper, why are we selling ourselves short for work that actually takes real skill?

ross.kim10d ago

Same pattern shows up everywhere though. People will drop $40 on a single gourmet burger without blinking but haggle over a $15 book from a writer who spent months on it. We seriously undervalue the invisible work and just reward the stuff you can see happening right in front of you.