How to win the quoting battle

You’re sitting at the computer, staring at the numbers for what feels like the 100th time today, while your client waits for your quote. If you can relate to this scenario, you need to read this article by Next Level Tradie Daniel Fitzpatrick

Pricing isn’t just about winning work, it’s about building a business that pays what you’re worth, covers your costs and gives you a healthy profit at the end of the month.

After coaching thousands of trade business owners to get more work and be more profitable, these are the seven biggest pricing mistakes I see – and how to fix them.

PRICING AGAINST COMPETITORS (THE RACE TO THE BOTTOM)

Instead of pricing off someone else’s number, work to a target margin. You don’t know their costs, their overheads, or whether they’re even making money themselves.

Kevin, a contractor I’m working with, quotes every job using a target margin. He is getting 10% more gross profit on every job, has confidence in his pricing and is getting just as many jobs as when he was pricing lower.

GUESTIMATING LABOUR (AND GETTING BURNED EVERY TIME)

Allow for all those hidden time sucks, then add another 5-10% buffer. Even when you do everything right, around 10% of jobs will still go over.

If you’ve got a large job and aren’t confident in your numbers, consider hiring a quantity surveyor to price it. It’s better to invest a little up front than to be stuck with a big job that’s bleeding money.

WEAK SCOPE AND EXCLUSIONS (THE SILENT PROFIT KILLER)

Tighten up your quote, so it’s crystal clear what’s included and what’s not. Write your scope like a checklist with exactly what you’re doing, where and to what finish or standard.

Add a short exclusions section that protects you from common grey areas, such as site access issues, remedial work, site conditions, waste disposal, etc.

If something is unknown, let them know that if you discover something out of the ordinary, it will be extra. The goal isn’t to be difficult; it’s to remove confusion, reduce disputes and make variations easy to price when the client asks for extras.

NO SYSTEM FOR HANDLING VARIATIONS (OR NOT USING IT)

Make variations a process, not an awkward conversation later. Set the expectation up front and tell clients that any changes outside the quoted scope will be treated as a variation and priced before you proceed.

Use a simple system: spot it, price it, approve it, do it. Record in writing. Text or email works fine. Make sure your team knows that no variations go ahead until they’ve been agreed to in writing.

Rudy, one of my builder clients, had a team who often completed variations that ran into tens of thousands of dollars in extra costs he felt he couldn’t charge for because he didn’t get his client’s prior agreement.

Once we got his pricing right and put a system in place for variations, this added $73,000 to his bottom line.

NOT TRACKING COSTS AND PROFIT OF PREVIOUS JOBS (BACK COSTING)

Track materials and labour against your original estimates. Then check the profit and gross margin for each job against the quote.

Try to do this with every job, or at least all the big ones. You can track it in a spreadsheet or job-tracking software such as Tradify, Simpro, Buildaprice, BuildXact, or Fergus.

Make notes on any jobs that fall below your target margins and what you’d do differently next time. This is how your pricing gets sharper, with no more guesswork.

PRICING THE SAME FOR ALL CLIENTS AND ALL JOBS

Consider pricing based on difficulty, risk, and client behaviour, not just trade and hours. Set a base price for standard work, then apply clear loadings when the job will soak up extra time or create risk, such as awkward access, unknown conditions, high-spec finishing, rushed timeframes, coordination headaches, after-hours work, or a client who’s already signalling they might be high-maintenance.

A simple way is to create a job grade system:

• A jobs: smooth + low risk > standard margin

  
  

• B jobs: some complexity > higher margin

  
  

• C jobs: high risk or time-wasters > highest margin (or consider declining the job)

  
  

That way, you’re not subsidising the hard stuff; you’re getting fairly compensated for it.

PRICING ON EMOTION INSTEAD OF THE NUMBERS

Let the numbers guide you, not your emotions. Know your target margin and aim for it on every job. If you’re tempted to discount, check how that fits with your target margin. Too low, don’t do it.

When your pricing system is solid, you’ll have confidence in your pricing. You’re not guessing what feels right; you’re quoting to protect profit and run a more predictable business.

THE BOTTOM LINE (AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT)

If you’ve recognised yourself in a few of these mistakes, you’re not alone. I’ve worked with hundreds of tradies who were making these exact same errors. Good people. Skilled workers. Just pricing themselves into a corner without realising it.

The more consistent and predictable your business is, the easier it is to run and the better results you’ll get. Pricing is a key part of that.

I get it. You didn’t get into the trades to spend all day on a computer. You got into it because you’re good at your trade and want to make a difference.

But here’s the reality: if your pricing isn’t working for you, everything else gets way harder.

You can be the best tradie around, have a great reputation, work long hours… and still struggle financially. Ready to get your pricing right?

I work one-on-one with tradies and construction business owners to build pricing systems that actually work and give them the profits they want.

Book a free pricing Strategy Session with me at nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep