Ask ten freelance video editors how they arrived at their day rate and eight of them will give you some version of the same answer: they looked at what other editors were charging and picked a number in that range. The problem is that they have no idea whether those other editors are actually making money. A rate that looks competitive might be below what you personally need to earn to cover your costs and hit your income goal.
Start with what you need, not what others charge
The correct starting point for your day rate is your desired net income — what you actually want to take home after tax. Most editors start from the wrong end: they look at market rates and wonder if they can justify charging that. Start instead by calculating what you need and work outward from there.
The four variables that determine your floor rate
Your minimum viable day rate is determined by four variables: your desired take-home income, your effective tax rate (income tax plus National Insurance), your annual business expenses, and your realistic billable utilisation — the percentage of available working days you actually bill. Most editors underestimate their tax rate and systematically overestimate their utilisation.
Why 100% utilisation is a fantasy
A full-time freelancer billing every available day would work approximately 230 days per year. In practice, admin time, pitching, downtime between projects, and non-billable client calls typically bring that figure down to 60–75% for an established freelancer. That means 138–173 billable days, not 230. This difference alone can require a 30–40% increase in your day rate to hit the same income.
Business expenses most editors miss
The most commonly underestimated items are: Adobe Creative Cloud or DaVinci Resolve licence (£600–£1,000/year), professional accountant (£800–£1,500/year), professional indemnity and public liability insurance (£400–£700/year), storage drives and cloud backup (£500–£2,000/year), hardware depreciation over 3–4 years, and home office or co-working costs. Adding these up accurately and dividing by your billable days gives you the cost-per-day overhead that must be covered before you earn anything.
What to do once you know your floor rate
Once you know your floor rate, compare it to market rates for your experience level. If your floor is well below market — as it often is for mid-level and senior editors who have priced by feel rather than by calculation — you have immediate pricing headroom. If your floor is above market, that is important information too: it means you either need to reduce your cost base, increase your billable utilisation, or accept a lower income target.
“A rate that looks competitive might still be below what you personally need to earn to cover your costs. 'What others charge' and 'what you need to charge' are different questions.”
The four variables in your day rate calculation
- Desired net take-home income (the goal)
- Effective tax rate — income tax plus National Insurance, typically 25–35%
- Annual business expenses — software, accountant, insurance, hardware depreciation, storage
- Billable utilisation — the % of working days you actually invoice (60–75% is realistic)
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