Before You Raise Prices: Run These 5 Jobs Through a Profit Calculator

An across-the-board 10% bump feels decisive. It can also raise prices on jobs that were already fine while leaving money-losers under-fixed. A better move: audit the five services you sell most often, cost them honestly, then raise, reprice, drop, or keep — with evidence.

Step 1: Pick your top five service types

Not five random invoices — five lines that show up every week. Examples:

• HVAC: diagnostic / no-cool, seasonal tune-up, capacitor or contactor swap, system install, maintenance plan visit
• Plumbing: drain clear, water heater repair, fixture swap, slab leak / camera, remodel rough-in
• Electrical: panel or breaker work, EV charger, outlet/GFCI jobs, whole-home surge, service call / troubleshooting

Use your real flat rates or typical invoices for each line.

Step 2: Cost each job with full inputs

For every line, enter into the job profitability calculator:

• Revenue (your current price)
• Onsite hours and travel hours at a burdened labor rate
• Miles and a realistic vehicle $/mile
• Materials
• Overhead $/hour
• Lead allocation if that work often comes from paid channels

Be honest. Optimistic travel times make every service look healthier than Friday's dispatch board.

Step 3: Sort into three buckets

• Raise or restructure — net margin or profit per hour below target. Minimum charge, zone fee, or list-price increase.
• Keep — hits target consistently; leave alone or promote more.
• Drop or deprioritize — chronically negative after full costs, or cannot absorb lead fees without absurd pricing.

Step 4: Raise with a reason, not a vibe

When you bump a service, document the gap: "After travel and overhead this line nets 8%; target is 30%." That makes the new price defensible to your team and steadies you when a customer pushes back. Uniform percentage increases without this audit usually leave the worst offenders still weak.

Do the five-job audit this week

Block thirty minutes. Cost five services. Write raise / keep / drop next to each. That single pass beats another year of busy weeks with thin deposits.