Stop Competing on Price (Do This Instead)

There is a plumber in Chicago named Ray who charges $185 per hour. The market average in his area is $95. He has a two-week wait list.

His competitors think he is lucky, or that his customers are rich, or that he will eventually get undercut. They have been saying this for eight years.

Ray is not lucky. His customers are middle-class homeowners in the suburbs. And no one undercuts him because no one offers what he offers.

The rest of this article is about how to become like Ray. Not by raising your prices tomorrow, but by changing what you sell so that price becomes irrelevant.

Why Price Competition Is a Losing Game

When two contractors offer the same thing — same service, same process, same experience — the customer has exactly one way to differentiate them: price. And the cheapest bid wins.

This is a race you can never win. There will always be someone willing to do it cheaper. Someone with lower overhead. Someone more desperate. Someone who is not accounting for their actual costs.

The only way out of price competition is to stop competing on the same axis. Make yourself uncomparable. When you offer something nobody else offers, there is no one to compare you to, which means there is no pressure to match their price.

Move 1: Specialize Deeply

Generalists compete on price. Specialists compete on expertise.

If you are a "general handyman who does everything," you are competing with every other handyman, every YouTube DIY tutorial, and every homeowner's brother-in-law. If you are "the deck and outdoor living specialist," you are competing with a much smaller field and you can charge accordingly.

Ray the plumber does not do "plumbing." He does bathroom remodels. Only bathrooms. Only remodels. When a homeowner in his area wants to remodel a bathroom, his name is the one that comes up because he has 200 reviews specifically about bathroom work, a portfolio of 150 completed bathrooms, and a process designed specifically for that project type.

A general plumber quoting the same job cannot match that. Not on expertise, not on confidence, and not on the customer's trust level.

How to specialize: Pick the service type that is most profitable, most enjoyable, and has the most demand in your area. Narrow your marketing (not necessarily your actual work) to emphasize that specialty. Build your portfolio and reviews around it.

You do not have to turn away other work. But your marketing, your GBP, your website, and your pitch should all lead with your specialty. Over time, the specialized work will crowd out the general work, and your average job value will climb.

Move 2: Productize Your Service

Most contractors sell hours or vague estimates. Productized services sell a defined outcome at a defined price.

Instead of "I will come look at it and give you a quote," try: "Our Standard Bathroom Refresh includes demo of existing tile, new subway tile install, new vanity, new fixtures, and a one-year warranty. Three-week timeline. $12,500."

This does three things:

Removes uncertainty. The customer knows exactly what they get and what they pay. No anxiety about change orders or surprise costs.

Makes you easy to choose. When every other contractor says "it depends," you say "here is exactly what it costs." Clarity wins.

Positions you as the professional. A defined package signals that you have done this enough times to systematize it. That builds confidence.

Create two or three packages at different price points. A basic option, a standard option, and a premium option. Most customers pick the middle one. The premium option makes the middle one feel reasonable.

Move 3: Win the Experience, Not Just the Job

Ray does something unusual. Before starting a bathroom remodel, he sends the homeowner a "project kit" — a branded folder with a day-by-day timeline, a list of what to expect, photos of similar completed projects, and his direct cell phone number.

During the project, he sends a daily photo update. After the project, he sends a framed before-and-after print.

The framed print costs him $15. It sits on the homeowner's shelf. Every person who visits their house sees it and asks about it. "Oh, let me tell you about our contractor." That is referral generation that no ad budget can match.

The experience around the work matters as much as the work itself. Homeowners cannot evaluate the technical quality of your plumbing or electrical or HVAC work. They are not experts. What they can evaluate is how the experience felt.

High-impact experience upgrades:

Branded shoe covers ($0.30 each)
A thank-you card after the job
A one-page care guide for the work you did ("How to maintain your new deck")
A 90-day follow-up call to check on the work

None of these cost more than $20. All of them create stories that get told.

Move 4: Build Authority Others Cannot Copy

Authority is the moat that protects your pricing power. When you are seen as the expert, customers come to you. They do not shop around.

Ways to build authority:

Content. A simple blog on your website where you answer common questions. "How much does a bathroom remodel cost in Chicago?" "Signs your sump pump needs replacing." This helps your SEO and positions you as the knowledgeable professional.

Before-and-after portfolio. Document every project. Create a gallery on your website organized by project type. This is your proof.

Reviews that tell stories. When asking for reviews, prompt customers to describe the project and the experience, not just say "great work." Detailed reviews are more convincing and rank better on Google.

Local media. Reach out to local news outlets, neighborhood blogs, or community newsletters when you complete notable projects. "Local contractor transforms century-old bathroom" is the kind of story community publications love.

Authority compounds over time. The more content, reviews, and visibility you build, the wider the gap between you and competitors who are still posting a phone number on Craigslist.

The Pricing Paradox

Here is something counterintuitive: charging more often makes it easier to get clients, not harder.

Higher prices signal quality. They attract customers who value quality over bargains. Those customers are easier to work with, more likely to approve upgrades, and more likely to refer you.

Lower prices attract price shoppers. Price shoppers haggle, complain, leave bad reviews over minor issues, and vanish the moment someone cheaper appears.

Ray figured this out years ago. His prices are a filter. They repel the clients who would make his life difficult and attract the clients who appreciate what he does. His reviews are almost uniformly excellent because his customer base is self-selected for people who value quality.

You do not need to double your prices overnight. But the next time you send a quote, add 15%. See what happens. If you are closing more than 70% of your quotes, you are probably underpriced.

What Makes You Uncomparable

The goal is not to be the best contractor in your market. It is to be the only contractor in your category.

Specialize so deeply that nobody else has your track record. Productize so clearly that customers cannot compare your package to a vague estimate. Deliver an experience so memorable that customers become advocates. Build authority so strong that your name is the answer whenever someone asks.

Stop competing on price. Start competing on everything else.

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