Photography & events
Real Estate Photography Pricing Calculator
Prices real estate photography, where volume and turnaround define the business.
Result
Overhead and margin are taken as shares of the selling price, which is why the cost is divided rather than multiplied. Adding 15% to cost does not produce a 15% margin. Gross profit is what is left after the cost of doing the job. Overhead comes out of that: the building, the office wages, the vans, insurance, software and advertising. A healthy gross margin still loses money if overhead is larger.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Per-property pricing based on property size and the deliverables, with the cost built from shoot time, travel between properties, editing and the turnaround required. The business model is volume and speed rather than per-image value, which makes properties per day the figure that matters.
What moves the number
- Properties per day, which drives the economics.
- Travel time between properties.
- Editing per property, including any blending.
- Turnaround requirement, usually next day.
Where this one goes wrong
Travel between properties is the cost that limits this business, since a photographer covering a spread-out territory loses more time driving than shooting, and routing properties geographically is the single most effective improvement available. Next-day turnaround is also the norm rather than a premium in this market, which means the editing has to be fast and systematic rather than considered, and that is a workflow discipline rather than a pricing one.
Before you quote
- Route properties geographically to reduce travel.
- Build a fast systematic editing workflow.
- Price by property size rather than a flat fee.
Questions
About this calculator
What limits real estate photography volume?
Travel between properties. A photographer covering a spread-out territory loses more time driving than shooting, which makes routing properties geographically the single most effective improvement available in this business.
Is next-day turnaround a premium?
In this market it is the norm rather than a premium, which means the editing has to be fast and systematic. That is a workflow discipline, and a photographer treating each image as a considered edit cannot sustain the volume.
Should pricing be flat per property?
Pricing by size works better, since a large property takes considerably longer to shoot and edit than a small apartment. A flat fee overprices the small jobs and loses money on the large ones.
The formula
price = direct cost / (1 - overhead% - margin%)
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How to use this calculator
- Labour cost ($). Burdened: wages plus tax, insurance and the vehicle, not the hourly wage.
- Materials cost ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $60.
- Other direct costs ($). Permits, disposal, equipment hire, subcontractors.
- Overhead rate (%). Overhead as a share of revenue. Work it out from last year's accounts.
- Target net margin (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 15%.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to price to quote, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Labour cost | $300 |
| Materials cost | $60 |
| Other direct costs | $0 |
| Overhead rate | 22% |
| Target net margin | 15% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Price to quote main result | $571.43 |
| Direct cost | $360 |
| Overhead recovered | $125.71 |
| Net profit | $85.71 |
| Gross margin | 37.0% |
| Markup on direct cost | 58.7% |
Quote $571.43 to cover $360 of direct cost, recover $125.71 of overhead and leave $85.71 of net profit. That is a 58.7% markup on cost.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only labour cost, this is what happens to price to quote. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Labour cost ($) | Price to quote |
|---|---|
| $150 | $333.33 |
| $225 | $452.38 |
| $300 example above | $571.43 |
| $450 | $809.52 |
| $600 | $1,048 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Labour cost ($)
- Burdened: wages plus tax, insurance and the vehicle, not the hourly wage.
- Materials cost ($)
- A money amount, starting at $60.
- Other direct costs ($)
- Permits, disposal, equipment hire, subcontractors.
- Overhead rate (%)
- Overhead as a share of revenue. Work it out from last year's accounts.
- Target net margin (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 80, starting at 15%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Price to quote | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Direct cost | A money figure. |
| Overhead recovered | A money figure. |
| Net profit | A money figure. |
| Gross margin | A percentage. |
| Markup on direct cost | A percentage. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.