SektorCepte · 2026-10-26
Showing a Price or Hiding It
Write the price of the job you repeat. When the home can change the job, do not lock a figure; say why it waits until the visit.
Painting an empty room with two coats is work you do every week, and you already know what you charge. A damp ceiling, cracked plaster, or a move from a dark colour to a light one is not the same job, because primer, time, and material only become clear at the door. The mistake is either to hide every price or to publish one figure that is meant to fit every room. A hidden price makes the phone ring, but you rebuild the same sentence on every call, and the customer hangs up when they finally hear the number. A single figure that does not fit starts an argument at the visit, because people treat the number on the page as a promise. The fix is to write the price of the repeatable job together with its frame, and to say in one sentence why a changing job is priced only after you have seen the home.
1. Write the price of the job you repeat
An empty room, two coats, ceiling included, no furniture: you already say the price of that frame in the same words on every call, so the name of the frame and the price should sit side by side on the page. The caller should not have to ring just to hear a number you are not actually hiding, only failing to write down. A bare number without the frame is also a mistake; the fix is to say, on the same line, which room, how many coats, and whether the ceiling is included.
2. Do not lock a figure on work that changes
Damp, cracks, old oil paint, or a change from a dark colour to a light one will not fit the empty-room price, and writing that price before you see the home ties you to it. The mistake is to publish one figure for these jobs as well and then look surprised at the visit. The fix is a plain sentence: if the ceiling has blistered, the plaster has swollen, or primer is required, the price is written after the visit, because materials and the number of days are only known then.
3. List what the price includes
People often ask what is inside the figure, not the figure itself: is the paint yours, are the skirtings painted, is the furniture covered, how many coats. The mistake is to write only the amount and leave that list for the phone, because a forgotten item becomes an argument at the door. The fix is a short list under the price, with what is included and what is not kept apart, so the talk moves off the number and onto any work that was left out.
4. Do not leave last season's figure up
If the tin of paint has gone up and last spring's price is still on the page, the customer remembers that figure, and trust breaks when you say the new one. The mistake is to write a price once and forget it for the season. The fix is to change the line in the same week the material changes, and to note which month you updated it, so an old screenshot and the words you say at the door do not collide.
5. Say the visit fee in plain words
Some homes take travel and time just to look at, and if you charge for that look you should not hide it, nor hide whether the fee is absorbed when you take the job. The mistake is a surprise fee at the door, because the customer never read it on the site. The fix is one sentence on the page: we come to look, if the job goes ahead the look is written into the job, if it does not only the look remains to be paid, and that rule is read before anyone arrives.
A concrete block can read like this. An empty room, ceiling included, two coats, no furniture: the price is on the page, paint and labour are included, covering furniture and repairs are not. If the ceiling has blistered, the wall is damp, or the colour must go from dark to light, that line does not apply, and we do not give a figure until we have seen the primer and the time. The customer reads where the fixed price ends and does not mix an empty room with a damp ceiling on the phone. You do not have to rebuild the same explanation from the start on every call.