Charge as much as you can get or as little as you need to to fill the schedule. When you’re booked raise your prices until people stop scheduling then lower them a bit until you’re where you want to be again. I learned that from a wise man. If you’re not getting enough calls than advertise.
No one can really tell YOU what YOU should do. If you need to pay your bills and you need work and lowering your prices will do it for you than do it. But keep your higher goal in mind. Prices are pretty much set at $7 a window in my area. I made a similar post a couple months agoand people were stunned at the low rates I was getting. After that I decided to systematically raise my prices while at the same time increases marketing/ advertising. Since then ive been told by multiple people that I’m the most expensive quote theyve got, I’m so and so much more than the last guy, etc… We tell them that we believe that were worth it and the majority of them hire us anyways. Its going great.
Basically what I’m saying is screw the market. Take what you need from the one that exists or that you have access to, than start creating your own.
I started to type my own opinion on the topic but after thinking about it I’ve come upon a different response. So, if your not busy at all or are new at the game then sure I’d adjust some things to stay afloat so you don’t have to shut down or lose anything you own to keep things running. Now on the other hand, I’ve dealt with this quite a bit seeing that I’m from Texas and everything here is cheaper including sales items, services etc. now if you are in an area that’s already driven you to adjust your pricing to begin with, id leave it alone and just advertise more even if it means going outside of your service area. I say this because you don’t want to own your own company and feel like you could make more working for someone again, ya know? Too low is not a good thing. Also, when times do get better you don’t want bob over here causing a fuss because you did his house windows for 160 last year and this year it’s 350. Consistency is very important. I personally say the price is the price. I don’t walk into Walmart and get a 2 dollar soda and tell them I only have 1.50, they would laugh me out the door. Get what I’m saying? At the end of the day your providing a luxury service that they don’t need, if they can not afford it then they shouldn’t be spending the money in the first place. It’s all about where you are targeting. This is just my opinion after years of dealing with this issue in the area I conduct my business in. I hope it helped. But real quick, if times are really hard and you need that money, adjust to get by but don’t full blown advertise those prices. Say things like 20% discounts this month etc and draw them in, then throw your bids. Struggle isn’t permanent, don’t make your cheap pricing that way because it will get better and you don’t want to lock yourself into being that cheap for a long stretch of time even when your busy, ya know.
If you go at lower prices today because you need the work today, that work will be reoccurring in 3 months 6 months or 1 year will you increase it then?
It’s possible your just kicking the can down the road to wait to deal with it then.
