shazam
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I hate to make things more complicated for clients, so my insurance is always included in my price without being extra specified. I've made exceptions of this rule a couple of times, where it was important for the client to know that I am insured.
We have always factored our insurance into our normal rate, as part of our operational overhead. Our normal sitting fee or event fee or wedding fee, etc. all have a portion of it built in.
We alot 1% of the fee to go to insurance, if we fill that accounting "bucket" (as my corporate controller wife would say) then we carry it forward into the next month. At the end of the year if we have an excess then we can keep that in there for the next year or take it out as profit depending on our needs.
I don't line item insurance unless I need to get an additional rider for something specific to the job. If I need to rent out a large space and they require a rider naming them as the beneficiary then I'll charge the client directly. I'll charge whatever my agent charges me, plus 20%, plus the time involved in putting it together (based on my preproduction hourly rate.
That's interesting. I have had to add the City of Miami Beach for location shooting but my agent/insurance company didn't charge me extra for such a thing. I'll definitely need to ask about that. How and when they apply such charges so that I'll know when I need to bill the client for such a rider.
Well, it's great that your agent didn't charge you! (a great example of why you need a good corporate team behind you) But don't forget to account for the time it took you to make that happen. Whether or not you bill for that directly you still shoul account for it, whether through prepro charges, increased creative fees or a line item for insurance. The additional insurance may have been free, but your time isn't!
I don't make insurance a billable line item just as I don't list paper clips or phone service. I view it as a cost - a big cost - of doing business. The only exception is when they raise the issue or if I have to get additional coverage for a specific job. Then I mark it up at least 20% to cover my time in dealing with my insurance agent.
The only insurance I bill extra for is when the client requires more than what I typically carry. In this case I would charge for the extra rider
General business insurance is part of our annual overheads and goes into our regular reviews of job costing and profitability.
Where I would likely charge extra are any special permits or special insurance needs. Ideally this is discussed early on in the job, so is factored into our job pricing.
If it's sprung on us later on then I have negotiated additional fees specifically for this aspect.
Ideally I would like to have such fees within our overall job costs since I prefer to keep it simple for the client (particularly if they are an intermediary). It also looks better if you can say 'yes, that's covered in our fees', ... it helps give that air of authority, even if it's the first time anyone has ever required the insurance. I've always felt that saying 'This is the first time we've done X' is to be avoided, from a 'client confidence' point of view ;-)
It's in my creative fee. If extra coverage is needed then I just increase the creative fee. I try to reduce the amount of line items on the estimate just to keep things simple for the client to review.
Standard insurance policies are a Cost of Doing Business (CODB), much like any other non-job-specific expense that we incur as a regular part of being in business as photographers. All of the typical costs I incur as a part of being in business are calculated into my creative fee, since I need to recoup these costs before I can make a profit as a photographer.
The only expenses I bill a client for outside of my creative fee are those incurred as the direct result of doing a job for that client. Direct costs associated with a specific client job are billed out as production charges.
How many of you bill your client for insurance for each day of shooting on the job?
If so, how much do you bill your client? Also do you make a profit off your insurance billings?
I was just quoted a commercial insurance policy that was almost $700 a year. All had the necessary minimums and amounts to cover all the gear I had. I have seen sample bids from photographers billing at $150 a day. Or would you bill what it actually costs you per day? Or do you prefer to just work it into your shooting rate?
Please advise