Hi! Recently I was reached out by a potential client who wants me to model a bathroom and they’ve shared a floor plan along with what tiles they want. Im a beginner in blender and im not sure about how much I should charge them. When I asked them about their budget, they told me they’re willing to pay $1.78 for the entire model which I know isn’t going to cut it. So I know I want to charge them more but I don’t know exactly how much. Can anyone help me out?
1.78$?
bro, no.
that is basically working for free. even as a beginner, no.
gauge how much time it will take you to finish a project, multiply each hour by minimum wage (at your local area), and you have your starting price.
you can lower the price a bit because you are beginner level (hopefully you have disclosed this to your client), or as an introductory discount for your first project to that client.
but 1.78$?
no.
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Under two dollars, for a 3-D model? I would just stop replying to their emails.
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Surely you must have misplaced the decimal, lol. in all seriousness, this would be too low even for a typical fare in Madagascar which is about the poorest country on the planet. This is archviz work, essentially. It should be one of those jobs that pay pretty well. In any case, your rate should be what lets you live well assuming a full time investment in it. If the client offered such a ridiculously low price, it either means : they’re not serious with it, or they are themselves very poor -which can’t be the case, since they’re renovating their bathroom in the first place, right? so I would simply walk away. Unless, if you intend to work in this specialty (archviz), you’re going to want to build a portfolio, and this job could be part of that portfolio. Still, if you choose to take it on for this reason, I advise you to either renegociate the price (according to the cost of living in your corner of the world) or do it for free, if you can afford, given that it’s an investment to attract future jobs.
Good luck,
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It’s really hard to judge how much time a project is going to take thinking about it as a whole, but you can divide it into all the small tasks it requires and then it’s a lot easier to guess how much time each of those tasks are going to take. Like modelling the walls, modelling the bath, modelling the shower cabin, modelling the tiles, making the tile texture, modelling or finding and downloading other products(with simple ones finding the models or finding reference and dimensions for modelling might take just as long or longer then modeling), modelling whatever lighting products, making materials, finding nice camera angles… When you have a list, you can guess the time quite well, then multiply the time by whatever hourly rate you want and here you go, you have the price.
Writing an email to the client costs a few times more than $1.78 if you think about it in terms of time. …and yes, you should probably count communication as well, it can take considerable amount of time writing a good email with all arising questions in a bigger project, might take more than an hour if you make images illustrating the issues and question, provide possible solutions, variants and so on (if it’s a bigger project).
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If you can negotiate a reasonable price, to me it would make sense to structure the contract in clear stages. Upon completion of each stage, you are entitled to bill for it. This also gives the client the chance to contribute feedback and other input sooner.
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It doesn’t look like that’s in the cards… 
I mean, you can probably negotiate a reasonable price if they are offering like 70% of the actual price if you are convincing, but after an offer that is a hundred times too low… a good strategy would probably be to say goodbye to the “client”. And that’s important part of the job in my opinion. At the end of the day it’s not really a job if it doesn’t pay. It’s often hard to let jobs go, but that’s part of it. I mean real ones, not the 1.78$ ones. If a client offers you 1000$ for a job that’s worth 2000$. for some reason it seems as if it’s trickier, but it’s all the same if not worse.
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I think it’s good for everybody if lowball offers are rejected, because if one person will go for it then they’ll be confident they can get somebody else to go for it. If nobody will they’ll have to raise the price to get the job done.
But there is no version of the universe where anybody could think that $1.78 is a reasonable price. Either that was a typo or the client is a scumbag.
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WTF, that price is insulting even for a beginner 3d artist, only acceptable if this were an online cheap 3d asset on a big discount or so LMAO…
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Go for it!
Ask to be paid by cashier’s cheque.
Frame the cheque don’t cash it and hang it up on the wall!!!
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I came to a conclusion that you just cannot be offended by client price offers Other way you would be offended all the time, that would be just so tiring… It’s either acceptable or not This is clearly not. It’s really good to keep the emotions for personal life, not the professional one. At least that’s what I think. Because life would soon become not fun other way. It’s also good to keep in mind that this is not how it all goes. Majority of offers are ridiculously unjust and so it might start to seem as if your work is just not worth much. But that’s not true. It’s worth keeping in mind that it is absolutely normal that most of the time people asking about your services are not worth of your time, it’s fine, don’t even blame them for that, that’s just how it is, but the important bit is the good ones, the minority. It makes sense.
It doesn’t mean you cannot have some fun with this. If the client expects a price of $1.78, you can always casually, seriously and politely send them an offer with your regular price increased 30-50%. Plausible but very high gives best result from my experience (in terms of fun). It’s fun, it doesn’t devalue your or anybody else’s work, it’s not unprofessional and you don’t have to tell the client you don’t actually want to work with them, they choose not to themselves. And there is even a chance that they will agree and the extra price usually turns out to be justifiable, because the ones who want the lowest price usually are the hardest ones to work with. Everybody wins… Making sure you communicate very clearly and in writing with this type of client and taking a 50% advance payment before you start any kind of work is also a good idea. But, that’s always a good idea. For me it’s important psychologically as well. I just start to take things seriously when the client already paid something and work goes better even if it’s a small amount or a regular client when I would think not to bother with it.
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Right, absolutely no way I’m gonna do it for that less and I have told the client that I am a beginner. I have made a few models before, I’ll attach one for you to see.
I know it’s not much but I’m still learning. Appreciate you taking the time to reply! Have a good day!
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Maybe they don’t have a clear idea of how this works but I am more than happy to show them how much effort goes into one model even as a beginner and negotiate. If they do not agree with paying a bit more, then I will for sure say goodbye.
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I in fact did not misplace the decimal lol. In PKR, $1.78 is 500 which is the price they set and I still have to negotiate on that with them. I am not willing to do it for free, this project can be a great add-on to my portfolio and I am also in need of some money lol.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. Have a great day!
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Ah I love how you explained this, really a great insight for me! I will keep all of this in my mind for this and future projects. Thank you and my apologies for the super duper late reply. Have an awesome day!
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Usually I do half payments at the beginning of the project and the other half when it’s complete but I really like this idea too! I’ll see if it works for me, thanks!
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I will reject it if the client isn’t willing to up the price and no it wasn’t a typo lol $1.78 in my currency is PKR 500 and even in PKR it is a humiliating pricing lol
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I think some people are just unaware of how much work goes into something. They aren’t necessarily trying to get a ‘rock bottom’ price; rather, they just don’t realize what they’re asking for.
A classic example is a remodeling job - somebody wants e.g. a new bathtub and toilet, and maybe some tile repair. What they don’t realize - and the contractor doesn’t know beforehand - is all of the weird custom work back inside the wall, or the amount of rot around the tub, etc. etc. Some contractors will charge a premium because these problems might occur, other contractors will discover the problem and try to explain and renegotiate, and others will just eat the cost and walk away bitter. And I guess there are also the bad eggs who will just ignore the problems because they’re not being paid enough to care.
In the case of a client asking for $1.78 for a whole model, though, that is definitely a scumbag. He’s probably already asked 15 other people and he’s looking for someone who is desperate enough to take the job. Especially if you told him you’re a beginner, looking for experience, etc. he is expecting to be able to bully you into doing the job for next to nothing.
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My client has been really understanding so far, but we’ll see if that will last when I mention raising the price. I can’t say anything yet, I have shared my work with them and I’m waiting on their reply atm so I can move on to the next step aka stating my conditions.
Lol I would do that if I didn’t need the money 
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