Need advice - rate for 1 month interpreting contract
Thread poster: Sarah Michel
Sarah Michel
Sarah Michel  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:14
Member (2011)
Indonesian to English
+ ...
Apr 10, 2014

Hi dearest fellow interpreters!
I need advice.
I have been asked to submit a proposal for a month's interpreting contract - I have previously worked for the client, they liked my work and asked me to come back.
Now they would like me to give them a rate for an entire month's work.
Anybody had experience with this kind of quote?
Do you give a discount? How much?
Would be much appreciated.
Best regards,
Sarah


 
Natalia Mackevich
Natalia Mackevich  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:14
English to Russian
+ ...
Why would you give a discount? Apr 10, 2014

You won't be able to get other projects while working on this one full-time, so what you charge here will be the only income this month. If you give a "volume discount", you'll end up working a couple of days for free.

 
IranTrans
IranTrans
Iran
Local time: 04:44
English to Persian (Farsi)
+ ...
Take your last contract into account... Apr 10, 2014

You've said that you have already served them as an interpreter and this is the second order they'd like to place with you. One strategy can be that you consider your last contract as a good basis for your new quotation, and try to balance the new invoice with the amount your client had already been happy to be charged.

Moreover, you can quote your normal rate for the entire month. Yet, in an informal phone talk you can imply that you'll be open to a certain degree of negotiation an
... See more
You've said that you have already served them as an interpreter and this is the second order they'd like to place with you. One strategy can be that you consider your last contract as a good basis for your new quotation, and try to balance the new invoice with the amount your client had already been happy to be charged.

Moreover, you can quote your normal rate for the entire month. Yet, in an informal phone talk you can imply that you'll be open to a certain degree of negotiation and price moderation if you feel that they're uncomfortable with your rates.

During negotiations always try to focus and elaborate on your superb ability to handle the job, and keep reminding them of the good experience they had in their last work with you.

As this is a communication and relation issue and deals with human nature, it largely depends on your type of character and that of your client.

Anyway, always bear this rule of thumb in mind: You need to try to keep your customers happy to make him/her re-purchase your services again and again. This is the general rule in business.

Good luck!
Collapse


 
LilianNekipelov
LilianNekipelov  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:14
Russian to English
+ ...
Hi-- what do you mean by the whole month? Apr 10, 2014

Are you expected to move to a different location, live in a hotel, and work an unlimited number of hours, or are you just committing yourself to work for that company the whole month--40 hours a week-- like a regular full time job?

[Edited at 2014-04-10 11:11 GMT]


 
Sarah Michel
Sarah Michel  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:14
Member (2011)
Indonesian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Few more details - to make the discussion juicier Apr 10, 2014

So basically the job is 40 hours a week for a month -
plus 2 hours travel to and from the location daily -
I usually charge a daily rate of £400.00 inclusive of all expenses for this kind of job.
Best regards,
Sarah


 
Diana Coada (X)
Diana Coada (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:14
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Low fee Apr 10, 2014

Sarah Michel wrote:
I usually charge a daily rate of £400.00 inclusive of all expenses for this kind of job.
Best regards,
Sarah


For consecutive work, the minimum is around £500 with expenses charged on top of that (unless this is a public service assignment, in which case this is the highest rate I've ever heard of


 
LilianNekipelov
LilianNekipelov  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:14
Russian to English
+ ...
Well, charge your daily rate, then, time X days. Apr 11, 2014

If they cannot afford to pay the traveling time, and you have been working for them for long, you may perhaps skip the charge for the traveling time--charge for gas or the train fare only.

 
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 02:14
English to Polish
+ ...
... Apr 13, 2014

In any case there's no reason to go below the typical monthly salary in a similar salaried position plus the value of all the benefits a salaried translator receives (insurance, bonuses, incentives etc.). Then add some extra for being unavailable to your other clients, needing to refuse jobs and so on, and simply because freelancers are not normally expected to be as available as you are becoming for one full month.

 
Sergei Tumanov
Sergei Tumanov  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:14
English to Russian
+ ...
Will you work for free? Apr 14, 2014

Sarah Michel wrote:

I have been asked to submit a proposal for a month's interpreting contract -
Do you give a discount? How much?

Sarah


if someone offers you a life-time contract?

[Edited at 2014-04-14 09:54 GMT]


 
mjbjosh
mjbjosh
Local time: 02:14
English to Latvian
+ ...
It depends Apr 26, 2014

Natalia Mackevich wrote:

You won't be able to get other projects while working on this one full-time, so what you charge here will be the only income this month. If you give a "volume discount", you'll end up working a couple of days for free.


Some clients are fun to work with, some are a pain in the a**, I would adjust the rate accordingly, but I would not go lower than 8'000 € net for a whole month.


 


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Need advice - rate for 1 month interpreting contract







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