Evidence needed...

[tommylogic]

using library items for the old Contribute CMS.. When I design a template it locks regions. The legals don't permit them to change anything outside of the editable regions. SO the design has stayed relatively untouched for almost 5 years now (and still working fine btw... for a tables and non-standards compliant site )

[LeadMagnet]

I really have to get around to using some CMS.

[tommylogic]

Here's the latest solution.. I think you'll like it.

[LeadMagnet]

I posted that link a couple of weaks ago. Old news man.

[thecat]

If he had just taken me on as a normal part-time employee this would of saved a ton of hassle, but seen as I was freelance, I am technically allowed to charge what I want, I just have to justify to a court how and why I came to that figure.

I can hear your frustration.

Suggestion: contact your local newspaper and ask to go through their old adverts for jobs. You might not find an exact price, but you will find a range offered, and if you come across anything useable, you'll find a price suitable for your location.

You see, asking a forum is all and good for support and all. But it's not going to matter unless they live where you live as salaries vary greatly from city to city, town to town, and country to country.

I owned a design company while in the UK and was charging £50 - 75 back in 2000. You were working in-house, as a junior using their equipment and all, so you'd come way down under that. But, depending on your town (I was in Scotland), it shouldn't be less than £20 - 25 by my calculation. Note: I could be very wrong ...

Also, you have to take into account taxes. Is he going to cover all taxes? Or are you? Designers in the US get burned on a work for hire situation when they find out come tax time they are liable.

One thing I know about UK laws and employees - the power is in the hand of the employee (we were all warned when taking new business startup courses). But it's not as strong for part-timers (although they are trying to change the law I see).

And I'm not sure how it works when applied between businesses, which is what you are. Unless you want to plea as a part-timer (ask your attorney).

Freelance is exactly the same as owning your own business ... only in your case you worked at their office. Dunno about UK laws, you could get classified as a temp anyway ...

I did a bit of googling and came up with a law put into place in 2000 for part-timers: The Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000.

I also came across this interesting article from the BBC dated 2005:

Temps face 'dark age' conditions
Unions have likened the working conditions of some of the UK's 600,000 temporary workers as being reminiscent of the "dark ages".

So I guess it'll also be judged on how you present yourself by UK law. But your attorney will fill you in on that for sure (I just found the articles interesting).

Good luck and please let us know how it goes.
And please (apologies, I can't help myself) use a contract in the future :-)

[Seedy GD]

All the research as to what others are charging is good. You will need other resources to compare to what ever you say is price.

However there is a formula for figuring out how much you need to be charging for freelance. Essentially you add up all your costs (living:housing, food, cloths, design supplies:software, hardware, art supplies) anything particularly that are costs that you need to make up somewhere. and then you divide it by the amount of time that you will work in 11 month, giving you the little bit extra income. This then is the result of the minimum that you should be charging.

Yes this is a rough summary of it, sorry I don't have the actual notation for it.

I do not not if it will stand up in court but if you have crunched those number at least there is a bottom line of what you need to be making to live.

I used it a year ago to figure out that I should be making $25 hourly at the bottom end and that is where I started my pricing as a freelance graphic designer (in Canada)

Try it it might be helpful. Sorry if it isn't.

[blueocto]

Thanks Seedy, I actually tried the calculation you speak of from BlueFlavor and Freelancer Switch and from what I remember the rate was £15, but I chose to charge £10 due the fact I have not had any continuous employment in the design world and I am 1 year short of a degree. I thought that would be a fair figure, despite not being able to live off it lol

[rtbox]

Hi, I think that the GAG's (Graphic Artist Guild) Pricing guidelines book should be a fairly credible source.

Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines

You should have a group in your country that will handle this sort of stuff. In Australia there is the AGDA and BAD, which handle all these sort of issues, and more. It is as simple as joining the institutions, It can actually help you with networking also I have found.

Hope that helps
Richard Box