Hey there,
I am between free and $350. I have completed my 3 DONA births and need to finish up the last details, struggling pulling together a resource list, it's very intensive.

I am free to our local not-for-profit midwifery, Operation Special Delivery, and Care-Net referred clients. After I am certified I will charge $750 with a military reduction rate of $550.

I live in the Northern VA/ DC area where doulas go as high as $1200. There is one that charges $200 down and $35 an hour. (That could go either way for the client or doula's benefit)

I ask $250 down and will continue. Those who truly can't afford a doula and want one, I would still work with. I have found my ministry!

~Fern <><

Love it! Math is not my strong suit, but I may be able to work with this formula.

Thank you for sharing this. It also gives us serving our community a way to show our husband's that this is not eating away our familie's money, time, etc.

I'm saving my first few paychecks to reinvest in Bradley classes, so excited!

Thank you,
~Fern <><

I have attended one birth, and I did not charge (but they sent me a cheese-and-meat basket. not sure what that meant, lol) but I will not do that again. The cost of me driving from my rural home in western VA to the Lake on the other side of town for 3 prenatals and 2 postpartums alone puts me in range to charge! I have 4 children, from 9yo to 1yo, and my plan is to call on 2 friends for childcare, so that's two fees I have to pay out.
Another poster, who is from my area (Roanoke) said that in 2009 doulas charged 400-800 dollars. I have thought to start at 250, but after this thread, I am thinking that I will be charging $400 for all my births as I finish my CAPPA certification, then I will up it to at least $500.
At present, I offer what everyone else offers:
3 prenatals
24/7 access 2 weeks on either side of due date
continuous birth support
2 postpartums (potentially one more if there is a need)
email/phone support

I have done mother blessings and belly casts before, but not really at cost. I would like to know more about this!

My fee is $650, with a sliding scale down to $500.

I'm thinking of raising my rates to $800 for those births in a major city near me. I'm only 45 minutes away from the city, so it's not such a long travel time, but parking at those hospitals is around $40 every time I go. And if the clients live IN the city, then I have to pay to take the T or pay for parking. So in the end, I'm making a lot less than with the other births.

My fee includes 2-3 prenatals, on call 2 weeks before due date, and 2 postpartum visits. I set up the first visit, and I tell mom to save the second for when she needs me and give me a call. I've only been called back for the second visit once.

I can't help but chuckle... a meat and cheese basket!??! Haha... Not laughing at you in ANY WAY WHAT SO EVER!!!! I would throw that to my dog... my FIL got us one, and we are vegetarians... I suppose it is the thought that counts??

I tried WestsideDoula's formula for figuring out what to charge.

I've tried twice now.

I super struggle with math.

And while I did get a figure a the end, I didn't like the number LOL. At least not until I'm certified and have more local experience.

Well you could put your calculated figure on the website, but say a discount of £x is available to people willing to fill out evaluation paperwork for you. In this
way they know your worth your salt but for an hours work on there part it's like a bartered discount.

You should never be out of pocket for gas and food or childcare or wages gained otherwise. Don't sell yourself short and in this way you can charge full whack and if people are looking at twelve weeks then don't book you there and then they know by the time they want you you may have filled all your paper wk discounted spacese. So no surprises in price hike.

Hope this helps.

DM

Very important Brie+3, that´s what I wanted to say.

Does anyone do a pricing structure that takes into account labour time? ie. $450 for prenatals, labour of 24 hrs or less, and post natal, and then add $150 if labour goes longer? Just thinking about childcare for my 3 kids...
Or does it make more sense just to charge one higher flat fee no matter how long the labour goes on for? Just asking because I can usually manage for one full day well, but two days would be much more expensive and a lot trickier. So far, the longest job I have had has been 18 hrs...

The problem with charging a higher fee if the birth goes over a certain amount of hours is that it will likely delay your clients calling you, which may mean that you don't get a phone call until later in labor, and at that point, your help may not be as effective than if you arrived earlier.

Also, your clients may be looking at the clock, especially if it is a long birth, and I really don't want my couples worrying about money for me at their birth.

And then what if you have a very short birth - you are more likely to miss the birth because the parents delay calling you (because they don't necessarily know it's going to be short) or you get there very very late in the process, or the parents might expect a refund - if you change more for longer births, they may have the expectation that they should be due a refund for shorter births.

I attend approximately 25 births a year. I usually get 1 or 2 a year that go over 24 hours. I just suck it up when it happens and am thankful it doesn't happen more often.

OK, I just looked at my stats:

The last 25 births I attended:

4 of those births, I was away from home for 4 hours or less. - 16%
4 of those births, I was away between 4 and 8 hours - 16%
6 of those births, I was away between 8 and 12 hours - 24%
5 of those births, I was away between 12 and 16 hours - 20%
3 of those births, I was away between 16 and 20 hours - 12%
2 of those births, I was away between 20 and 24 hours - 8%
1 of those births, I was away over 24 hours. - 4%

So out of those births, about 32% I was away from home 8 hours or less.
56% of those births were between 8 and 20 hours.
12% were over 20 hours.
76% were 16 hours or less.

I DO have in my contract that I do reserve the right to call in a backup after 24 hours. I have never done that. If I did, I would call my business partner and pay her out of my fee, or else strike up a deal with her that I'll do the same for her at the next 24 hour + birth that she attends.

I should add.... That was the minimum rate.

Assuming I did it right - it turned out to be like $615 which is A LOT of money for folks out here. I'm just at the begining of my career and I just can't justify charging that much while I'm really more interested in getting more births under my belt. Right now, I have my rate as $500 but I offer many discounts that most are eligible for. I'm OK with that.

How much do doulas really make?

Say the doula charges $500, seems like a lot of money right? Not really.

The average birth is 15hrs. Add 4hrs of prenatal visits. 2hrs of telephone suppoort. 2h-3hrs if you accompany them to an appt with their provider, 2hrs postpartum care. Don't forget travel time, could be 1-4hrs. Thats about 25-28hrs you spend with a client, some more and some less.

Take away $150 automatically for gas, child care, supplies, equipment, overhead, etc.

Divide $350 by 25hrs, thats $14 per hour before taxes.

Example: I had on client I only made $4.25/hr because when she hired me I was charging a nominal fee, $200. She needed more birth prepartation prenatally and had a prolonged labor requiring 28hrs of support from me. I spent about 47hrs with her with her all together.

For those who may be thinking becoming a doula would be a lucrative career choice. It is not. LOL.

Props!
I like that system and I think I may employ it!

Since this post I now charge $400-600, depends on the package choosen.