Builders... what is a fair rate to charge?

I have been asked to develop someone's property. Yay! But I have no idea how to value that. How do you determine what to charge?

I have done a Few Builds for Money, and generally set a Price at the outset of Building after discussing with the client What they want, I usually construct a small scratch model as we speak so we can Both Visualize what is to be Done. I examine, and Visualize the construction process at this stage, In effect, Building it in my Mind. I take both the size, and complexity of the Job, and the construction time Involved into consideration. I don't have Tables, or Hard formulas i use. I just set a Price based upon what is fair both to the client, and Myself. I did a Two Floor Bistro, and Charged only $3K for it. I did a two Floor Office Skybox, and charged $10K The Office covered a smaller area than the Bistro, but it was a Much more complex Build. Both of these were relatively small constructs. a Thirty Meter Diameter Circle for One, and a Twenty, by Forty meter Rectangle for the Other.
So, what's fair?
My own Home is a Lovely, and Complex Japanese House i paid only $500 for.
I've seen smaller, and simpler Skyboxes (Sometimes of Lesser quality) for $10K or $20K.

I think it REALLY comes down to What you Want, What you think your work is Worth.
Some people will snap it up, others will think it is Too Much, but you will always be able to sell something to someone.

Angel.

I have found most people who really want something quality and unique are generous with the builder. I usually just let my customer set the price. If it's something I'm really interested in, I'd probably agree to a lesser amount than say something that's been done a million times and can be bought already for $150L. (Usually I direct them to that $150L LM and end up getting a generous Thank You)

Talk to your customer and ask them what their budget is and how much leeway you have with using your own creativity.

I've been paid $6500L for something that took me all of 10 minutes to build, but have been paid $1000L for something that took 3-4 hours. It all depends on your customer and your enjoyment of the project. Where they balance, that's your price.

Sorry for a vague answer, but it's not really something that can be quantified into a specific $L/Prim or $L/Hour amount.

But my experience may also be unique in that I've had a very nice benefactor who encouraged me as a builder (and probably paid too much L for some of the things I came up with.) This has also allowed me to become more experienced and not so frustrated with myself because I had someone who was willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. (He says he could see the creativity trying to break out even when I gave him a cube skybox with mismatched textures and missing a roof.)

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate the thought that went into them. I know that there is no standard answer but I was hoping to get some idea of the metric used. This did help a little. Thanks!

im gonna quadruple my charges or by even 10 times

An hour of work, even in SL is an hour taken out of my life. I expect to earn a decent wage regardless of whether it is in SL or RL. If I can't make L$10,000 and hour for custom work in SL then I'm not interested, as that is already less then half of what I can expect to make per hour as an Architect in RL. What is your time worth, given your particular qualifications and skill set? If its worth that in RL, its worth that in SL.

It astounds met the people who will drop US$2,000 on an island sim and then balk at paying a skilled professional a few hundred dollars to turn it into the island of thier dreams.

I'm not sure anyone could charge an hourly rate for a build in SL at this time. What do you base that on? Time actually rezzing prims and shaping and positioning and texturing? What about the time to design and make the textures? What about rough spots you happen upon like the "rolling restarts" LL is doing right at this moment? Your RL rate is one thing...........your SL rate is something else.

Purchasing a sim is an entirely different thing.........be it for a real life money making venture, or someone with the RL means to make a game expensive, or maybe someone who simply has a hobby that he/she just plain enjoys no matter what the cost. The money making venture types will most likely have someone in mind before they even purchase the sim to do their builds. The expensive gamer will most likely want to do it him/herself. And that leaves the hobbyist................he/she might be interested but would likely be cost conscious on such projects as big builds.

You can price yourself right out work. If you are a novice at building like me then I would keep it quite reasonable..........after all you are doing two things: Having fun and learning. If you are a little more experienced like maybe intermediate level then you should get a little more for your experience and that you could probably accomplish the job quite a bit quicker. And if you are an expert (like the above poster) then you can more or less set your own price............however, you need to know you are catering to very small group. I really doubt someone with a RL career making upwards of $50 US or more can get the equivalent $L. Even the rich hobbyist would likely balk at that.. So go with your gut feeling and charge what you and your client feel is fair. You'll learn and the next time you will have better feel for what is fair for all concerned.

Agreed.


That`s about $40 USD/hour. Although, you do realize that it is MUCH more work to build in RL then it is in SL right? More work and more man power.

Personally if I could not build and I knew for SURE I`d make the money back, I probably would not mind paying 40 usd an hour if someone was VERY good at what they did. Like scope cleaver for instance. Although that is still a bit much for a game. But to compare it to a RL architect is kind of faulty.

I think there is 2 kinds of people in SL, one group is making heaps of money and willing to pay others GOOD usd for some quality work. While others arent making much and to them its ridiculous. There will be those of skill who demand to be paid in high USD and wont work for less, and theres others who will do it for 500 lindens. It all just depends.

When itcomes to architecture/landscaping in SL i would never pay someone the same price of an architecture/landscaper in RL, you simply do not use as much strength to develop it in SL as it takes to get it done in RL, therefore the SL person does not deserve as much.