How Do You Decide What To Charge? [Archive] - Mobile Disco Directory Forum

Vectis

27-03-2009, 11:28 AM

(total annual expenses / average annual number of gigs) + (number of hours onsite or travelling * staff hourly costs) + (offsite hourly rate * number of hours prep or follow-up) + (exceptional costs for the particular gig) + (desired profit margin)

Or, in simpler terms...

what-it-costs-you + how-much-you'll-get-out-of-bed-for

The first bit is the most important by the way.

Folks in year 1 need to try to get a grip on costs quickly in order to properly project the year's total.

Personally I have seasonal rates - basically due to the fact that there are a LOT of low-cost/low-service operators locally who feed off the holiday hotel trade. During the summer they're committed to servicing their target market. During the winter when many hotels are closed or have curtailed their entertainment, there's more competition for private work.

Dynamic Entertainment

27-03-2009, 11:44 AM

I have different packages at a base rate and have areas which alters the price (map below).

Alot of people just choose a 'off-the-peg' package which makes pricing easy. If its a bespoke package they want, then the base rate for a similar package is a good starting point and we work from there.

If its out of county then the price is decided on distance, mileage, travel time etc.

Corabar Steve

27-03-2009, 11:45 AM

Without wishing to sound snotty, are you just going around the forum asking all of the most asked questions?

womble

27-03-2009, 02:00 PM

Without wishing to sound snotty, are you just going around the forum asking all of the most asked questions?

Maybe there should be a FAQ or Noobs forum on here, as it seems a lot of new members have joined up as they're new to the business and want some advice. When these people sign up and ask that first question about what size speakers we need, how much to charge, who is good for PLI, etc. then the first response is often "this has been done to death, use the search function". If there was a dedicated area for the standard/beginners questions then maybe this could be avoided, and there'd be less need for posts to be moved, or for members making the newbies feel a little stupid...

Hmmm.. maybe this post should/could have been put in 'forum suggestions'.

rob1963

27-03-2009, 02:00 PM

How do you fix a price for a job, do you base it on the number of hours or have a fixed price per evening?

Does anyone charge more for a certain night (ie Saturdays) etc.

JTRS

I have fixed prices subject to a few basic criteria, those being functions of up to 5 hours in my home county with an evening set up.

Daytime set ups are £30 more (soon to increase to £50), and anything longer than 5 hours or further away I will look at & quote on an individual basis.

All nights are charged at the same rate, as they involve the same amount of work, so a Tuesday wedding (one of which I have soon) will be the same rate as one on a Saturday.

Solitaire Events Ltd

27-03-2009, 02:20 PM

Maybe there should be a FAQ or Noobs forum on here, as it seems a lot of new members have joined up as they're new to the business and want some advice. When these people sign up and ask that first question about what size speakers we need, how much to charge, who is good for PLI, etc. then the first response is often "this has been done to death, use the search function". If there was a dedicated area for the standard/beginners questions then maybe this could be avoided, and there'd be less need for posts to be moved, or for members making the newbies feel a little stupid...

Hmmm.. maybe this post should/could have been put in 'forum suggestions'.

....and maybe if people bothered to use the search facility, there would be no need for threads like this!

Penfold42

27-03-2009, 02:35 PM

How do you fix a price for a job, do you base it on the number of hours or have a fixed price per evening?

:Sleeping: :Sleeping: :Sleeping: :Sleeping:

JTRS

27-03-2009, 03:35 PM

Without wishing to sound snotty, are you just going around the forum asking all of the most asked questions?

No that was not my intention, I joined this forum to get ideas and advice from established DJ's.

Before posting questions I have looked to see if I could find similiar, but obviously I have missed the thread, it's easier for long established forum users to recall if a question has been asked before because they will remember reading it or replying on it.

It appears that I cannot do anything on this forum without upsetting someone somewhere.

JTRS

Solitaire Events Ltd

27-03-2009, 03:38 PM

It appears that I cannot do anything on this forum without upsetting someone somewhere.

JTRS

And posts like that won't help either.

Mark Wild

27-03-2009, 03:46 PM

It appears that I cannot do anything on this forum without upsetting someone somewhere.

JTRS

Your really not being hard done by fella, when I first joined MDD I never used the search facility properly either, but was soon slapped and sent there. Same as anyone just joining does. In the short time I've been here I can relate to how the longer standing members find questions like yours tedius. Especially when all your answers are sat that already.

CRAZY K

27-03-2009, 04:55 PM

All nights are charged at the same rate, as they involve the same amount of work, so a Tuesday wedding (one of which I have soon) will be the same rate as one on a Saturday.

Dont blame you but doesnt that knock a hole in the theory that off peak Wedding suppliers are willing to reduce prices mid week.

Hard to believe---but I would and have in fact for a Wednesday booking in April.

The smart customers know they can get a discount--im happy to do that

FOR CASH OF COURSE
:beerchug: :beerchug:

CRAZY K

Corabar Steve

27-03-2009, 05:39 PM

Maybe there should be a FAQ or Noobs forum on here, as it seems a lot of new members have joined up as they're new to the business and want some advice. When these people sign up and ask that first question about what size speakers we need, how much to charge, who is good for PLI, etc. then the first response is often "this has been done to death, use the search function". If there was a dedicated area for the standard/beginners questions then maybe this could be avoided, and there'd be less need for posts to be moved, or for members making the newbies feel a little stupid...

Hmmm.. maybe this post should/could have been put in 'forum suggestions'.
& maybe if Noobs actually bothered to read the rules rather than just ticking the check box to say they'll abide by them........

9. Read up before asking! There are many guides and FAQs etc on this Site. In addition, please make use of the search function before posting questions. Your question may have already been answered.

rob1963

27-03-2009, 05:50 PM

Dont blame you but doesnt that knock a hole in the theory that off peak Wedding suppliers are willing to reduce prices mid week.

If other wedding suppliers want to offer reduced rates for midweek functions, good luck to them, but it's certainly not something I'll be doing.

Danno13

27-03-2009, 06:11 PM

If other wedding suppliers want to offer reduced rates for midweek functions, good luck to them, but it's certainly not something I'll be doing.

I think you'll find they do! Looked at many venue websites lately?

And not just mid-week, but out of season too, works well for me anyway :)

rob1963

27-03-2009, 06:22 PM

I think you'll find they do! Looked at many venue websites lately?

And not just mid-week, but out of season too, works well for me anyway :)

Apart from the fact that they end up doing the same work for less money, it must be very confusing if a wedding supplier has different rates not only for different nights of the week, but also for different months of the year!

:shrug:

Danno13

27-03-2009, 06:38 PM

Apart from the fact that they end up doing the same work for less money, it must be very confusing if a wedding supplier has different rates not only for different nights of the week, but also for different months of the year!

I prefer to think of it as making more money on the popular dates you know aren't that hard to fill! I still make money on the out of season, mid week dates.

It's not confusing at all.. I have a nice simple excel sheet that I look at when quoting. It also has a tab for travelling costs too, which lists all the big towns/cities and the additional travel cost.

Happy to email it to anyone who's interested :)

Jiggles

27-03-2009, 06:53 PM

Happy to email it to anyone who's interested :)

Could you send it over? I'll PM you my email address.

DeckstarDeluxe

27-03-2009, 07:04 PM

i'll second that. as your local all i need to do is rub off your name and hey presto!

Only kidding :D

Danno13

27-03-2009, 07:04 PM

LOL! Of course, i shall remove my own pricing... :D

yourdj

27-03-2009, 07:29 PM

I know this has been done and people do not search but it is an important part of the job when starting out. Who really reads the rules? This site is very useful and an FAQ newbies bit might be a good idea to stop the confusion with a list of the most common newbe posts?

I would charge between £145-£180 for normal gigs if i had not much experience. Look at about £200-£250 for normal gigs with experience and £250-£350 for weddings.

Best bet is to call your competition and say your new and see what they charge. Im always courteous to anyone.

I am currently doing an event for a mate for £100 which is as cheap as i have ever done, but Im free and its last minute and i have a wedding tomorrow in Sussex so a small restaurant is a change and worth the money.

rob1963

27-03-2009, 10:54 PM

I am currently doing an event for a mate for £100 which is as cheap as i have ever done, but Im free and its last minute and i have a wedding tomorrow in Sussex so a small restaurant is a change and worth the money.

If you can do a gig for £100 and make a profit, good luck to you.

It's not something I'd ever do, mainly because I'd be making a loss, and it's not good business practice to charge less than it actually costs you!

Penfold42

27-03-2009, 11:02 PM

DeckstarDeluxe

27-03-2009, 11:06 PM

rob has no mates then its been confirmed :D

Tony Scott

27-03-2009, 11:37 PM

rob1963

28-03-2009, 08:21 AM

I keep things simple, as long as the gig is in the area I cover then the following rates apply:

Monday - Thursday: Fixed Fee 1
Friday, Sunday & Bank hols: Fixed Fee 2
Saturday: Fixed Fee 3

That's similar to myself, Tony:

Monday-Thursday = Fixed fee 1
Friday, Sunday & Bank hols = Fixed fee 1
Saturday = Fixed fee 1

Add on charges:

2 more lights = £75 (soon to be increased to £100, because if I can get away with charging £75, there's no reason why I can't get away with charging £100)

:D

Corabar Steve

28-03-2009, 08:38 AM

I know this has been done and people do not search but it is an important part of the job when starting out. Who really reads the rules? This site is very useful and an FAQ newbies bit might be a good idea to stop the confusion with a list of the most common newbe posts?
We could stick all of the common newbie question threads, & we'd still get some muppet asking the same question.

A perfect example is the selling rules. It has the message shown below clearly shown on the forum, yet we still get people with a weeks membership & 3 posts trying to sell things.

I can't believe some people have the intelligence to work complex DJ equipment, but not the common sense to search the forum for what is a glaringly obvious question that's bound to have been asked before.

JAMdisco

30-03-2009, 11:25 AM

If you can do a gig for £100 and make a profit, good luck to you.

It's not something I'd ever do, mainly because I'd be making a loss, and it's not good business practice to charge less than it actually costs you!

I can't quite understand how a £100 disco wouldn't make you any profit. If it's an extra gig where you weren't already working, surely there's got to be at least 50% profit.

If not I would seriously re-evaluate your expenses :p

I've done plenty of disco's for £80 (my ex residency) and that was about 50% profit. Since I lost the residency I haven't looked back but would (and have) gone out for £120 on a few occasions. Generally I charge around £150-£175 for 'normal' disco's and £200-£275 for weddings.

mattydj50

13-04-2009, 08:35 PM

I find it odd that people charge more for weddings than any other type of function. Unless you are at the wedding all day (and no-one has specified this) a wedding is no more different than any other function in my book.

Each customer deserves the same level of professional service that you can supply, be it at £100 or £500.

I. like others above, have a set charging level, based on a 6 hour set (7pm to 1am).

This is then flexed depending on whether there is an early set up required, later finish or any additional requirements over and above the norm, e.g. supply an additional PA set up or lighting rig for a stage etc.

I don't do any more work on the evening of a wedding party than say for a 40th birthday so see no reason for an extra charge.

rob1963

13-04-2009, 09:19 PM

I find it odd that people charge more for weddings than any other type of function. Unless you are at the wedding all day (and no-one has specified this) a wedding is no more different than any other function in my book.

Hiya Matty,

This has been discussed here before, and those who charge more for weddings usually say they DO take more of their time, which is why they charge more.

:shrug:

However, I'm like you. All my clients get the same high standard of service, and I find weddings usually take up no more of my time than any other events, so I charge exactly the same for ALL events.