Billing rates, summary of all respondents
Billing rates, summary of private entities
Commentary
- A few interesting (to me, at least) observations:
- While private entities charge more (as expected), they do not charge that much more than non-profits and academic institutions.
- The lowest prices in all categories (except data conversion) came from private entities.
- The survey results jive nicely with the GSA schedules and the New Jersey GIS state contract pricing.
- The only notable exception is the data conversion numbers – higher on average in the survey than in other data sources.
- I am surprised that training does not command higher rates.
- Applying the 25% rate of inflation change to the 2001 prices gets us very close to the numbers in the above tables.
Comments from survey respondents
- “Tough economy has started fierce price wars.”
- “Consulting jobs in West Texas are rare. I usually quote by the job.”
- “I think you should have also asked how many years you have been in business. While I put my hourly rate down, 80% of my business is project-based fees as opposed to hourly.”
- “I charge different rates on a sliding scale depending on the client; e.g. charge less for non-profits and more for private clients.”
- “I live in a rural community and realize my rates are very low. I have lower rates when I have on-site services with a set hourly commitment.”
- “I also work for a flat project fee. My clients are all non-profits, so I tend to think I charge less than say private company contractors.”
- “I have to spend a lot of 'business development' time to get work. I charge $150 per hour.”
- “These rates are for our NYC staff, most of our other locations have lower rates.”
- “Many projects not on hourly basis but fixed price.”
- “We also charge a flat fee for plotting maps- $35 (does not include labor for setting up map files or data for presentation).”
