Plumber vs Photographer Comparison

I want to put into perspective the things you need to consider when you charge for your work and I think the best way is to run a comparison between a Plumber going to fix a leaking toilet vs a Photographer going out to do a professional corporate headshot.

First, let’s look at the bare minimum tools of each trade is going to need to do their job…

The Plumber

One of the most common reasons a toilet leaks is because of an old dried out one of these, this is called a “Pan Cone” and with age, the rubber dries out and cracks. Every time you flush, the water then leaks from the crack and you get wet feet.

This part cost $4, so in this example, the bare minimum a plumber needs to fix your leaking toilet is a $4 part, and obviously the knowledge to diagnose this problem.

If you call a plumber to come out and fix this for you, he’s going to charge an average of $300 - $400, or $500 if it’s an after-hours emergency.

That’s $300 - $500 to fix a $4 problem and would take him about 15 minutes.

The Photographer

 A photographer to go out and do ONE Professional Corporate Headshot He’s going to need, as a bare minimum…

Camera                    $2,500

Lens                         $1,500

Flash Kit                    $2,000

Laptop                      $2,000

Flash Trigger            $300

Camera Bag             $300

Tripod                       $400

Reflector                   $80

That’s a total of       $9,080

$9,080 / $4 = 2,270!

The Photographer needs 2,270 x more dollar out lay just to be able to do a basic Professional Corporate Headshot.

I’m seeing photographers advertise to do this for $80 – 120

Even if the photographers whole kit, including his camera and laptop was $3,000, he’s still undercharging for his time at $80. Now if he was doing 10 headshots at a time and charging $80 each that’s a different story, but to go out to an office, carry $9k worth of gear and only charge $80 for an hour – hour ½ worth of work is just unrealistic.

The plumber is happily charging $300 - $500 to do his job, why is our industry so reluctant to charge a reasonable fee and drive our prices up rather than down.

We as a studio charge a minimum of $300 - $400 to do a single headshot. If we’re doing volume then yes, we’ll go down to $70 – 80, but that’s only when we’re doing 30 people.

I hope this puts things into perspective for you and lets you see more clearly the things you need to look at before charging for your work.

Its ok to charge for your work, pretend you’re a plumber.