Vent: my accountant's casual comment made me rethink my whole pricing model

I was on a call with my accountant in Austin last week, just going over quarterly numbers, and he said, 'you know your hourly rate is lower than what most plumbers charge around here, right?' That hit me differently because I've been undercharging for 2 years thinking I needed to stay competitive. I did some digging after that call and found out my rates are about 30% below market for my area. Has anyone else had a conversation like this that made you realize you were selling yourself short? How did you handle the jump without scaring off existing clients?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_pat24d ago

Hold up, a plumber? That's wild to hear, but it kinda makes sense when you think about what people pay for skilled hands versus office work. It took me a minute to realize that my "competitive" fear was just me guessing at what others were doing, not actual data. Easing existing clients up slowly over a few months felt way less scary than one big jump, so that's what I did.

ben66224d ago

And honestly, the slow ease is the way to go. I did the same thing, raised my rate like 5% every quarter for a year and told my long term clients it was a scheduled adjustment based on market data, not a surprise. Only lost one guy, and he was the kind who complained about everything anyway. The new clients coming in after that paid the higher rate from day one, so that helped balance the numbers out. Plus, once I actually looked at what I offered, I realized I was giving way more free advice and follow ups than any plumber ever does. That call really snapped me out of the whole "be grateful for any work" mindset.