Photography & events
Session Pricing Calculator
Prices a session, where total hours rather than session length set the floor.
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
The session fee built from all the hours the session consumes, meaning preparation, travel, shooting, culling, editing, communication and delivery, at the photographer's cost per hour, with overhead and margin applied. The session length is the smallest component.
What moves the number
- Total hours per session, not session length.
- Deliverable count, which drives editing.
- Travel and preparation.
- Overhead and margin.
Where this one goes wrong
A session priced at an apparently reasonable hourly rate for the time on site can be well below cost once editing and communication are counted, and that is the structural reason photographers undercharge. Build from total hours. Capping the deliverable count is the lever that controls the largest component, and it also produces a better experience than an unmanageable folder of similar frames.
Before you quote
- Build the price from total hours, not session length.
- Cap the deliverable count.
- Apply overhead and margin, not just cost recovery.
Questions
About this calculator
What should a session price be based on?
Total hours the session consumes: preparation, travel, shooting, culling, editing, communication and delivery. The session length is the smallest component, which is the structural reason photographers undercharge.
What controls the editing hours?
The deliverable count, which is why capping it matters. It also produces a better experience, since a curated set serves a client better than an unmanageable folder of near-identical frames that nobody finishes reviewing.
Should margin be added or is cost recovery enough?
Margin, because cost recovery leaves nothing for the business to grow, replace equipment or survive a quiet month. A price that only covers cost is a price that fails the first time anything goes wrong.
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.