A price can look attractive until you count the hours spent on messages, revisions, and delivery. Before quoting a small project, estimate the whole job and put its boundaries in writing. The numbers below are fictional planning examples, not recommended market rates or expected earnings.
Start with the complete scope
Imagine a pilot for three captioned short videos from a single recording. Define the maximum source length, output lengths, format, revision rounds, and customer inputs. Clarify whether writing hooks, finding footage, uploading, and posting are included. The phrase “three videos” alone can hide very different workloads.
Estimate all the time
Suppose you allow one hour to review the source, two hours to edit, half an hour for revisions, and half an hour for communication and delivery. That is four hours. If you choose an illustrative planning amount of $25 per hour, the time component is $100. This is a personal costing assumption, not evidence of what customers will pay.
Add direct costs and account for other expenses
Suppose the project uses $10 in licensed assets. The time component plus that direct cost is $110. You still need to consider applicable payment or marketplace fees, software overhead, taxes, and unpaid time spent finding customers. Look up actual charges rather than assuming a universal fee. A costing estimate is a starting point for a quote, not a statement of take-home pay.
Test whether the scope works for the buyer
A potential customer may not value this package at a price that covers your costs. Ask what they need most and consider a smaller deliverable, such as one clip, rather than simply discounting the same workload. If you cannot deliver sustainably at an acceptable price, revise the method, customer, or offer.
Write the quote in plain language
An illustrative quote might read: “Three vertical clips, up to 45 seconds each, from one supplied recording up to 20 minutes long. Includes captions and one consolidated revision round. Delivery within five business days after receiving usable materials. Pilot fee: $150.” This sample fee is not a market benchmark. State payment timing, permissions, and the process for additional work separately.
Check the result after delivery
If the fictional $150 project uses $10 in direct costs and four hours, $140 remains before other expenses and taxes, or $35 per delivery hour. If it takes seven hours, that becomes $20 per delivery hour. Neither figure includes all unpaid business time. Recording actual hours tells you whether the original assumptions were realistic.
Your next action
Write your scope, estimated hours, known costs, and unanswered pricing questions on one page. Compare that with what customers say they need. Use Pricing Your First Offer for the broader decision and Validate Your Business Idea before investing heavily in the service.
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