Guide
Pricing a job over the phone
How to give a useful range without boxing yourself in — and the questions to ask before any number leaves your mouth.
Ask these before you say a number
- What exactly is the job, in the customer's words
- Property type and rough age — Victorian terrace or new build changes everything
- Access: parking, stairs, loft hatch, scaffold needed
- Are materials chosen and who is supplying them
- When do they want it done, and is anything driving that date
- Postcode, so you can price travel honestly
- Photos — ask them to WhatsApp two or three
Give a range, with the caveat built in
"For a job like that, on a house that age, you're usually looking at somewhere between £1,400 and £2,200 depending on what we find once the panel's off. I'd want to see it before I put a firm number on it — I could pop by Thursday morning."
That sentence does four things: it gives them a real figure, it explains what moves the price, it protects you from the number being quoted back at you later, and it books the visit.
Keep the range honest. A range so wide it is useless just makes you sound like you are guessing; one that is too tight becomes a promise.
The lines worth memorising
On unknowns: "That price assumes the pipework behind is sound. If it isn't, I'll ring you before I do anything extra — you'll never get a surprise on the invoice."
On being undercut: "I'm not the cheapest, but I'll turn up when I say I will, and it'll be right first time. Here's what's included."
On timing: "I could start the week of the 14th. If you want that slot I'd need to know by Friday."
Do the pricing conversation with the facts in hand
The reason phone pricing goes wrong is usually that you are answering cold, halfway through another job, with none of the details in front of you.
If an AI receptionist has already captured the job, the property, the postcode and the urgency, your callback starts with the facts and the range comes out of experience rather than pressure.
Questions
Should I give a price over the phone?
Give a range, not a fixed price, unless the job is genuinely standard. A range keeps the conversation moving, filters out the people whose budget is nowhere near, and does not commit you to a number before you have seen the work.
What should I ask before quoting?
What the job is, the property type and age, access, whether materials are chosen, when they want it done, and the postcode. Photos over WhatsApp answer more questions in ten seconds than five minutes of description.
How do I avoid being beaten on price alone?
Quote the outcome, not just the labour: what is included, how long it will take, what happens if something is found behind the wall, and when you can start. Availability and clarity win more jobs than being the cheapest.