Should I match a lowball price to keep a customer?

Not if it means losing money, and rarely otherwise — you have taught them your real price and they will expect it next time.

How do I explain why I cost more without sounding negative?

Describe what is included rather than what theirs lacks. "This includes X, Y and Z" holds up; "they cut corners" sounds like an excuse.

Is it worth reporting unlicensed competitors?

That depends on your jurisdiction and what you can actually evidence. Run it past someone qualified rather than acting on frustration.

← Answers

How do I compete when competitors cut corners?

You cannot win on price against someone who is not paying for what you pay for — proper labour, real materials, insurance, doing it once. So do not compete there. Compete where the corner-cutting eventually shows: on jobs where being wrong is expensive, and with customers who have been burned before.

Understand what you are actually being undercut by

A price that seems impossible usually is. It is cash labour, a thinner spec, no insurance, or a plan to be somewhere else when it fails. You are not losing to a better operator; you are being compared against a different product wearing the same name.

Make the difference legible before the price

Customers cannot see what is inside a quote. If yours includes things theirs does not, say so in the quote itself — plainly, without disparaging anyone. Most people are not choosing cheap on purpose; they are choosing the only thing they were shown.

Choose the work where it matters

Some customers will always buy on price and will not be persuaded. Others have already paid twice for the same job and will never do it again. The second group is smaller, harder to find, and worth the whole business.

Do not let it make you bitter

Owners lose more to resentment about competitors than to the competitors. The ones cutting corners are usually running a thinner, more fragile business than yours and will meet the consequences without your help.

Also asked

Should I match a lowball price to keep a customer?: Not if it means losing money, and rarely otherwise — you have taught them your real price and they will expect it next time.
How do I explain why I cost more without sounding negative?: Describe what is included rather than what theirs lacks. "This includes X, Y and Z" holds up; "they cut corners" sounds like an excuse.
Is it worth reporting unlicensed competitors?: That depends on your jurisdiction and what you can actually evidence. Run it past someone qualified rather than acting on frustration.

Written for your trade

This is the kind of thing Solomon works through with owners using their own numbers. See how it works →