How should I structure fees for international travel photography work?
Asked 4/2/2014
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I’m preparing a proposal for a client that includes international travel, and I need to quote a fair day rate/per diem. I may not know the exact shooting hours yet, so I’m unsure what to include and how to calculate it. What should I account for when pricing travel jobs, including work days, travel days, and daily expenses?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
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Billing for travel should include 3 parts: Work, Travel, and Per Diem
Work
Billing for the work is often the most difficult. The easiest way to quote a fair price would be billing hours worked at your standard rate, or your average income in a single day, whichever is greater. For example, if you work 8 hours, but in a normal day at the office you'd work only 4, bill for the 8 hours. If you work only 4 hours, but on a normal day in the office you'd work 6, bill for 6. This is so that you're not operating at a loss during travel. Include all days that you're away from the office, unless a day is leisure.
Travel
Include all travel expenses that are specific to the job. Don't forget car rental/cab fares/parking fees to the airport and at your destination.
Travel is difficult to estimate for a quote. Google (among other travel sites) does a decent job at estimating plane tickets. Offer the client a discount for booking early to promote cheaper airline fees. Always give yourself buffer and don't forget the fees for extra checked baggage.
Quoting hotels are much easier since the government provides per diem estimates for lodging (see next category).
Exclude any expenses that aren't necessary for the job. Example: if you stay an extra day for leisure, don't charge per diem or hotel for that extra day. If the return ticket cost more for the one day later flight, charge what it would have cost if you left the day you completed the job.
Per Diem
The U.S. Department of State sets international per diem rates for civilian (non-military) travel on government business. These rates are a great area to reference and, in my experience, have been practical. This also gives you something solid to reference when a client questions your per diem rates.
Per diem rates shouldn't be specific to the time that you are working. Per diem should be included for the entire period you are away from home since you cannot bring meals with you and will be subject to the cost of meals at the destination (excluding leisure).
The rates can be found here.
Originally by user10283. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user10283
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A practical way to price travel jobs is to separate the quote into three parts: work, travel, and per diem/expenses.
For work, bill either your standard hourly rate for the hours worked or your normal average daily income, whichever is greater. That helps ensure you don’t lose money if the shoot day is short but still blocks your schedule. In general, include all days you’re away for the assignment unless a day is purely leisure.
For travel, include all job-specific travel costs: flights, baggage, ground transport, car rental, taxis, parking, and similar expenses. Travel time itself is often billable because you could otherwise be working for another client.
For per diem, cover daily living costs such as meals and incidental expenses. Government per diem rates can be a useful baseline.
The final structure depends on the assignment’s value, whether you want to offer a package rate, and whether travel time should be billed at the same rate as shooting time. At minimum, direct expenses and daily costs should be covered, and your pricing should reflect both lost working time and the value of the service to the client.
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