Real Estate Fees?

I typically work for real estate agents on single-listing services. I have a set fee for this type of work and all my clients feel it is fair and that they are getting great value for their investment. It is currently a win-win situation.

I was recently contacted by a real estate management group to provide photography for their website in order to improve their brand's online presence and help with leasing the properties they manage.

My question is how should I approach fees on this? I was referred to this group from one of my current clients who works in the same company but as a single-listing agent, not part of the management group. Therefore he knows the rates I charge normally, and more than likely told the other group those rates. I feel that since this project will be for ongoing usage which provides a long term benefit to their business, my rates should reflect this. I just don't have any experience with calculating usage fees, negotiating said fees, or if such fees are warranted in this situation.

Even if they don't accept my usage fees, this project has the potential to be a game changer for my family''s financial situation. Do you think I am setting a bad precedent by doing the work for my normal single-listing fee? Obviously I know I am the only one that can truly answer this question, but your opinions would be helpful.

Thoughts?

You are right that you cannot compare one-time single home real estate pricing to long term commercial architectural work pricing. I keep my pricing for commercial use simple and hourly, and skip the complexities of usage fees. I charge an hourly rate for small business commercial use that includes unlimited use for 3 years. First I create an estimate for the hourly time to execute the job and add at least 1 hour for post processing/delivery/mi​sc. The final invoice is based on the actual time spent, since often only the client can control the time. My pricing in my market is $200-400 per hour.

What a client pays should be based on two things:
1 - Amount of time spent to produce the image + all expenses associated with producing the image
2 - Licensing fees based on usage and visibility

Your clients should understand that all prices you quote them are based on these two things. If one element changes, but the other stays the same, the price will be adjusted accordingly.

Want to use a photo on a national billboard? Even though the photo may have already been taken, or may take the same amount of time / expense to produce (#1 stays the same), the price goes up due to the exposure (#2 goes up).

Want to shoot a project that is 3x larger than the normal project (#1 goes up) but is used the same way as all other projects you shoot for them (#2 stays the same)? Price goes up.

When you lay it out like this to a client, it's rare that you'll find a client who doesn't understand the difference in pricing.

I don't know about photog pricing, so this may not be applicable. but if a plumber fixes a residential toilet he charges the same as he would a toilet in a public restroom at the airport.

Fester wrote in post #16729223
I don't know about photog pricing, so this may not be applicable. but if a plumber fixes a residential toilet he charges the same as he would a toilet in a public restroom at the airport.

Actually they probably don't. Most service companies will charge more for a large commercial client because that company will expect a higher level of service (24 hour emergency service etc).

Also plumbing doesn't directly generate revenue in the same way that (good) marketing does. Marketing photos create awareness that converts into customers/revenue. The more people who see an image the greater the return is likely to be and thus the image is worth more.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #16729718
Also plumbing doesn't directly generate revenue in the same way that (good) marketing does. Marketing photos create awareness that converts into customers/revenue. The more people who see an image the greater the return is likely to be and thus the image is worth more.

Broken toilets can create bad word-of-mouth advertising

Supply an demand. The market will decide what to pay, regardless of your rational or justification.