Service Agreement Ideas for Project Based Businesses
This one has got me racking my mind. One thing they always talk about when you are building enterprise value in a business is having predictable revenues. I think for something like window washing, lawn care, poop scooping etc it'd be easy to have predictable revenues because it's pretty straightforward to have a re-occuring service agreement. But what about us GCs? I originally thought I could get people with a membership for a percentage off jobs. This seemed like a good idea till the first two people to sign up only did so because they had large $40k plus jobs so it was a no brainer (it paid for itself 2x over). If I tried to make the percentage off smaller, it wouldn't be enticing enough to get people interested. Let's brainstorm here guys - what can a general contractor do as a monthly or quarterly service to get in to the service agreement game?
đź’ˇFEATURE REQUEST: Price Increases in Products & Services List
Do you increase prices for ongoing customers? Do you know how long it takes me to increase my prices for 700 ongoing clients in my cleaning business? Whether you increase your prices on an annual basis or just as needed in these unpredictable times, it would be easier to make these changes en masse in the Products and Services tab! How would it work? When editing a product or service line item in the Products & Services List, there should be an option to carry that modification over to any existing Jobs that have that line item on it. Currently, this would only update for new jobs created, but I'd love to see a little pop-up that says, "Would you like to change the price for existing Jobs with this line item? Yes/No" Use Case Example: Because I am in the cleaning industry, it will be my primary use case. Let's say you have a minimum price that every client's rate will be at or above. When you create a new job for a recurring customer, you add a line item titled "Minimum Rate + current year," like for 2020: "Minimum Rate 2020," which is $150. You also add another line item based on how your pricing model is set up - in this case, I will use a simple one: "Small House" for $10 "Medium House" for $30 "Large House" for $50 When it's time for your prices to increase, consider the following options: you could decide to raise prices only for people with large houses and keep your minimum rate the same, or you may want to increase the cost for clients who have been with you for more than 5 years. Instead of making this change one client at a time and trying to sort through who the change applies to, I could go to the Products and Services List and find the specific line item I want to modify. Then, I could edit the price in there! Ta Da! You've raised your prices! Why should Jobber care? This would be huge for any business industry that has recurring clients. ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, and other competitors already have this feature. I have found other threads that mention something like this or frustrations with how to go about raising prices. This would allow businesses that only see customers once or twice a year to set up their customers as recurring with one Job, saving them a lot of time and effort as well. You'd have at least one very loyal customer in me! I've spoken to two support agents who thought this was a simple but fantastic idea! My next price increase is in June, and I'd love you guys if you saved me weeks worth of work in a single click 🤞🙏 QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, FEEDBACK, AND MORE USE CASES WELCOME!!
When “Competitive Pricing” Depends on the Market
How do you account for the value of your experience and problem-solving beyond simply adding up materials and hours, while still keeping your work competitively priced? For me, “competitive” changes depending on the event or market I am selling in. I have a bad habit of underpricing both my work and my labor just to make the sale and keep the boat floating. My smaller pieces usually do well at public-facing events, but at many of those shows I am also directly competing with Mee-maw selling $4 dog scarves made from copyrighted character fabric. There is nothing wrong with selling an inexpensive product, but it creates a market where customers are often comparing everything by price instead of considering the skill, equipment, originality, time, and experience that went into making it. This is not limited to custom work. It affects everything I make. I can calculate the materials, consumables, equipment costs, and hours, but that still does not fully account for the years spent developing the skills or the problem-solving required to turn an idea into a finished piece. Sometimes the hardest part is not figuring out what the work is worth. It is finding the market where people understand why it is worth it. I do not like turning away work or walking away from a possible sale, especially when every sale helps keep the business moving. At the same time, constantly lowering prices to fit the wrong market can leave you working nonstop without actually getting ahead. I typically bring a variety of my work to each event, hoping to make enough sales to cover the cost of the day while also connecting with people who may become future commission clients. How do you decide whether to adjust your pricing, change the mix of products you bring based on the event or demographic, or accept that a particular market simply is not the right fit for your work?When do you offer discounts or "discounts"?
In home services, it can feel like customers are always looking for a deal. But after years in the business, our approach is pretty simple: we don't discount. Not because we're rigid — but because our pricing is already fair. We charge what the job is worth, and we stand behind that number. The only times we'll budge: If something goes wrong on our end — If we made a mistake or fell short, a discount is the right thing to do. It's not a handout, it's accountability. If we have to reschedule — Life happens. If we're the ones pushing a job back, we think it's only fair to make that right for the customer. Outside of those two situations? We hold firm. I've heard some people "discounting" on the invoice as a pricing strategy but it's not actually a discount. When you discount freely, you train customers to always ask. You undervalue your work. And honestly, the customers who only show up when there's a deal aren't usually the ones you want long-term. The right customers understand that quality costs what it costs. What about you? Do you have a rule for when discounts are on the table, or do you play it by ear? Would love to hear how other home service businesses handle this.
How do contractors price jobs based on actual business costs instead of competitor rates?
We run a contracting business in Juneau, Alaska. It’s a remote town with no roads in or out, so our market does not work like most places. Lead generation is not our problem. The work is there. Our bigger challenge is filtering demand, choosing the right jobs, and pricing from the actual cost of running the business instead of just asking, “what does everyone else charge?” That has changed how we look at pricing. Two companies can do the same job with completely different numbers behind it: equipment payments, fuel, insurance, payroll, repairs, debt, admin time, material costs, disposal, taxes, and risk. Competitor pricing matters, but only to a point. If our cost structure is different, their price can’t be our whole pricing strategy. We have a CPA and bookkeeper we trust, so the books are not something we’re guessing on. What we’re working on now is turning the P&L and balance sheet into real-world pricing decisions: what the equipment needs to bill, what materials need to carry, what minimums make sense, and which jobs are actually worth putting on the schedule. We’ve also been using AI to organize that information into pricing structures, quote templates, equipment rates, per-ton pricing, material pricing, and job-type frameworks. To be clear, we’re not using AI to tell us what to charge. We’re using it to organize what we already know, pressure-test assumptions, run simulations, and find holes before they show up in the bank account. The more we work through it, the more we wonder how often underpricing comes from not having a clear link between pricing and the actual cost of running the business. Curious how others think about this. When you price work, do you start with your own numbers first, the market first, or a mix of both? For those using AI, have you used it for pricing, estimating, job costing, or financial review beyond emails and marketing content?
How to find consistent work when you're also offering free services?
Hello. I have been struggling to find jobs. Any ideas? I am trying to get enough jobs so I can continue to give free services to the elderly and so I can invest into the next generation of blue collar workers. We have a career tech center for construction trades. The rate at which they actually go into a trades job is slim now. I want to hire some of them and teach and invest into them. When they graduate they would be gifted with their own company and I help them keep growing their companies and teaching them. My goal is to have the next generation of the trades to have their own companies and to become Jack of All Trades. I would pay for all their certifications if they choose that. But finding jobs to start this has been difficult. Any ideas?
