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Poll: In general, how much time do you spend preparing quotes for projects?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jan 31, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "In general, how much time do you spend preparing quotes for projects?".

This poll was originally submitted by INES Reisch. View the poll results »



 
Mary Worby
Mary Worby  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:41
German to English
+ ...
None Jan 31, 2017

I don't prepare quotes for projects! I have fixed per-word rates!

 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
None Jan 31, 2017

Mary Worby wrote:

I don't prepare quotes for projects! I have fixed per-word rates!


Me too


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 06:41
Spanish to English
+ ...
Same here Jan 31, 2017

Per-word rate. I have regular clients. Sometimes they ask me for a budget estimate for their accounting depts before confirming a translation, but it's a formality. I rarely, if ever, bid or compete for work nowadays.
And my rates are still as low and value-for-money as they were last year and the year before


 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:41
Czech to French
+ ...
Very little Jan 31, 2017

Even at the time when I had not enough work and prepared a lot of quotes (and prepared them carefully, as I really wanted the jobs), it was never 5 hours per week. Now I only quote on posted jobs if the subject is one of my main specializations or in a rare language pair that I translate. But it only takes a few minutes.

 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 06:41
Member (2006)
German to English
None Jan 31, 2017

All of my customers know what we agreed and the pricing is based on that.

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 22:41
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
None except for new clients with PDFs Jan 31, 2017

Same as everyone else so far.

The terms have already been agreed on with all my regular clients. They all do the word count on PDFs before contacting me.

I don't have much time to take on new clients. I usually start by telling them my rate. If they send me a PDF file for which they don't have a word count, I ask them to agree to pay me by the target count (in which case I give them a very rough estimate based on my rate per word).


 
Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 06:41
French to English
+ ...
Hello??? Jan 31, 2017

10 hours per week??? Who could possibly do that? It's more like 10 minutes per week, and only for the projects where you cannot count words in a straightforward way.

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 06:41
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
It varies a lot Jan 31, 2017

Most of my work is for agencies, and like others, I have more or less fixed word rates for each agency.
One does have two rates, and it depends on the client and type of work.

When I do work for a direct client or take on a job for a new client, I look carefully at the text and the formatting... whether there are any repetitions or benefits from using my CAT, or special requests from the client, and in fact I may spend an hour or more preparing a quote. I don't do that every w
... See more
Most of my work is for agencies, and like others, I have more or less fixed word rates for each agency.
One does have two rates, and it depends on the client and type of work.

When I do work for a direct client or take on a job for a new client, I look carefully at the text and the formatting... whether there are any repetitions or benefits from using my CAT, or special requests from the client, and in fact I may spend an hour or more preparing a quote. I don't do that every week, however.

I do NOT have fixed rates, although I do have rule-of-thumb rates for different types of text. I don't charge the same word rate for a leasing contract for a large shopping complex, for instance, with legal jargon and curlicues, as I charge for a press release or a folder of recipes.

In short, I try not to sell words by the kilo like groceries. (And even then, a kilo of cheese or coffee costs a lot more than a kilo of flour or sugar...) I sell a service and charge, basically, for my time and expertise.
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 05:41
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In general, very little time Jan 31, 2017

I have a regular client base and they know my rates. Over the years, some of them have asked me for an estimate once in a blue moon. I have to say though that quite recently a new direct client requested me a quote for a huge project with a tight deadline. It only took a few minutes to give my quote. I don’t know how many translators they contacted, but I got the job!

 
Ventnai
Ventnai  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 06:41
German to English
+ ...
Very little Jan 31, 2017

Only one or two clients ask me to give a price but they often provide me with an analysis, so it's a question of copy and paste between Excel files - the client's or my Trados analysis and my rates sheet. The rest already know my rates although I will negotiate a higher price in special cases.

 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 06:41
English to Italian
same here Jan 31, 2017

Mary Worby wrote:

I don't prepare quotes for projects! I have fixed per-word rates!


exactly the same


 
Julian Holmes
Julian Holmes  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 14:41
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
None Jan 31, 2017

I don't submit quotes at all now, thank goodness!

All contractual details are already predetermined and agreed upon in a vendor agreement with the client. When they send an inquiry about a new job, all the information required is in the inquiry mail as required by Japanese law. The only things that differ are volume and job-specific requirements.

In the old days, I did have to prepare quotes and, quite frankly, it was a real pain in the derriere. For big jobs, clients w
... See more
I don't submit quotes at all now, thank goodness!

All contractual details are already predetermined and agreed upon in a vendor agreement with the client. When they send an inquiry about a new job, all the information required is in the inquiry mail as required by Japanese law. The only things that differ are volume and job-specific requirements.

In the old days, I did have to prepare quotes and, quite frankly, it was a real pain in the derriere. For big jobs, clients would want detailed estimates which were very time-consuming. I recollect the longest one taking over one and half days. In most cases, clients did not send me the work, anyway, because it was a tender and I was only one of those participating in bidding. I decided I would spend no more than 30 minutes per estimate. I also told clients that I would give them a detailed estimate only if it was their full intention to give me the work and they are not asking other companies for a tender.
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Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 06:41
English to German
Who? Jan 31, 2017

Anton Konashenok wrote:

10 hours per week??? Who could possibly do that?


The business develop manager of a large translation agency? Maybe?


 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 06:41
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
Less than half an hour Jan 31, 2017

I won't repeat what has already been said, but more or less same situation.

 
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Poll: In general, how much time do you spend preparing quotes for projects?






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