How to price a job you've never done before

Every trade gets asked for something slightly outside what they normally do. The temptation is to guess, and the guess is nearly always low — because you price the bit you can picture and not the bit you can't.

Here's a way of thinking about it that's more reliable than a hunch.

Break it into what you know and what you don't

Take the job apart. Most of it will be things you've done a hundred times, and a small part will be genuinely new.

Price the familiar parts normally. Then deal with the unknown separately, rather than smearing a vague margin over everything.

That sounds obvious. Almost nobody does it — the usual approach is to price the whole thing as one lump and add "a bit" for nerves.

Put a number on the unknown deliberately

For the new part, ask three questions:

How long if it goes well?

How long if it goes badly?

How likely is badly?

If it's 4 hours well, 12 hours badly, and it goes badly maybe a third of the time, you're looking at roughly 7 hours, not 4. Price 7.

You're not being greedy. You're pricing the actual job, which includes the possibility of it being awkward — a possibility that's entirely real and lands on you.

Find out before you quote, not during

An hour of research is cheaper than a day of discovery.

• Ring a supplier and ask what's normally involved. They see it constantly and will usually tell you.
• Ask a trade who does them regularly. Most will help, especially if you'd pass work to them.
• Look at what could be behind, under, or attached to it.

Trades are generally good at this and bad at charging for it. That hour is real work and it belongs in the price.

Quote it as an estimate, and say why

If there's genuine uncertainty, don't pretend otherwise. Give an estimate rather than a fixed quote, and be plain about what would move it:

"This assumes the existing pipework is sound. If it isn't, I'll stop and price that with you before going on."

Most customers respect this far more than a confident number that changes later. And it's the difference between a conversation and an argument when something turns up.

Beware the loss leader logic

"I'll do it cheap to learn it" is sometimes a genuine investment.

But be honest about whether you actually want more of this work. Learning a job you never want to do again, at a price that doesn't cover it, isn't an investment — it's a bad week.

If you do want the work, fine, but decide that on purpose.

Know when to say no

Sometimes the right answer is that it isn't your job.

Rule of thumb: if you can't picture the end of it — how it finishes, what it looks like done, what could go wrong — you're not ready to price it. That's not a confidence problem, it's information.

Say no properly, pass it to someone who does them, and keep the relationship.

Afterwards, write down what it actually took

This is the step everyone skips, and it's the one that means you're not guessing next time.

When it's finished, note the real hours and what surprised you. Do that three times and you're no longer pricing an unknown job — you're pricing one you've done.

The short version

1. Split into known and unknown
2. Price the known normally
3. Price the unknown at good-case, bad-case, and likelihood — not best case
4. Spend an hour finding out before you quote
5. Call it an estimate and say what would change it
6. If you can't picture the end of it, don't take it
7. Write down what it really took

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If your baseline rate isn't right, none of this saves you. Our day rate calculator works backwards from what you want to earn — most people find their number is higher than they've been charging.