How to price freelance work without losing money

Most freelancers in Thailand price the same way: look at what others charge, then go slightly lower. The result is a market that drifts cheaper every year, and nobody wins.

Start from the number you actually need

Before you think about an hourly rate, answer this: how much do you need per year?

Say you want ฿600,000. That doesn't mean dividing by all your working hours, because:

• You don't have work every day — most freelancers bill 60–70% of their time
• Finding clients, writing quotes, answering messages and doing your books: nobody pays for that
• You have no paid sick days or holidays
• Social security and tax come out of your pocket

Do it like this instead

Say you work 46 weeks a year, 40 hours a week — that's 1,840 hours. But only about 60% is billable: 1,100 hours.

600,000 ÷ 1,100 = ฿545 per hour — and that's before tax, equipment, software and training.

Add roughly 25% for those and you land near ฿680 per hour. That's your break-even, not the price you should quote.

Fixed price beats hourly almost every time

Thai clients generally prefer a fixed price, because they know the total up front. It suits you too: if experience makes you faster, you earn more rather than less.

How to set one: estimate the hours, then add a 30% buffer. Real projects always run longer than the estimate.

Signs you're priced too low

• Clients say yes immediately, without asking a single question
• You take on several projects at once just to make ends meet
• You feel irritated when a client asks for revisions

That last one matters most. Irritation about revisions is usually not a client problem — it's a signal that the price doesn't cover the work you're actually doing.

How to raise rates with existing clients

Give at least a month's notice. State the new number plainly, without apologising, and offer them an option — such as reducing scope to keep the same budget.

Good clients understand. A client who leaves over a 15% increase was costing you money already.

Sell packages, not hours

Quoting three tiers works better than one number, because it changes the client's question from "should I hire?" to "which one?"

For a logo project:

• Basic ฿8,000 — one logo, standard files, two revision rounds
• Standard ฿15,000 — adds a brand guide, business cards and social files
• Full ฿28,000 — adds signage, packaging and full commercial rights

Most people pick the middle, so the middle should be the one you actually want to sell.

Costs freelancers almost always forget

• Out-of-scope revisions — if you don't state a number of rounds, the client assumes unlimited
• Transfer and platform fees — trivial per job, thousands of baht a year
• Time spent on clients who don't hire you — every lost quote is a cost of the ones you win
• Monthly software — Adobe, Figma, hosting: two to three thousand baht a month combined

When to say no

Say no when the budget is below your break-even and the client won't reduce scope. Taking work at a loss does not win you a regular client; it wins you a client who expects that price forever.

Other early signals to decline: someone who negotiates before asking about scope, someone who opens with "this should be quick and easy", and someone pushing you to start before the price is agreed.