How to raise prices for existing customers

Raise prices by calculating the rate you now need, checking existing commitments and giving the required written notice before the increase takes effect. State the new amount, start date and any cancellation or approval step. Clear notice helps a customer make a decision; it cannot guarantee that they will stay.

Review rates on a regular schedule

Pick a month to review rates each year, and change them when your costs or profit target justify it. The anniversary of your last increase makes the next one predictable for both of you.

A regular review gives you time to calculate the change and meet notice requirements. An annual review is a planning practice, not a requirement to increase every customer's price each year.

An earlier increase produces more revenue than the same increase postponed, if volume stays unchanged. In this illustrative comparison, take a shop billing 1,000 hours a year at $70, hours flat, raising at the start of each year:

Same rate at the end, about $12,800 more in the door, and no conversation where you ask for almost 13 percent at once. The 3% is an illustration — your own number comes from what your labor, insurance, vehicles and materials actually did.

How much notice, and what notice means for your trade

Recurring work — cleaning, lawn care, pest control, pool, maintenance plans. Start with your own service agreement, not a rule of thumb. If it sets a notice period or a rate-change clause, that governs — a customary 30 days does not override a promise of 60.

Then check your state. Many states regulate automatically renewing consumer service agreements, and some of those rules cover price changes. California, for example, requires notice of a fee change on a continuous-service plan no less than 7 and no more than 30 days before it takes effect, and the notice has to include how to cancel (Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602). That amendment applies to covered contracts entered into, amended or extended on or after July 1, 2025. Other states word it differently or do not address price at all. Your state attorney general's consumer protection office publishes the current rule; ask a local attorney before you standardize a template.

Where nothing binds you, 30 days before the new price hits an invoice is a reasonable floor; commercial accounts that budget ahead appreciate more. Send it ahead of the billing cycle it affects, never stapled to the invoice.

Project trades — remodeling, electrical, plumbing, painting, concrete. Use the revised rates for new quotes. Review outstanding offers and signed contracts before changing their prices; a validity date alone does not answer every legal question about an unaccepted offer. Price changes and extra work must follow the contract and applicable law. Record the additional scope, price, schedule impact and approval in writing before proceeding. Notify repeat accounts that rely on an agreed rate sheet according to its terms.

The notice, word for word

For a recurring customer, this example states the amount and date. Add any cancellation instructions, notice method or consent step required by the agreement and applicable law:

Hi Dana,

Starting with your October service, your monthly rate goes from $145 to $155. Labor and insurance costs have risen since I last adjusted prices in 2024, and this keeps your service on the same schedule and the same crew.

Nothing else changes. Your visit day stays the same and you do not need to do anything.

Thanks for being a customer since 2021 — I appreciate it. Call me if you want to talk it through.

Marcus

For a repeat commercial account, shorter still:

Hi Priya — my labor rate moves from $95 to $102 per hour on November 1. Work already estimated or in progress stays at the current rate. Updated rate sheet attached for your files.

Four things make those work. A number, not "an adjustment." A date, not "soon." One clause of reason, not a list of your cost problems; the customer has their own. And no apology: "unfortunately I am forced to" opens a negotiation nobody asked for.

Two cautions. First, say only what is true of your own books. "Labor and insurance costs have risen" is a claim about your business, and if your general liability renewal was flat, do not say it — pick the cost that actually moved and keep the receipt. Skip outside figures too. A national average for wage growth does not describe your invoice, and a customer who looks one up now has an argument instead of a notice. Second, if the plan auto-renews and your state regulates fee changes on those, the notice may legally need to include how to cancel — California does. Include the required cancellation information; the example above is not a complete statutory notice for every plan.

Send it in writing, then call your largest accounts the day before it lands — so they hear it from you first.

How to respond to silence, questions or cancellation

Silence. Do not treat silence as approval if the contract or law requires consent. Use the required notice method and keep evidence of delivery; follow up if confirmation is needed.

Pushback. Usually a question, not a refusal: "Is there anything you can do?" Answer once and stop talking: "That is the rate going forward. I would rather keep the price honest than cut the visit short." If you bend, bend on time, not price — hold the old rate through year end, then it moves. An exception with no end date quietly becomes that customer's permanent price, so write the date down.

Leaving. A customer may cancel because the new price no longer fits their budget. Do not assume those who leave were unprofitable. Estimate how many accounts you can lose before the increase reduces revenue, then check the cost of serving the remaining route.

Run your own number first; the cushion is thinner than it feels. Fifty accounts at $145 is $7,250 a month. Raise to $155, lose three, and 47 accounts bill $7,285 — slightly more money for three fewer stops. Lose a fourth and 46 accounts bill $7,130, behind where you started. Small annual steps beat betting a big jump on how many stay.

Where DoneQuote fits

Update the selling rate in your DoneQuote service catalog for future quotes. Customer notes can record an agreed temporary exception, but they do not apply it automatically. Check the customer's terms and the draft's actual prices before sending, and keep existing commitments separate from a catalog update.

Summary

• Review prices on a regular schedule; earlier increases earn more only if volume and collections hold
• Your service agreement sets the notice period, and some states regulate fee changes on auto-renewing plans — check both
• Check open quotes, signed contracts and agreed rate sheets before applying new prices
• The notice is a number, a date, one clause of reason from your own books, and no apology
• Expect some to leave without pretending to know how many; run your own break-even first