Learning Development Pricing Calculator - LXD Central
I appreciate the detailed breakdowns of time estimates per task in this article. This would be a very helpful way to create a project plan, even if you've never created an ILT or elearning course before.
However, note the caveat about the hourly rate at the bottom. The calculator uses $60 or $65/hour for pricing, but that's what a vendor would pay its own employees. If you're buying from a vendor, the cost is likely much higher. (Although apparently I'm not taking nearly enough profit for myself if vendors are typically pricing at 2.5 times their cost.)
<span style="font-size: 1rem;">How much should you pay for a learning solution? Why does one vendor quote $5,000 and another $20,000? At its core, the price of a learning solution is a very simple equation – </span><strong style="font-size: 1rem;">Rate x Effort = Price.</strong>
For those organizations that buy learning from third-party vendors these prices may seem quite low, and they are. The $65 rate is commensurate with what one of those companies would pay an employee but does not include all of the overheads, cost of sale, and profit that company would typically account for in the price. As a rule of thumb, a custom learning company will price at about 60% gross margin, which in short-hand means you multiple direct costs by 2.5.