Freelance Daily Rate

Hey you all,

I know this is a rather personal questions and I wont recieve that many answers. Still I am arguing with myself about what to charge as a dialy rate when I do vvvv work for a client.
Is it more like programming ( 500 - 700 ) or more like paying for a motiondesigner ( 350 - 450 ). Or could it be that vvvv is a niché and we can actually charge more?
I know you have to think of experience too but it would still be great to get some estimates to not crash the vvvv-freelance market or be so expensive that even the devvvvs would charge far less.

Pls PM me if you want to keep your prices hidden from the public.

Not that I have an answer, but I think that the rates vary over the world, so where are you working and second, which currency are you referring to?

Also, I think it depends on your code quality and amount of patching you can do in a given time.

Its Europe and thus Euros. Germany to be exact.
It sure does depend on how much one can do in a given time and the quality. Furthermore it think it depends on the exact amout and techniques used, if its easy patching stuff or if you need to develop plugins / shaders ect.

I was thinking about a general rule of thumb on how many you can charge when you are sure to be good enough to sell your ‘knowledge & skill’.
‘’
( I sure know that this is a very personal opinion if and when sb. thinks he/she is good enough at least to sell it… after all an artist is never good enough I think )’’

I’ve worked on various day rates and hired a fair few devvvvs over the years. Below should give an indication of what to expect given a freelancer’s level of skill.


Intern £60 daily allowance (it’s common for no allowance to be given)

Mid level vvvv dev (grunt work) £100 - £150

Advanced (can handle any project, may need to do research) £150 - £450

Expert (completes projects in a short amount of time, can ‘rescue’ a project) £150 - £???


Expert vvvv’ers can expect similar pay to Advanced devs, but will complete the job much quicker. The Expert should agree a fixed budget with the client, ie. five days pay, then complete the job in one day.

Day rate may include or exclude travel and accommodation, and will vary a lot given the length and type of project (is it arty and fun or soul destroying but well paid).

generally i think vvvv artists/programmer are not as well payed as they should be compared to …let’s say a webdeveloper. i’m sometimes amazed what daily rates are payed in similar businesses. sometimes twice as much as in our little world.

although vvvv guys supply an invaluable service of working on the edge between programming and design, create custom solutions, have usually asthetic taste and experience in various fields (to many to mention)… which should have at least the same value.

on the other hand, its all about channels. we only create for one channel (installation, exhibits, mediawalls etc.) , there is no mobile nor web (not yet?). so very specific, “exotic” budgets are spend on vvvv stuff. well, at least this is my explaination for the time being.

enough ranting, i guess gaz nailed it.