Pricing for production cost vs personal value.

[imagemaker46]

I buy all the gear I need to run my business, there are times when I get really short notice shoots and don't have the time to try and rent the gear. If I don't have the gear I don't take the job. I know lots of guys rent lights for bigger shoots, I don't know if they pass on the rental charges to the clients.

I suppose it all comes down to what field of photography and how often the gear is required.

 

[Overread]

I suspect it also depends on how much profit you take per shoot as well. If you take a very small amount of profit then any increase to the working cost (eg rental of gear for the shoot) is more likely to be passed onto the client - whilst if you've a much larger profit margin then chances are you can pass on less or even no rental charge to the client since, whilst you take less profit for the shoot, you still profit and cover your expenses.

How healthy the company is in general might also be a factor; if you're taking regular jobs and the income is going well then you've more chance to discount for your customers; whilst if work is more erratic you've, again, less of a margin to allow for increased working expense. This can also be a seasonal thing where you find you've heavy and slow periods where you'd ideally need to charge enough so that whilst you work through the heavy months you also build up enough to see you through the slower periods, again affecting how much of a "hit" you can take on a job before its impacting you.

 

[tirediron]

There are two types of gear costs. (1) Gear I own; and (2) Gear I don't own, but need for a job. If I own the gear, it's simple, it's built in to the price already. I have an estimated life for every major piece of gear (bodies are 5 years, lenses 8, etc, etc) and the cost of those items plus 10% is divided over their project lifespan and added into my CODB calculations as a 'hard cost' right along with my insurance, gasoline, and Internet access. If it's gear that I don't own and rent, then the full cost of the rental, plus a small mark-up for my time to arrange the rental is added as a line-item on the invoice. If it's something I need and plan to buy, and have a reasonable chance of using again, then I generally just file that under 'unexpected costs' and get on with it.