Give three options: the quoting trick that raises your average job

One price forces a yes/no. Three options change the question

When you send a single number, the client's only decision is accept or refuse — and the easiest comparison is against another quote. When you send three options, the question quietly becomes which one — and you're now competing with yourself rather than with the plumber down the road.

Home-service businesses that switched to tiered quotes consistently report the same two effects: fewer flat refusals, and a higher average accepted amount, because a meaningful share of clients do not pick the cheapest.

How to build the three tiers

The tiers must differ in scope, never in quality of workmanship. You never offer a "worse" job.

Option A — Essential. Solves the problem, nothing more. The repair itself, standard parts, no extras. This is your honest floor, not a trap.

Option B — Recommended. The repair plus what you'd genuinely do on your own house: the aging shut-off valve replaced while the wall is open, a better-grade part, the anti-corrosion treatment. Mark this one "recommended" — most clients who don't want to think will choose it.

Option C — Complete. B plus longevity or comfort: extended warranty, the second unit done at the same time, an annual service included for two years.

A common spread is roughly 1× / 1.4× / 2×. The top tier isn't there mainly to sell — it makes B look measured.

The rules that make it work

• Three options, never five. More choice paralyses and delays the decision.
• One sentence of justification per tier, in the client's language: "avoids a second call-out in two years", not "includes brass fittings".
• Never make A deliberately bad. If option A is a job you'd be ashamed of, you're not offering choice — you're manipulating, and clients feel it.
• Put all three on one document. Comparison is the whole point.

Where it genuinely doesn't apply

Emergencies. A burst pipe at 11 pm is not a moment for a menu — quote the fix, do it, and propose the improvements afterwards.

Building three versions quickly

The reason artisans don't do this is time — nobody writes three quotes at 9 pm. With Pro Speak Artisan you dictate the base job once, then duplicate it in a tap and adjust the lines for B and C. Related: fixed price or hourly and how to follow up on an estimate.