Displaying prices on website and marketing literature.

[joe.ninety]

Just wondered what the general consensus is regarding making customers aware of your prices before they have even contacted you.

I have looked a quite a few 'Electrican' websites and would have to say that the number that display costs/hourly rates, or any form of pricing for that matter, is quite low.

I appreciate that no two jobs are the same, and that a good deal of the time it would be difficult to price a job without seeing it. That said, I'm just wondering if it would hurt business to publish hourly/daily rates and also some examples of likely costs for standard jobs like, installing outside lights etc.

Displaying costs might deter some customers, but I'm also thinking that it might discourage the 'Rigsbys' of the world and those that are looking for cheap work rather than quality. i.e customers I'd rather not have.

Cheers

 

[R G]

I would steer away from that idea , my thought is that the customers that respond to this are more concerned about price than anything else , also I prefer to carry out all initial checks and testing before pricing anything ,this usually finds many other issues that need to be addressed , I think good customers see the point when you explain this to them , I suppose you could say 'price from' , and then say 'subject to site survey and testing', .

 

[Richard Burns]

I would agree with the above the variables are too great to be able to say: I can do Job A for £50, and then you find that there is no bonding, the cable run is impossible, there are no spare ways on the consumer unit, etc., etc.
If you advertise a job at £50 and when you go to see it the customer gets told it will be £100 they will say "but it says on your advert..." and you are now on the defensive and the customer is unhappy before you have even got the job.

 

[HandySparks]

I'm happy to publish my hourly rates as there's little room for dispute about a 'time and materials' job. It also means that if a customer tries to quibble, say about the fact that I charge for travelling time, I can point to the published information.

I won't publish prices for particular jobs as there are just too many unknowns.

 

[joe.ninety]

I would agree with the above the variables are too great to be able to say: I can do Job A for £50, and then you find that there is no bonding, the cable run is impossible, there are no spare ways on the consumer unit, etc., etc.
If you advertise a job at £50 and when you go to see it the customer gets told it will be £100 they will say "but it says on your advert..." and you are now on the defensive and the customer is unhappy before you have even got the job.

Ok, some very valid points there, but I would argue that a good deal would come down to how exactly you worded it.
So what are your thoughts on displaying an hourly/daily rate?

Cheers

 

[D Skelton]

I display our call out charges for emergency work only as they are fixed, but I do think it's important for someone to be able to know what your call out charge is before ringing.

I would never display prices for different jobs as there are too many variables that would affect the price.

 

[telectrix]

if you put "payment accepted in beer" you'll get a lot of pub work.:smilielol5:

 

[Richard Burns]

Ok, some very valid points there, but I would argue that a good deal would come down to how exactly you worded it.
So what are your thoughts on displaying an hourly/daily rate?

Cheers

Do not trust how you have worded it, the customer will only see the cost, oh look 'outside lights from £25', "I want 25 LED floodlights all round my 300m lawn, I assume that will be £25"!

An hourly or daily rate printed up is fine, I do not vary my rate at all and could publish it but it is when someone comes back with a ten year old advert and says 15s/hour? However it does mean that the competitor can then decide their hourly rate is less, (but if you can do that then you have not got a sensible hourly rate)