Hiding every price sends visitors to whoever publishes theirs. Publish a starting price you would honour, typical ranges, three example jobs and what moves the price, and confirm the exact quote after seeing the job.

Every project is unique

The menu has a page called Pricing. It contains one sentence: every project is unique, so please contact us for a free quote.

The visitor who tapped it wanted a number, or at least a sense of whether this business is within reach. They got a form.

Some fill it in. Many open the next business in the search results instead, and the first competitor who publishes a range becomes the reference point for everybody else.

The business never hears about those visitors. It only notices that many of the enquiries it does get seem to be shopping on price.

Why businesses hide prices

The first is true and beside the point. A visitor does not need your exact price; they need to know whether they are in the right range before spending time on a call.

What the visitor is doing

Somebody reading a pricing page is usually comparing two or three businesses and checking a budget they already have in mind.

Without a number, the only way to find out is to make contact, which takes effort and feels like agreeing to a sales conversation. Plenty of people will not do that to learn whether a business is out of reach.

The enquiries that do arrive include people far outside your range, who discover it after an hour of everybody's time.

A published range filters in both directions. It tells the right visitors you are within reach and lets the others leave before anybody spends time on a quote.

Starting prices

The simplest step is a starting price: from this much, for the smallest real job you do, with a line saying what it includes.

It has to be a price you would genuinely sell at. A from price that nobody ever pays is worse than none, because the first quote then feels like a bait and switch.

Where the work divides naturally, give a starting price for each kind: a small repair, a standard installation, a full replacement.

If prices differ by area or season, say which the starting price applies to, so nobody is surprised for reasons the page could have told them.

Ranges and typical jobs

A range says more than a starting price: most bathroom renovations fall between one figure and another, most weddings take one of two packages.

Typical jobs go further still. Three short descriptions, each saying what was involved and roughly what it cost, let a visitor find the one most like theirs.

They do the explaining a salesperson would otherwise do on a call, showing what a budget buys before anybody picks up the phone.

A worked example

A wedding photographer working from a home studio had a pricing page that said every wedding is unique and invited couples to ask for a custom quote.

Most enquiries were a single line asking how much. He answered each in detail, and many of those couples never replied once they saw the figure.

Some of his past clients told him later that they had almost not asked at all, assuming he was out of reach.

He rewrote the page around three typical weddings: a short weekday ceremony, a six-hour day, and a full day with an engagement session, each with its price.

Below them he listed what moves the price: travel beyond a set distance, a second photographer, albums and peak summer Saturdays. A line said every booking is confirmed in writing after a short call.

The one-line enquiries had nothing left to ask. The messages that arrived began with a date and a venue.

What affects the price

A list of what moves the price up or down is the part most businesses can write in ten minutes, and it does a great deal.

Size, materials, access, travel, timing, urgency, and anything the customer can choose to add or leave out. A sentence on each is enough.

It explains in advance why one quote differs from the published range, and it shows the visitor what they could change to bring a job within their budget.

Without committing to a quote

Publishing prices does not mean binding yourself to them for every job.

Say plainly that the figures are a guide and that every job is confirmed in writing after you have seen it. State whether prices include GST and, where it applies, PST.

Date the page, so nobody holds you to figures from three years ago, and review it twice a year or whenever your costs change.

What competitors will learn

Usually very little they did not know. Customers compare quotes openly, and in most trades prices travel faster than any website.

A competitor who undercuts a published range is competing on price alone, and the customers who choose on price alone were never the easiest to keep.

The larger risk sits on the other side: the visitor who could not tell whether you were within reach, and never asked.

The counter-case

Some work genuinely resists a published number.

A custom home, a commercial contract or a complex legal matter can vary so widely that any range would be meaningless. Prices tied to materials that change weekly are hard to keep current.

Even there, a page can explain how pricing works, what drives the cost, the typical budget bands, and the smallest project worth taking on.

For most service businesses, though, publish as much as you honestly can: a starting price, a range, typical jobs and what moves the figure.

This week

  1. Pull your last twenty quotes from the files.
  2. Find the range most jobs actually fell in.
  3. Write a starting price you would honour.
  4. Describe three typical jobs with their prices.
  5. List what moves the price up or down.
  6. Say whether tax is included.
  7. Date the page and review it twice a year.

Step four is the one that does the most work. A visitor reads three real jobs, finds the one most like theirs, and arrives at the call already expecting roughly the right number.

What happens once they press send is covered in the quote request nobody answered for three days.

Frequently asked questions

Why publish prices if every job differs?

Because visitors do not need your exact price. They need to know whether they are in the right range before spending time on a call, and a published range tells them.

What happens when prices are hidden?

Many visitors who wanted a number leave to find one, and the first competitor who publishes a range becomes their reference point. Some enquiries come from people far outside your range.

What is the safest number to publish?

A starting price you would genuinely sell at, saying what the smallest real job includes. A from price that nobody ever pays does more harm than publishing none.

How do typical job examples help?

A visitor reads three real jobs with their prices, finds the one most like theirs, and arrives at the conversation already expecting roughly the right number.

How do I avoid committing to a quote?

Say the prices are a guide, list what moves them, state whether tax is included, date the page, and confirm every job in writing after you have seen it.

Will competitors use my published prices?

They probably know them already, since customers compare quotes openly. The bigger risk is the visitor who could not tell whether you were within reach and never asked.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Pricing page that only says contact us?

Send us the link and a few recent quotes. We will draft ranges and examples you can stand behind.

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