As an artist just crossing into the realm of painting professionally, this is probably the number one most asked question in this industry from beginners. Pricing your work as a mural artist will be one of the toughest decisions you will make. How do you give a fair price to your client to keep them happy while also receiving a fair wage for your artistry?

There are basically three ways you can price your mural artwork: by the hour,with a flat fee, or by the square footage.

How do you determine what is the best way to charge? I really think the answer to that question is personal. Each person will have a way to charge with which they feel comfortable when discussing this with their client. You can also check on your competiton, and see what they are doing.

Only experience will tell you how long it will take to complete a job. This is  the first thing you need to determine. If you are not sure about job length when you are starting out, get some experience painting murals for family and friends. Remember that more detailed work will require more hours of labor.

Once you determine the job length, think about what you would like to make per day. If you would like to charge by the hour, divide your the amount of money you would charge per day by eight hours. The advantage to this type of billing is that if you underestimate the time involved to compete a project you are getting paid by the hour, so you won't lose money. However, your client may feel uneasy not knowing for sure what you plan on charging them at the end of the project and may leave bad feelings if they feel they were overcharged.

If you would like to charge a flat fee and have enough experience to know how long it will take you to complete a job, figure out how much you would like to make per day and multiply that amount by the number of days to complete the work. The disadvantage to charging this way it may take longer than you thought to complete a job and you may end up making much less than you originally estimated. The advantage is your customer is happy because they are paying you an agreed upon price for the work.

Charging by the square foot is a bit more complex as you would have to have experience knowing the job length and complexity of the job. If you  know it is going to take you three days to do the work, keep in mind what you want to make per day and determine the square footage of the room. Multply the amount per day you want to make, by the number of days it will take you to do the job. Then divide that amount by the square footage. That will will tell you what to charge the customer per square foot.  Clients may feel more comfortable, thinking there is some type of formula to how you charge. The disadvantage here again is you may underestimate the amount of time to complete the work and may be making less than you expected to make if the job runs overtime. The advantage is that the client is paying an agreed upon price and will be happy in the end as long as you have delivered quality work. If you would like to learn more about the Mural and Faux business , I would like to recommend the book below from Margaret Pittman. It tells you everything you need to know to get your business off the ground and to make it a success.