2014 Freelance Rates results: what people charge
From the Journal – Posted 13.04.2015
It’s been a few months since we opened up last year’s survey to look at Freelance rates working in the web industry. This is the fourth year running the survey and each year the survey has expanded to find out more about what freelancers in the UK charge, how they work and ultimately how their work affects them. Many people work freelance as a lifestyle choice so am particularly interested in if this leads to a healthy work/life balance.
In this first of three blog posts we will look at what people charge and how this varies across various factors.
This post is supported by a fantastic interactive data-visualisation from Peter Cook looking at the responses.
Additionally we have updated the freelance rates calculator to help people know how they rates compare to others with similar skills and experience.
Methodology
As with previous years, average values are taken from the Median value across our responses. Note that this year for the first time we asked people for their hourly rates as well as day rates but for the purpose of consistency this analysis will only consider day rates.
Day rates by Location
Overall rates across the UK were consistent with last year with some variability across the UK. For the first time since our survey started, average rates have not seen an increase staying at £290/day. Unsurprisingly, freelancers in London and the South East commanded the highest rates whilst Yorkshire, the North East and Northern Ireland the lowest. Interestingly the regions with the highest rates had also generally seen the largest rises in day rates whilst those with lower rates had seen the largest fall. London, for example has seen a 7.69% rise in day rates whilst somewhat sadly Northern Ireland has seen a 28.5% fall in day rates.
Region
Count
Min
Max
Average
2013
+/-
2012
+/-
2011
+/-
East Midlands
16
42
800
307.5
300
7.5
275
32.5
300
7.5
East of England
26
80
550
300
300
0
300
0
250
50
London
137
40
1200
350
325
25
337.50
12.5
350
0
North East
18
80
500
215
240
–25
245
–30
275
–60
North West
41
38
570
300
267.50
32.5
261.25
38.75
250
50
Northern Ireland
9
75
480
200
280
–80
262.50
–62.5
270
–70
Scotland
46
50
600
310
280
30
290
20
280
30
South East
102
75
750
320
300
20
280
40
300
20
South West
89
50
750
280
300
–20
250
30
258
22
Wales
21
50
700
262.5
252
10.5
250
12.5
275
–12.5
West Midlands
32
80
1200
280
300
–20
290
–10
337.50
–57.5
Yorkshire & The Humber
26
50
800
255
280
–25
287.50
–32.5
250
5
Day rates by Age
It is no surprise that on average the older the person the higher the day rate. However there is a much greater disparity in what freelancers are earning, with younger freelancers (24 and under) rates going down considerably whilst older freelancers (35 and over) rates have gone up.
Age
Count
Average
2013
+/-
2012
+/-
2011
+/-
15–19
13
150
225
–75
280
–130
140
10
20–24
64
240
250
–10
250
–10
225
15
25–29
154
280
280
0
280
0
250
30
30–34
133
300
300
0
290
10
300
0
35–39
102
325
300
25
317.50
7.5
300
25
40–44
64
367.5
325
42.5
320
47.5
325
42.5
45+
28
337.5
300
37.5
325
12.5
425
–87.5
Day rates by skill set
Day rates for developers and generalists (those working across a mixture of disciplines) tend to have gone up but the day rate for designers has gone down on average by £35/day. Back-end developer have the highest day rates whilst designers have the lowest.
Skill
Count
Average
2013
+/-
2012
+/-
2011
+/-
Design
268
265
300
–35
262
3
300
–35
Back-end dev
210
342.5
322.50
20
300
42.5
280
62.5
Front-end dev
373
300
265
35
275
25
280
20
Mixture
276
290
280
10
280
10
300
–10
Day rate by years experience
Unsurprisingly, rates increase with years experience ranging from £140/day with a year or less experience to £362.5/day for those with 18 or more years experience. With a couple of exceptions rates are generally going up.
Years Experience
Count
Average
2013
+/-
2012
+/-
2011
+/-
0–1
28
140
135
5
160
–20
200
–60
2–3
78
200
225
–25
245
–45
200
0
4–5
86
250
275
–25
262.50
–12.5
250
0
6–7
98
300
290
10
255
45
300
0
8–9
61
350
300
50
280
70
275
75
10–11
76
350
300
50
300
50
300
50
12–13
36
349
300
49
300
49
320
29
14–15
55
375
437.50
–62.5
350
25
250
125
16–17
28
360
320
40
340
20
372.50
–12.5
18+
15
362.5
375
–12.5
387.50
–25
475
–112.5
How we bill
If we look at how people charge for work then we can see that there is a pretty even split between those that bill per day, those that bill per hour and those that bill per project.
Billing
Count
%
By the day
171
30.59
By the project
136
24.33
By the hour
123
22.00
Varies per project
85
15.21
By the month
25
4.47
By the week
19
3.40
Deposits and Contracts
Worryingly, the majority of respondents (43%) still don’t ask for a deposit before starting work on a project whilst 33% ask for 25-50% of project value up front. 38% of respondents don’t use a contract.
Deposit
Count
%
None
239
42.83
25–50% of project value
185
33.15
10–25% of project value
70
12.54
50%+ of project value
37
6.63
0–10% of project value
16
2.87
Yes, a fixed amount
11
1.97
Contract?
Count
%
Yes
344
61.65
No
214
38.35
Project Value
40% of Freelancers had an average project value of less than £2000, 28% between £2000 and £5000 whilst 30% had an average project value over £5000.
Project Value
Count
%
£0–1000
111
20.2
£1001–2000
113
20.5
£2001–3000
74
13.5
£3001–4000
45
8.2
£4001–5000
39
7.1
£5000–10,000
84
15.3
£10,000+
84
15.3
The data from the survey is freely available as a CSV. This data is available under a Creative Commons Attribution license. If you want to build your own data-visualisation or tools based on this data you are free to do so but please link to the source and provide a link in the comments below.
Remember to check out Peter Cook's brilliant interactive data-visualisation, and our updated freelance rates calculator.
And join us next week where we will look at how Freelancers work in our industry.