Cost is relative
$900/$30 =30 hours. 900/50 =18 hours. So even at relatively low hourly (remember all taxes, office expenses, insurance cost and hardware and software coats have yo come out of that before it is “wages”.
So not really sure what you expect.
Do you just want a basic track layout, one option with no revisions? Or do you expect an actual from scratch design with your wants and givens and druthers taken into account. As well as revising it once or twice or more? Then do you expect a more finished design calling out materials used bench work construction and or what buildings go where?
And the idea that it is small so should be simpler is usually not true. At the design stage. It is just less work at the detailing stage as there is less yo do. But design is usually harder for smaller spaces as Larger spaces have more room to maneuver where as smaller spaces need to squeeze in. So your design has less margin.
I find in retail design I often have to do twice to three times the number of plan variations for a small space as for a larger space before I have one plan worth submitting to the client, And I typically need twice as many plans (or often more) because I need to be able to show the client that you can’t fit 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag and thus he can’t have everything and less is more in a small space, whereas in a large space I can dump it all in and I just need yo find a pleasing way for it all to work together in a small space I have to figure out what can and should go into the space.
So the idea that this design could cost 750-1500 is not a huge surprise. Don’t get me wrong I can understand why you may not want yo spend that much and I can understand your budget may not be able yo cover that cost, And I understand that some folks may do it for a loot less or for free but they are not doing it as a living or really even a side hustle they are doing it as a hobby that someone will pay them a few bucks for. But. Someone that does this to make money has to make enough to justify doing it. And with the cost of everything today it is not worth the potential downsides yo do it for less. Plus giving you a cheaper rate will effect the rate the designer can charge others.
Trust me clients will use any excuse to try and pay less. I had one client argue that it was to expensive on a per page Basis. So I offered to quadruple his page count by putting everything on a separate page one detail per page….
So really your best bet is to design it yourself. Then ask for advise. After all if it is so simple that it is not worth the cost then you should be able yo do it yourself…. And then if it works well you saved 900 bucks and get the credit and if it does not work out well you can fix your own design and it does not damage the professionals reputation.
By the way while not a perfesional Lay-out designer but a person that had to spend two days fixing the grades on an armature designers plan as his math was wrong, I an tell you that I won’t open my cad software for less the $500 as by the time I meet with the client to find out what they want, set up the files, charge for administration time (bills don’t write themselves) design the layout and creat the presentation as well as subtract the above referenced coats it is simply not worth the bother for less then $500.
Once again this is not intended as a slam on the OP it is just pointing out the realities from the other side. And why things coast what they do. In a world where a 2x4 costs what they are charging today nothing is cheep any more. (see posts on the price of lumber)
-Doug M
