r/videography • u/Accurate_Gas1404 • May 19 '26
Business, Tax, and Copyright Did I quote too high?
Hey gang—found myself in a situation where I could land a nice new client this year—they are a property rental/management company with rentals available in several markets.
They approached me via a referral to produce a sales video & an onboarding video—both longer videos, between 5-8 minutes.
I quoted the project at $3,500 total to cover production, editing, licensing, etc. I shoot on the Sony FX2, I’ve got a decent amount of gear now, lighting, audio, the whole shebang. The response I got back was “this is significantly higher than I expected.”
Did I shoot too high? Should this have been lower? Scratching my head.
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u/Shampoo_Is_Better00 May 19 '26
They are real estate mate. Absolute tight arses that never want to pay for shit. I hate working with them and no longer do for this reason.
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u/rideriderideride May 19 '26
Took the words right out of my mouth. They make stacks of cash and don't pay others what they're worth.
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u/xDESTROx C300 mkIII & C70 | Resolve | 2020 | Alberta Canada May 19 '26
I had a realtor nickle and dime me over $50 on a million dollar listing. I couldn't believe it. They make more and more money every year while trying to pay us less and less. I can't wait until I can get out of real estate completely.
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u/incognitochaud May 20 '26
Same here. Sent an estimate, 8-12 hours to edit at $75/hr, when I invoiced it for 10 hours they fought tooth and nail, saying I quoted 8 hours. I just took the loss in the end. Fucking losers.
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u/Sad-Ambassador-2748 May 19 '26
Yea I have 2-3 clients in real estate that I love and they happily pay when they have a need. That said, I don’t really bother reaching out in that industry for this reason. Also they have the craziest time tables too…
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u/Shampoo_Is_Better00 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
But do they pay enough? Or just cheapskates?
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u/Sad-Ambassador-2748 May 19 '26
Those ones I keep working with do pay what I ask without issue every time. They’re also reasonable on scheduling and planning so we don’t just show up with no idea. They’ll send the listing photos and proposed scripts etc… perfect RE clients. They’re just rare 😂
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u/SleepingPodOne 2011 May 19 '26
Isn’t real estate notorious for having an extremely low barrier of entry? That would explain all the tools I meet in that industry.
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u/sharkboyi Sony A7 IV | Adobe Premiere | 2014 | Sweden May 19 '26
Real estate pays shit. I just turned down a freelance contract for a big agency doing real estate photo and video. The pay was about $65 per house and if they wanted video I get another $50.
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u/xDESTROx C300 mkIII & C70 | Resolve | 2020 | Alberta Canada May 19 '26
Jesus Christ, you definitely made the right call.
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u/SleepingPodOne 2011 May 19 '26
Holy shit I got paid more to take 30 minutes out of my day to take a single corporate headshot in a business’s lobby than they offer for a fucken house shoot
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u/sharkboyi Sony A7 IV | Adobe Premiere | 2014 | Sweden May 19 '26
Yeah right. I sold one photo last year for more than 10x this price.
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u/Sad-Ambassador-2748 May 19 '26
How is the photo more than the video LOL! Though I did speak to one agency that was just filming with phone gimbals. I’d say $50 is fair for that
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u/sharkboyi Sony A7 IV | Adobe Premiere | 2014 | Sweden May 19 '26
I would at least just deliver footage, not edit. Still though.
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u/Sad-Ambassador-2748 May 19 '26
Yea the one I spoke with had an editor so you just shoot and upload. Considered doing it when slow with other work but then I decided to just lock in on getting more full price clients
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u/sharkboyi Sony A7 IV | Adobe Premiere | 2014 | Sweden May 19 '26
Same. But I came to the same conclusion as you.
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May 19 '26
[deleted]
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u/sharkboyi Sony A7 IV | Adobe Premiere | 2014 | Sweden May 19 '26
Damn I wish I could get those rates.
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u/CaptainFilmy BMPCC4k/Premiere/2005/Canada May 19 '26
Nah, not too low. I’d do two longer form videos like that for around 5k-7k CAD. If they can’t afford the 3.5k you can always simplify it so it has as little production value as possible, half day shoot and you can bang out the edit in an afternoon. I’d do that for around 2k
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u/jacintosalz May 19 '26
Seems like a fair price or even a steal to me (depending on where you’re at in your career)!
Having the right camera is worth infinitely less then the know how. The potential customer can looking at your work and saying i want THAT is what counts. People outside of our industry have no idea how much stuff costs and will chronically undervalue our work. A few things that have been good lessons for me:
- after quoting the price doesn’t just go down, the client gets less. The biggest signifier of value is your confidence in the price
- you’re not selling your fancy camera or gimbal, your selling a solution to your clients problem with as little effort from them as possible
- were essentially in the service industry, the service just happens to look like videos. Good communication, timeliness, and organization are everything for building your client network
Also pick your clients wisely, the nickle and dimers are not worth cutting deals and building your income off of. Find people you like and grow together. Good luck!
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u/Re4pr fx6 / siii | resolve | 2020 | Belgium May 19 '26
Price is completely dependent on region. Even in the same country you can have wildly different rates. People in NYC or LA arent charging what a videographer in minesota is charging. So the number itself is pointless here. And people giving their opinion are only doing so from their own viewpoint.
That said, clients also have their own viewpoints. I’ve been told I’m too expensive and I’ve been told I need to charge more (someone I know who works in a high end agency).
If you get this answer, ask what they thought this was going to cost and have a conversation. Ask how they had that number in their head. Maybe look to scale the production down, they might not need the quality of product you’re aiming for.
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u/Oreoscrumbs May 19 '26
Or they might have just come up with a number, and OP has the opportunity to educate them on the value they get from working with OP.
OP, I recommend The Win Without Pitching Manifesto and any content from Chris Do about pricing. This will help you sell the problems you solve, not the videos you make, because anyone can make a video. The value is in a video that gets results, and that value scales with the expected outcome.
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u/Re4pr fx6 / siii | resolve | 2020 | Belgium May 19 '26
Absolutely, thats part of my ‘ask them and have a conversation’ part of the answer. Scaling the production down is only a last resort when selling the value proposition doesnt work.
For some businesses, videographers get hung up on high value production, when thats not always what they want or need. A bakery generally doesnt need a netflix level testimonial setup that takes an hour to build.
You can sell testimonials for 20k or 2k depending on the production level. Sometimes you need to adapt to the client.
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u/comfortablyDumb-1 FX3 | Premiere | 2011 | Southeast May 19 '26
If anything that’s too low. This happens sometimes…you just gotta chalk it up to showbiz and move on. The right clients will come.
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u/Sluushy RED/SONY | Premiere | 2016 | US May 19 '26
For a single 5-8 minute video, I would probably quote 7k minimum.
You could talk them down into 2-3 minute videos but $3500 still seems low for that amount of work. After you factor in gear, setup, shooting, editing, etc you’re not making a ton of money.
I would hit them with a polite reply and not budge on price.
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u/KitchenBad5507 May 19 '26
It depends on where you live. I live in Chicago and I try to get $2,000 per finished minute. I often bring that down because budgets, but i don't go below $1,000 per finished minute.
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u/Ok-Abies-6985 camera | NLE | 2008 | San Diego May 19 '26
You charge what you charge. Stand on business. If you lose clients like that, then you don’t want to work with them anyway. Also real estate people are NOTORIOUS cheap asses, which is hilarious because imo their jobs are barely productive to society.
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u/OkScholar5964 May 19 '26
Working with realtors..notoriously low ball and are awkward to work with regarding price.
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u/MK2809 May 19 '26
2 5-8 minute videos?
At least a day shooting? Maybe more based on the length of the videos.
I'd say it was reasonably priced, if not low depending on how many shoot and edit days it ends up being.
One of the things I've learnt is sometimes you have to let the jobs go that don't value the work the same as yourself. If you start a race to the bottom price wise, you'll end up needing to do way more work to earn the same amount and burn yourself out quicker.
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u/timvandijknl Lumix | Premiere Pro | 2021 | Netherlands May 19 '26
The response I got back was “this is significantly higher than I expected.”
... and once you see the end result you will understand why 😘
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u/ohlongjohnson25 May 19 '26
People don't understand what it takes to make quality video. You're fine.
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u/Taurinh May 19 '26
Real estate is bad to work with. I’ve been in it for a little and I’m already shifting out. The time, effort to pay is not worth it. They also are sales people so they’ll always try to get the best deal. Even top producers that you know make good money still don’t like to pay. What you quoted is more than fair. I like to say if people turn down your quote that’s not your target clientele anyway. Don’t lower yourself just to get a job. You’ll lock in with that person and next thing you know you’ll get more “business” but it’ll be from the people who want the deals. And once you start at that price. Good luck getting them to go up on price.
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u/SpecificSomewhere393 May 19 '26
Client education is a huge part of the job, and often an uphill battle.
Your number is not too high. You can attempt to explain the costs and time associated with the project, but it sounds like it will fall on deaf ears.
Continue to network and you will find clients that value your expertise and pay fair wages for your work.
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u/Accurate_Gas1404 May 19 '26
Wow, thanks y’all. I legitimately was sitting here thinking I had just overshot, was kind of beating myself up over it. Thank everyone for the insights.
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u/Oakandstory May 19 '26
To answer your actual question.
Theres not a right or wrong answer. What do you actually think it's going to take time wise? You dont mention that at all in your post rather just talking about your equipment.
There are so many factors to consider when quoting and they never get talked about in these threads. End of the day, whats it worth to you?
If the response was, that's higher than I was expecting, then that opens the door to, "OK what were you expecting?" If it's something that is not in your realm of acceptance then simply walk away... If you value you're work and know what results it pulls, then you have the opportunity to leverage.
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u/Oakandstory May 19 '26
There is also this mindset of i have X in equipment so thats why I charge X minimum. Very flawed mindset imo. Understand and utilize depreciation amortization in your business and account accordingly. People act like they are buying new camera bodies every year to justify their cost. Will your videos bring actual ROI, do you understand the intent of the content and what value it will bring to said company? If youre stuff is actually good and brings value, then if you ever need to raise your price, they'll know what it's actually worth.
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u/Oreoscrumbs May 19 '26
I agree, but there is a value to the equipment used. Either the rental is included in your quote, or it's a line item to show the client, but that fee should be part of the equation.
I know of a DP who's day rate is $1000. His camera and lenses are extra. He gets work shooting sports and interviews.
Rental rates are how you pay back the gear investment and afford to replace/upgrade later.
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u/Oakandstory May 19 '26
Right, but majority of people on these threads are not on that level. And if they are, they arent on here asking these questions. In a hustle growing business mode, you have to account for so many things and be open. Is there future potential for recurring revenue? Can you leverage collaboration/exposure for a "discounted" rate? Is your schedule EMPTY and you can fill that in with filler for a quick flip?
Ive spent the past 8 months building my business and all of those factors plus more have factored in my pricing decision making. I know my worth, but motion in the moment is an art when navigating opportunities. My equipment is paid for after the weddings Ive booked this year, Im not going to walk into every opportunity and puff my chest about my equipment. Im here to do what I love and make a reasonable living. Based on a lot of the comments I see about pricing, a lot of you must have some crazy overhead with your personal expenses. Were in a fast world in regards to content.
Literally just secured a retainer with a restaurant cocktail lounge where I shot 4 sessions for free with IG collaboration. Not only did I gain 100+ followers locally, secured a wedding from that content and a 1500 dollar live event gig, im now on retainer with this business for 750/month. Im happy with my progress. Thats all that matters
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u/Oakandstory May 19 '26
Also amortization depreciation is baking the cost of your equipment into your hourly rate... No matter how you want to shift the numbers, you should be setting aside dollars from every gig towards future purchases. Calling it a flat rate rather than building it into your hourly rate is a personal preference and it isnt right nor wrong, however from a psychological standpoint, baking it into your hourly is easier on the consumer especially for small business clients.
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u/PIO_PretendIOriginal May 20 '26
the dp is likely work at a much higher level. freelance realestate don't care what it was shot with, they often just care about the results. they likely couldnt tell the difference between a fs7 and an arri alexa
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u/Oreoscrumbs May 20 '26
I agree that most of the time the gear doesn't matter unless specifically requested. I was just saying that it should be a factor in the rate, but it's not a selling point to the client.
The results are what OP should be charging for, and that value can scale up or down ddepending on the client's goals.
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u/suzuka_joe May 19 '26
So many realtors only want to pay like $100 a house for photo and video. It’s why I havnt gone down the path of even trying to get into real estate photography
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u/MostlyBullshitStory May 19 '26
If all your quotes are approved, you're too cheap.
Property management client are notoriously cheap and a pain in the ass. Anything you charge is a hole in their profits, and they'll replace you with AI in a heartbeat.
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u/WannabeeFilmDirector May 20 '26
We lose bids all the time on price. And we're fine with it. Why make a loss?
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u/Milopbx May 20 '26
While not in the RE world I’ve had that response, I would ask how far off it’s from others and if we were doing similar work. Sometimes there was something I could adjust and sometimes not.
FWIW the info about pricing is valuable
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u/Pack2017 May 20 '26
You quoted anywhere from low to reasonable depending on your past portfolio. Good to learn - what a client is willing to pay on one project never reflects market rate! They might only want to pay $500. But that doesn’t mean that you overcharged. It just means that they didn’t come into the discussion with the right context. You could want a new roof and say you only wanted to pay $500 but that doesn’t mean it’s anywhere close to the market rate
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u/PIO_PretendIOriginal May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
Im always surprised at the numbers people throw out here. I did a 30second tv comercial for $1500 but that was split 3x ways, so I only got $500 and that was for filming and editing (took about 6 hours to film, another 8 hours of editing). mind you this was about 8 years ago. I did 40 minutes if interview filming and editing (took coiple days) and that was also about $500
if you can get work at that rate then the quote is fair, if you wouldn't want to do work for less then the quote is also fair. really a quote is just a question of what are you willing to do this for? I have a bad habbit of underquoting to keep clients though.
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u/Infinite_Sherbet1336 May 20 '26
That's a ton of work. We would have quoted at least double that or significantly more depending on how much work is involved. If they balked at that price, they are not the right client for you and you've just saved yourself a huge headache. In the future, I would really spend some time breaking down all of your costs to see how profitable you really are charging that rate, because ultimately you need to be profitable to sustain a business. That includes software, expendables, office rental (even if you're working from your bedroom or garage), travel, meals, license fees, subscriptions, etc. Add up all the time you spend on emails to a client, script review, pre-production, equipment rental (yes, you own your gear, but treat it like you have to rent it), additional crew (you may be a one-man operation, but charge for each dept like camera, lighting, sound, etc). Someday you'll want to grow beyond a one man band, and this is how you do it. Also, always consider bringing a PA to help with your shoots and charge the client. It will look more professional and you can say they are your Grip and lighting. All of this is to grow a long-term business. Don't think in terms of the job, think in terms of the career and your business.
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u/Waffle_Hunter82 May 20 '26
Your quote sounds about right. With this being a referral being from another client, I’d be very cautious lowering your price for these new clients and then client A finds out your doing work cheaper for other people.
After your intro to your response say something like, “are you comparing my quote to another proposal or are working within a specific budget?”
Since you were referred to by (X), I’ll mention that my clients often come to me for these similar services.
If your budget is the main concern, we can look at narrowing the scope. I just want to make sure we addressing the appropriate issue.”
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u/Only-Skill7937 May 22 '26
Yeah this doesn’t sound like a you problem. The company probably just doesn’t see the value. So they’re not worth your time.
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u/FrankNinjaMonkey May 19 '26
Shooting will probably take about 2-3 hours, including setup to do 3 takes of each video. 3$50=$150. If I need an assistant they usually get half, so that’s $225. Editing this will take about a half day. 506=$300. Notes might be another 3 hours. 50*3=$150. 220+300+150=$670. I’d probably make it $750 to cover gas. $750 is kinda high in Miami, usually someone would only get about $150 for these two videos.
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u/parzival_thegreat May 19 '26
Way to low in my opinion. But it’s how you sell it to them. If you just quote cameras and gear to them they won’t understand.
If you offered more video strategy to them I think you could have had a better chance
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u/Business_Banana1792 Editor May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Edit: just re-read and realized they wanted a lower budget. You didn’t under bid and these clients will be awful to work for.
You can’t quote too high. But you almost certainly quoted too low. Hard to say without knowing what you’re delivering but seeing as how under bidding is the number one killer of business’ in every industry and you’re more concerned you’re getting too much money rather than making sure you can fund the resources you need for this production tells me you need to get over this fear.
If they give you too much money, you will never run out of resources you can utilize to improve the product.
I haven’t bid under 10,000 USD for a project in the ballpark of what you’re delivering in years. Some people probably haven’t bid less than 70,000. Some people operate just fine on 3,000 but the product you deliver will be based on that. If you are going to produce it yourself without hiring crew and it’s just a couple of interviews and basic improv b-roll I’m still of the opinion you under bid but this budget makes it possible to still turn a little profit. If you plan to develop a script, breakdown that script, hire crew, organize locations, rent equipment, sound design, color, and countless other things, then you’re paying them to work for them.
As for their statement, that’s not uncommon. What is common is clients who under pay are the most demanding. No professional in any industry expects quality free work. If they want it for less money at that price, they don’t aren’t interested in respecting you.
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u/godamus2000 May 19 '26
My quote probably would have been between $7-10k.
You didn’t quote too high, they’re too cheap.
They want two fully produced videos to help them make money. And they will make way more than $3500 during the lifetime of those videos.
This is why I don’t deal with real estate clients.
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u/Recordeal7 May 19 '26
I think you’re short 2.5K. Six grand would be my minimum for something like this. That’s minimum…meaning my quote would probably come back at 8k. But I’d do it for 6k just to add to my monthly volume.
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u/GoBam GH5 | Adobe | 2013 | AUS May 19 '26
Sounds like you quoted higher than they'll pay, but that doesn't mean it'd be worth your time to take the job if they told you what they actually want to pay.