Pricing Large Jobs

Recently I was invited to bid on two different very big jobs--the kind of thing that involves lengthy runs of material from fifty to one hundred years.

It's not the first time in 35+ years of indexing that I've been in this situation. In fact, one of my very earliest jobs, an annual index to government proceedings, involved something that, with inflation would have been a five-figure job. I got that one and kept it for 20 years before turning it over to a mentoree. In that case, I was so naive/inexperienced that, if I remember correctly, I asked what they had been paying the previous indexer who retired. I added 10% and gave a bid. Fortunately, the agency bought it.

Later, though, particularly when the proposed work involves a non-profit, I have begun to wonder if by quoting a price that represents my best estimate of the work required--which turns out to be quite expensive--whether offering some kind of discount is justified.

I realize this is a personal decision--do I want to work for less than my time is normally worth in order to concentrate on one or more very large jobs, which at least would offer guaranteed income and known commitment rather than a month-to-month kind of scheduling thing. Is the trade off in a lower hourly income worth the benefit of more certainty? And of course, finally, can non-profits in particular afford this kind of price--or do I price myself out of the market.

I don't expect an answer here although any subscriber is certainly welcome to comment. I'm just rambling this morning because I have spent hours this week developing proposals for two such jobs that I strongly suspect will be seen as too expensive.

I also decided to offer this question to the indexersdiscussionlist.