How do I know I’m charging enough but not to much

It comes with experience and repetition bidding on the same kind of jobs and finding out the hard way sometimes that you underbid a project. A better framing is how much is the job worth it for you to do the job, pay your expenses/labor and make a profit that you would be happy with. 

Search up local rates for the service you are providing. This will give you a gauge and then you can adjust accordingly.

One thing that helped me a lot was realizing there’s no “perfect” price.

Early on, I used to constantly compare prices with other cleaning companies and second guess myself:
“Am I too high?”
“Am I too low?”
“Would someone else do this cheaper?”

But eventually I realized you can’t build pricing purely off what competitors charge because you don’t know their:

• payroll structure
• quality standards
• employee pay
• profit margins
• overhead
• efficiency
• turnover
• insurance/workers comp costs

Two companies can charge the exact same price and one is profitable while the other is barely surviving.

What helped me most was tracking:

• actual labor hours
• payroll %
• drive time
• callback rates
• profit margin
• revenue per labor hour

That tells you way more than just “searching similar jobs.” I do still compare market pricing sometimes, but more as a sanity check. 

A big sign you’re undercharging:

• constantly stressed about payroll
• fully booked but not profitable
• resentful of harder jobs
• every price increase feels terrifying
• no money left for growth

A big sign you may be too high:

• consistently losing GOOD clients strictly on price
• low close rates compared to your market
• clients reacting shocked before hearing your value

Honestly though, most owners I talk to are undercharging way more often than overcharging.

Just need a little push in the right way 

Building a simple menu with base packages and a few à la carte add-ons can make pricing easier. It gives customers options while helping you avoid underbidding every job.

I recommend doing a market analysis call the best mowing crew and the worst figure out what their pricing is and figure out where you need to be. 

You gotta know your market in your area first. See what competitors are charging for similar work, but don’t race to be the cheapest because the cheapest companies usually attract the worst clients.

The real question is: what value are you bringing that others aren’t? Better communication, showing up on time, cleaner work, warranties, follow-ups, professionalism, better materials, faster response times… those things justify charging more.

If customers keep saying yes immediately, you might actually be too cheap. If everyone says no, you’re probably too high or not explaining your value enough. The sweet spot is when some people say yes, some say no, and the people who hire you feel confident paying for quality.

When I look at our business  I know: 
My fixed monthly operating expenses, our expected tax liability, and how much money needs to be made in a year to live a comfortable life. 
So to bid jobs we do labor hours at a fixed rate + materials costs (with no real mark up... awful I know, but we do have a general supplies type of fee. I may even do a markup percentage on the materials to cover the fixed monthly operating expenses.....) 

Lets say I don't know how long a job will take but I know it is a small to medium job that could be done in either 2hrs or take 4-6hrs depending on how everything shakes out like a window replacement in brick Well then I default to bringing in $400 profit a day on a bad day for a job that goes longer still pays all the bills. Like if you did that everyday it would be 96k a year before tax working 5 days a week, 48 weeks of the year. Which is fine (till you consider taxes haha so don't have too many bad days). But if you account for as many of the materials that you will need to buy or use in the job itself and place them on the bid... then you are only out labor if something goes wrong. Which is not fun... but it is better than being underwater in both. 

So that is how I also gauge it out, then if the work is commercial I bill at a slightly higher rate than for residential (since commercial comes with more requirements from us as a business).