Upfront Prices for Small Jobs

Every job is different

Many trade and contractor sites say the same thing on every service page: every job is different, so call for a free quote.

For a house demolition or a full renovation, that is true. For removing a hot tub, a garden shed or a small deck, it mostly is not.

The person with the small job assumes you will be expensive, that you do not want work this size, and that a price means a site visit and a week of waiting.

So they call whoever shows a price. The small job goes elsewhere, and so does everything that might have followed it.

What a small job leads to

A small job is often how a customer meets a business. The crew arrives when promised, works carefully and leaves the yard clean.

That customer now has a number they trust for the basement, the garage or the kitchen they have been putting off. Neighbours see the truck and the result.

Small jobs also fill gaps in a schedule between larger projects, which is worth something even at a modest margin.

None of that happens if the small customer never calls.

Which jobs to price

• Common, so you do it most months.
• Predictable, with only a few things that change the cost.
• Small enough that a site visit costs more than it is worth.
• Asked about by price on the phone, again and again.
• A first step toward the larger work you want.

The fourth is the quickest test. Whoever answers the phone already knows which prices callers want and roughly what the answer is, because they give it all the time.

Fixed prices and what moves them

Where you can, give one price. A single figure is easier to trust than a range.

Where the job varies, give a short range and name what moves it: size, access, the floor it is on, what is underneath.

A starting price that almost nobody pays does more harm than no price at all. The number shown should be one most customers with that job will actually be charged.

Prices on a website are representations to the public, and the usual rules about honest pricing apply to them as much as to a flyer.

Writing what is included

A price without its contents answers one question and starts an argument later.

Say what the price covers: labour, equipment, hauling, disposal fees and the clean-up afterwards.

Say what it does not: permits, repairs to whatever is uncovered, and anything another trade has to do first, such as an electrician disconnecting power.

Say what the customer needs to do: clear a path, move the car, point out sprinkler lines. And say whether tax is included.

Plain lists work better than paragraphs here. People read them twice, once when deciding and again on the morning of the job.

Where the prices go

A page called Small jobs, or whatever name your customers use, linked from the main menu, works better than prices scattered through service pages.

Put the relevant price on each service page as well, beside the description of that work.

Next to the prices, add a short form that asks what the job needs: two photographs, the approximate size and how a truck or a machine gets in.

And keep the phone number visible. Some people would rather book by talking to someone.

A worked example

A demolition contractor with three crews and two small excavators takes on house demolitions and commercial interior strip-outs, each quoted after a site visit.

Its website said every project was unique and asked visitors to request a quote. Calls about hot tubs, sheds and old decks got an offer to come and look.

Few of those callers booked the visit. They wanted a number first, and a visit felt like a commitment for something small.

The contractor added a Small jobs page with three fixed prices: hot tub removal, shed removal by size, and deck removal by area, with concrete footings priced separately.

Each price lists what is included and what is not; the electrical disconnect for a hot tub, for instance, is left to the customer's electrician.

The form asks for two photographs and the width of the side gate, which is most of what a site visit used to establish.

Keeping the prices current

A published price is a promise, so one person should own the page.

Review it twice a year, and whenever a cost underneath changes: disposal fees, fuel, wages.

When a price goes up, change the website the same day as the price list in the office. A customer who booked from the old figure should be charged the old figure.

Seasonal jobs deserve a look before their season, since that is when the page will be read most.

What this does to the larger quotes

Some owners worry that small prices will make people expect cheap big jobs. The page can say plainly that larger projects are quoted after a visit, and why.

For a contractor, the reasons are real: permits, utility disconnections, testing older buildings for hazardous materials, and the condition of whatever is behind the walls.

A business that is straightforward about money on small jobs also gives the visitor a reason to expect the same on large ones.

Competitors will see them

They will, and they could have found out by phoning. Prices are rarely what wins or loses work between established firms.

If your price is higher than a one-truck hauler's, the page is the place to say why: insured crews, proper disposal and a yard left clean.

A price explained is easier to pay than a price discovered.

The counter-case

Some small jobs vary too much to price honestly. A leak can be anything, and a published figure would be wrong more often than right.

Prices that change every few weeks with material costs are also hard to publish without a range wide enough to be useless.

A business fully booked with large work may reasonably prefer not to attract small jobs, and then it should say so plainly rather than leave people guessing.

Where a small job is common and predictable, though, publish its price with what it includes, and keep it current.

The first three prices

1. Ask whoever answers the phone which prices callers want.
2. Pick three jobs that are common and predictable.
3. Write what each price includes and excludes.
4. Name the conditions that change the price.
5. Add a short form asking for photographs and access.
6. Link the page from the menu and service pages.
7. Book a price review twice a year.

Step three is where most of the value is: a price with its contents answers the next three questions and prevents an argument on the day.

What the form should ask when a job does need a quote is covered in free estimate buttons that lead to a generic form.

Frequently asked questions

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