Topic
Pricing and Quoting
Markup versus margin, overhead recovery, shop rates and change orders. How to price a job so it actually makes money, and how to write a quote that wins.
36 articles ยท browse the full archive
- Growth
How to Price Fire Alarm Inspection Contracts
Buyer-side cost guides say $12 to $25 per device. Contractors on the trade forums quote $2.50 to $7.50. Both numbers are real, and the gap is the whole article.
8 min 
Custom CRMHow to Make My Estimates Look More Professional
Professional is a document problem, not a design problem. The identity block, the specificity test and the delivery format homeowners actually grade on.
17 min
GrowthHow to Charge a Cancellation Fee (and How Much)
Charge your real cost of the lost slot, often $75 to $250 for a booked visit. But a fee agreed at the customer's home is void for 3 business days first.
17 min
Lead GenerationHow to Stop Customers No Showing for Estimates
The gap between booking and arrival predicts no-shows better than reminders do. Four kinds of no-show, four different fixes, and why deposits fail trades.
15 min
GrowthContracting Job Profit Margin: 30% to 55% Explained
Most small trade shops need a 30% to 55% gross margin per job: overhead rate plus target net. At 26% overhead and 10% net, that is 36%. Set yours.
17 min
GrowthHow Much to Charge Per Day for a Crew: $704/Man
Fifteen working contractors posted their day rates. The median is $704 per man per day and the range is 3x wide. Here is what actually explains the spread.
17 min
GrowthPressure Washing Per Square Foot: A 4x Spread
One 5,000 sq ft driveway, one thread, quotes from $750 to $3,250. Here is the production-rate math that decides your real per square foot number.
17 min
GrowthHow to Build Overhead Into Your Prices: 4 Bases
The same $20,000 job carries $1,200 or $3,000 of overhead depending on one choice nobody explains: the allocation base. Here is how to pick it.
17 min
GrowthHow to Calculate Your Hourly Shop Rate: 3x Wage
Eight real wage-and-rate pairs put the shop rate multiplier just over 3x. Here is the formula, the divisor everyone guesses, and the double-recovery trap.
14 min
Lead GenerationLosing Bids to Lowball Contractors? 4 Causes
Most low bids are not lowballs. Four things produce a cheaper number and each needs a different answer. If you win over 40% of bids, you are the cheap one.
16 min
GrowthHow to Price a Job You've Never Done: 3 Layers
Your estimate on a first-of-type job is not wrong by a range. It is wrong in one direction. Price the asymmetry, not the average. The method, in 3 layers.
16 min
GrowthHow to Price Materials Markup for Customers
Material markup ranges from 7% to 35% depending on who you ask. Price it as three separate layers instead, and the number stops being arguable.
16 min
GrowthLabor Burden Rate: The 44% Most Bids Miss
BLS puts construction benefits at 44% on top of wages, not the 30% calculators quote. Here is the real burden math, and the denominator that breaks it.
15 min
GrowthContractor Change Order Template: 6 Missing Fields
Free change order templates copy the same six fields. Here are the six they leave off, the second form nobody ships, and the law that voids an unsigned one.
17 min
GrowthHow to Bid Snow Removal Contracts: Risk Math
A seasonal bid is a bet on event count. Here is the cost stack, the collar structure that survives a record winter, and the salt clause 2026-27 demands.
16 min
Custom CRMEstimate Follow-Up Software: 5 Tools, 7 Tests
Estimate follow-up software compared: 5 tools from $29 a month. Won quotes close in a median of 2 days, so we test first-touch speed, auto-stop and expiry.
20 min
Lead GenerationStop Competing on Price: 4 Garage Door Fixes
The same broken torsion spring gets quoted at $320 and at $3,000. That 9x spread is why you lose on price, and why your price is not the problem.
14 min
Lead GenerationStop Competing on Price for Pest Control Jobs
Orkin's parent grew residential revenue 10.3% in 2025 but only 5.0% organically. You are not losing to a cheaper company, you are losing to a structure.
17 min
Lead GenerationStop Competing on Price for Restoration Jobs
Restoration price competition happens in three places: the Xactimate price list, the TPA program desk, and the doorstep. Each one needs a different fix.
17 min
GrowthChange Orders Without Losing Money: 7 Field Rules
Change orders average 10% of contract value, and the un-logged ones come straight out of a 6.3% net margin. Seven rules on pricing, timing and collecting.
16 min
Lead GenerationHow to Stop Competing on Price for Electrical Jobs
Copper is up 24.2% year over year and half the country enforces a different NEC edition. Six moves that make the cheap electrical bid non-comparable.
17 min
Lead GenerationStop Competing on Price for Landscaping Jobs
Stop losing landscaping bids to cheaper quotes. Use a scope equalizer for plants, base, drainage, access, warranty, and change orders.
14 min
Lead GenerationHow to Stop Competing on Price for Plumbing Jobs
Plumbing quotes get audited by strangers on Reddit. Five moves that make your bid checkable, plus the 2026 cost drivers that explain your price gap.
17 min
Lead GenerationHow to Stop Competing on Price for Solar Jobs
Solar is the only trade whose customer holds a published price index. Five moves that change what your bid is compared against, instead of what it costs.
16 min
GrowthUnderbid a Job? What to Do in the First 48 Hours
Underbid a job? Recovery hinges on one thing: whether you raise it before or after the work happens. The triage, the cost-to-complete math, a script.
16 min
GrowthCustomer-Supplied Materials: Say Yes or No?
The top answer in a 349-comment thread was one word: no warranty. The second-most upvoted was a homeowner explaining why he stopped asking contractors at all.
14 min
GrowthFlat Rate vs Hourly Pricing for Contractors
Hourly pricing punishes you for getting faster. Flat rate pays you for expertise instead of time, and transfers a risk most contractors underestimate.
15 min
GrowthHow to Handle Price Shoppers Without Discounting
A contractor lost a bid by $15,000 and could not see how. Weeks later the client came back and paid his original price. What changed was information, not price.
13 min
GrowthHow to Price a Job as a Contractor: Markup Math
Two contractors, two 1,100 sq ft basement finishes. One cleared $10,000 gross. The other cleared $80,000. The gap is one formula almost everyone gets backwards.
16 min
GrowthHow to Raise Prices Without Losing Customers
A landscaper raised everything 30% expecting an exodus. He lost four customers out of sixty-one, and three of them were the ones he wanted gone.
16 min
Lead GenerationHow to Stop Competing on Price for HVAC Jobs
The 25C credit died on December 31, 2025, so your bid gap grew by $2,000 overnight. Five moves that make the cheap HVAC quote non-comparable instead of cheaper.
16 min
Lead GenerationStop Competing on Price for Roofing Jobs: 6 Moves
Roofing bids collapse to price because nobody prices the unknowns. Six moves, backed by real r/Roofing threads and deductible law, that end it.
17 min
GrowthStop Competing on Price for Security Alarm Jobs
Alarm bids collapse to one number because nothing else on them is comparable. Six moves that change what a buyer is actually pricing you against.
18 min
GrowthHow to Write a Quote That Wins the Job
A single number is a yes-or-no decision, and the easy answer to yes-or-no is later. Options change the question from whether to which, and people answer that.
13 min
GrowthShould I Charge for Estimates? The Two-Tier Fix
The strongest argument for charging came from a homeowner, not a contractor. Free ballpark, paid detailed quote, credited back on award. Why it works.
16 min
GrowthShould I Give Prices Over the Phone? Yes, But
A concrete contractor quoted $6,000 to $9,000 on the phone. The homeowner agreed, booked a visit, then said they expected $3,000. Materials alone were $3,000.
13 min
Frequently asked questions
- What do Pavado's Pricing and Quoting guides cover?
- Markup versus margin, overhead recovery, shop rates and change orders. How to price a job so it actually makes money, and how to write a quote that wins.
- What is the best starting point in the Pricing and Quoting collection?
- Choose the guide that matches your business, platform and question. This collection includes How to Price Fire Alarm Inspection Contracts; How to Make My Estimates Look More Professional; How to Charge a Cancellation Fee (and How Much). Check each article's examples and sources before applying it to your situation.