If you have started looking into hiring a professional genealogist, you will have noticed that most of us are not very forthcoming about prices. That is not usually secrecy for its own sake. It is because most professional research in the UK is billed by the hour, and nobody can tell you in advance exactly how many hours your family will take. But “it depends” is a frustrating answer when you are trying to decide whether to commit, so here is an honest guide.
The typical UK pricing model
Most professional genealogists in the UK charge an hourly rate, commonly somewhere between about £20 and £50 per hour depending on experience and specialism. Researchers listed with professional bodies tend to sit in the middle to upper part of that range. On top of the hourly rate you may also pay expenses: record office fees, certificate orders from the General Register Office, travel, and printing.
A reputable researcher working hourly will agree a budget ceiling with you before starting, for example “research up to £500, then report back”. That protects you from a runaway bill, but it does not tell you what you will actually receive for the money. Ten hours of research into a family with sparse records can produce far less than ten hours into a well-documented one, and you carry that risk.
What affects the cost of your research
A few honest factors that make family history research cheaper or more expensive:
How far back you want to go. Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in England and Wales in 1837. Before that date, research leans on parish registers and other older sources, which takes more skill and more time.
Where your family lived. Families who stayed in one county for generations are usually easier to trace than families who moved often. Irish research is a special case: the 1922 fire at the Public Record Office in Dublin destroyed many key records, so Irish lines often need more time to make less progress.
How common the surname is. Confirming the right John Smith among dozens in the same parish takes longer than confirming an unusual surname, because a careful researcher verifies identity before adding anyone to your tree.
What you want at the end. A verified tree is one thing; a written account of each ancestor’s life, occupations and military service is more work, and a presentation-quality chart is more again.
Why I work on fixed prices instead
After seventeen years of doing this work, I take a different approach: fixed prices, agreed in writing before any research begins. My Bronze package is £275 and my Silver package is £365, and bespoke projects have a fixed price agreed before work begins. You know exactly what you will pay and exactly what you will receive, before you commit a penny.
I will not pretend this model is objectively superior in every case. For a very narrow question (“who was my grandmother’s father?”) a couple of hours at an hourly rate with another researcher might cost you less. Fixed pricing exists for the opposite situation, which is most people’s situation: you want your family line traced properly, you have a budget, and you do not want to discover halfway through that the meter is still running.
During our free initial consultation I will also tell you honestly how far back your particular family is likely to be traceable and roughly how many ancestors we can expect to identify, based on the names and places you give me. If your family is one of the difficult ones, I would rather tell you that at the start than surprise you at the end.
Questions to ask any genealogist before you pay
Whoever you choose, me included, ask these before handing over money: What exactly will I receive at the end? How do you verify that a record really belongs to my ancestor? What happens if the records run out early? How and when do I pay? A professional will have clear answers to all four.
If you would like a plain answer about what your own family history would cost, get in touch for a free consultation, or see the full details on my Services and Prices page.