How to Raise Your Prices: How Many Customers You Can Lose, and the Text or Letter to Send
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A 10% price increase at a 30% margin breaks even if you lose 1 in 4 customers
To raise your prices, work out how many customers you can lose, then give regular customers 30 days' notice in writing. At a 30% margin, a 10% price increase breaks even if you lose 1 in 4 customers. Lose fewer than that and you earn more than before. Lose more and you earn less.
Here is why, with made-up prices. On a $150 job with a 30% margin, you keep $45 after the job's own costs. Raise the price 10% to $165 and the costs stay the same, so you keep $60. Four customers at $45 each is $180 kept. Three customers at $60 each is also $180 kept, so losing 1 customer in 4 is the break-even point.
The answer depends on your margin. The same 10% increase breaks even at:
- 33% lost, or 1 in 3 customers, if your margin is 20%
- 25% lost, or 1 in 4 customers, if your margin is 30%
- 17% lost, or 1 in 6 customers, if your margin is 50%
No one can tell you who will stay, so none of this predicts what your customers will do. It shows how many you can afford to lose. The figures are arithmetic worked out on October 22, 2026.
The formula needs only your margin and your price increase
Write the increase and the margin as decimals, so 10% is 0.10. Then:
Most customers you can lose = increase ÷ (margin + increase)
Here is where it comes from, using the same $150 job.
- Today. You keep price x margin on each job: $150 x 0.30 = $45.
- After the increase. The price goes up by the increase and your costs do not. You now keep price x (margin + increase) on each job: $150 x (0.30 + 0.10) = $60.
- Break-even. You earn the same when the share of customers who stay x price x (margin + increase) = price x margin. The price is on both sides, so it drops out, and the share who stay is margin ÷ (margin + increase).
- What you can lose. That is 1 minus the share who stay, which works out to increase ÷ (margin + increase).
For the $150 job: 0.10 ÷ (0.30 + 0.10) = 0.10 ÷ 0.40 = 0.25, or 25%.
Impact Pricing's break-even page works a case with a 60% contribution margin, which is margin counting only the costs that change with each sale, and a 20% increase. It says, "If you lose less than 25%, you are making more profit." The formula agrees: 0.20 ÷ (0.60 + 0.20) = 0.25.
Your margin is the share of the price left after the job's own costs
Margin is the share of the price you keep after paying for the job itself. Take one typical job, subtract what it cost you, and divide what is left by the price.
Count the costs that go away if the job goes away:
- Pay for anyone who works the job, including payroll taxes
- Supplies, materials, and card fees
- Dump fees, fuel, and tolls for the trip
Leave out costs that stay the same whether you keep a customer or lose one, such as insurance, a truck payment, and your phone.
Example arithmetic: a $150 clean costs $30 in supplies and gas, plus $75 for three hours of pay at $25 an hour. You keep $45, and $45 ÷ $150 = 0.30, so the margin is 30%.
Margin and markup are different. Markup is what you add to your cost. Margin is the share of the price you keep. Jobber's house cleaning pricing guide multiplies $40 of hourly cost ($30 of wages plus $10 of overhead) by 1.25 to get $50 an hour, and says that gives a 25% profit margin. Measured on the cost, that is a 25% markup. Measured on the $50 price, the $10 you keep is a 20% margin, and the break-even table uses margin.
If you do the work yourself, decide how to count your own pay. Here is the same $150 clean both ways, after a 10% increase:
| Your own pay | Margin | Most you can lose |
|---|---|---|
| Counted at $25 an hour | 30% | 25% |
| Not counted | 80% | 11% |
Counted, the clean costs you $105. Not counted, it costs $30. Use the first row if you could fill a lost customer's hours with other paying work. Use the second row if those hours would sit empty. If you are not sure, plan on the smaller number.
The break-even table for 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% price increases
Find your margin in the left column, then read across to your price increase. The number is the most customers you can lose, as a share of the customers you have now, and still earn the same. Numbers are rounded to the nearest percent.
For 5% and 10% increases:
| Your margin | 5% increase | 10% increase |
|---|---|---|
| 20% | 20% | 33% |
| 30% | 14% | 25% |
| 40% | 11% | 20% |
| 50% | 9% | 17% |
For 15% and 20% increases:
| Your margin | 15% increase | 20% increase |
|---|---|---|
| 20% | 43% | 50% |
| 30% | 33% | 40% |
| 40% | 27% | 33% |
| 50% | 23% | 29% |
Multiply by your customer count: with 20 customers, 25% is 5 customers. The margins are round numbers, not a claim about your books. For any other margin, use the formula.
Read down any column and the numbers shrink. A thin margin can afford to lose more customers, because the same increase adds more to what you keep: at a 20% margin, a 10% increase raises what you keep per job by half, and at a 50% margin, by a fifth.
What the tables assume:
- Your cost per job stays the same after the increase. Card fees usually include a percent of the price, so they rise a little, and the tables leave that out.
- A customer who leaves takes the whole job, and its costs, with them.
- The customers who stay buy the same as before.
This is the break-even for one price change. How many jobs a month your business needs to pay its bills is a different question, and the house cleaning business plan answers it.
Two worked examples: a house cleaner and a junk hauler
Both examples use made-up prices. The arithmetic is exact.
Cleaning, 20 customers. Suppose you clean houses.
- A clean is $150 and costs you $105, so you keep $45, a 30% margin.
- You raise the price 10% to $165, so you keep $60 a clean.
- The formula gives 0.10 ÷ (0.30 + 0.10) = 0.25, so you can lose 5 of your 20 customers.
| Cleaning | You keep, one clean each | Customers |
|---|---|---|
| Before | $900 | 20 |
| After, lose 4 | $960 | 16 |
| After, lose 5 | $900 | 15 |
| After, lose 6 | $840 | 14 |
Junk removal, 8 jobs a month. Suppose you haul junk.
- A job is $400 and costs you $300, so you keep $100, a 25% margin.
- You raise the price 15% to $460, so you keep $160 a job.
- The formula gives 0.15 ÷ (0.25 + 0.15) = 0.375, so you can lose 3 of your 8 jobs. A 25% margin is not a row in the table, which is why the formula is there.
| Junk removal | You keep in total | Jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Before | $800 | 8 |
| After, book 6 | $960 | 6 |
| After, book 5 | $800 | 5 |
| After, book 4 | $640 | 4 |
After the new price starts, divide the customers you kept by the customers you had. You break even at 75% in the cleaning example and 62.5% in the junk example, and you are ahead above that.
To price your own trade, see our guides to house cleaning, lawn care, junk removal, and pressure washing.
Give 30 days' notice, in writing, with the new price and date first
Three published guides, opened October 22, 2026, give three answers, from 2 weeks to 90 days. None of them is a rule.
| Guide | Notice | Written for |
|---|---|---|
| Jobber | 1–3 months | Service businesses |
| Arborgold | At least 30 days | Lawn care |
| Janitorial Manager | 30–45 days at minimum | Commercial cleaning |
Jobber adds that 2–4 weeks can be enough for small, low-cost services, and 30–60 days is better for large or ongoing contracts. Janitorial Manager suggests 60–90 days for larger accounts or bigger increases.
These are blogs from software companies, not law. If you signed an agreement with a customer, read what it says about price changes first. California's Business and Professions Code section 17602 covers household services that renew or continue until the customer cancels. It says a business must give notice of a fee change "no less than 7 days and no more than 30 days before the fee change takes effect," along with information on how to cancel. Whether a rule like that covers your customers is a question for a lawyer. If it does, add a line to the notice that says how to cancel. This is not legal advice, and rules differ by state.
Our pick for a customer you serve every week or month is 30 days. That is where each guide's main advice starts, and it fits inside California's 7-to-30-day window. Notice sent November 1, 2026 gives you a December 1, 2026 start.
Bill each visit at the price on the day you did it, even if you send the invoice later. If one bill covers visits before and after the start date, show each price on its own line. How to write and send an invoice covers what goes on it.
Copy these messages for recurring and one-time customers
Each price increase notice gives the new price, the start date, one true reason, and how to reach you. Jobber's guide lists these pieces too, plus which service is changing. Fill in the brackets and delete any line that is not true for you.
Who gets a notice:
- Recurring customers. The ones you serve every week or month. Tell each one in writing before the date.
- One-time and returning customers. Skip the announcement and quote the new price when they ask.
- New customers. Quote the new price starting today. They have never paid the old one.
Text for a recurring customer
Hi [Name], it's [Your name] at [Business]. Starting [date], each [service] visit will be $[new] instead of $[old]. [One true reason.] Your day and time stay the same. Reply here with any questions.
Email or letter for a recurring customer
Subject: Your [service] price starting [date]
Hi [Name],
Starting [date], the price for your [service] will change from $[old] to $[new] [per visit or per month]. [One true reason.] Visits before [date] stay at $[old]. Your schedule and everything else stay the same.
Call or text me at [phone] with any questions. Thank you for your business.
[Your name], [Business]
Text for a one-time or returning customer
Hi [Name]. Yes, I can do [job] on [day]. The price is $[new] now. It was $[old] when I did it in [month and year]. Want me to put you on the schedule?
Text only customers who already text with you. Jobber's guide says text messages work "only if you know your client is OK with receiving texts from you." Everyone else gets the email or a printed letter. Our guide to text message templates for service businesses covers the rules for texting customers.
Answer why in one true sentence, and decide who keeps the old price
Say the reason that is true for you, in one sentence. Arborgold's lawn care guide says, "You don't need to over-explain." Jobber's 2026 Home Service Trends Report, a December 2025 survey of 1,050 US home service owners, lists inflation (72%) and labor costs (50%) as the most common reasons for price increases.
Sentences you can use if they are true:
- Fuel, supplies, and dump fees cost more than when I set your price in [month and year].
- I pay my crew more than when I set your price in [month and year].
- I have not changed your price since [month and year].
If a customer asks why, send the sentence and the date: "[One true reason.] The new price starts [date]."
Keeping an old price has a cost you can count. Example arithmetic: ten customers get a weekly visit at $45, and the new price is $50. Each visit at the old price gives up $5.
| Old price kept for | You give up |
|---|---|
| A quarter (13 visits each) | $5 x 13 x 10 = $650 |
| A year (52 visits each) | $5 x 52 x 10 = $2,600 |
The break-even table also works one customer at a time. At a 30% margin and a 10% increase, raise a customer's price if you think the chance they leave over it is below 1 in 4. If you think it is higher, you earn more by keeping their old price.
Pick one rule before you send the notice:
- Everyone moves on the same date. One rule, nothing to track.
- Some customers keep the old price for a set time. Put the end date in the notice, so the old price does not become permanent by default.
Where ServicePro fits
ServicePro is home services software. It starts with getting you found. Free is $0 with no card and builds a website from your Google Business Profile. Pro is $99 a month with no contract and adds a toll-free number that forwards to your cell. Texting turns on after you submit carrier verification and the carriers approve it, which can take several business days. On Free, ServicePro cannot text customers, so send the notice from your phone or email.
Sam is the AI office manager that never sleeps. He works by text, can email a customer or text one on Pro, and asks before sending a message he started himself. You choose how much he can do on his own. See what Sam does.
ServicePro has no tool for sending one notice to a whole customer list and does not write quotes. Jobber's guide says its email software sends campaigns "to specific groups in batches." Start on the Free plan.
How this post was made: drafted with AI from the sources linked on this page. Figures and links were checked on October 22, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I raise my prices without losing customers?
No one can promise that nobody leaves, so work out how many can leave before you earn less. The most customers you can lose is your increase divided by (your margin plus your increase). At a 30% margin, a 10% increase breaks even if you lose 1 in 4. Then give 30 days' notice, with the new price and date up front.
How much should I raise my prices?
Start by passing on your cost increase. If a $150 job that left you $45 now costs you $12 more, you keep $33, a 22% margin. Raising the price $12, which is 8%, brings you back to $45. Then use the formula: 0.08 ÷ (0.22 + 0.08) is about 0.27, so you can lose about 27% of your customers before you earn less than the $33 you keep today.
How much notice do I give customers before a price increase?
Published guides range from 2 weeks to 90 days. Jobber suggests 1 to 3 months, Arborgold says at least 30 days, and Janitorial Manager says 30 to 45 days at minimum. About a month is a reasonable pick for regular customers. If you signed an agreement with the customer, check what it says about price changes first. This is not legal advice, and rules differ by state.
Should I send a price increase letter, an email, or a text?
Use the way the customer already hears from you. Jobber's guide calls email the most professional way to announce a price increase, and says text messages work only if you know your client is OK with receiving texts from you. Either way, put the new price and the start date in the first line.
Do I count my own pay when I work out my margin?
Run it both ways and plan on the smaller number. Counting your pay as a cost shows how many customers you can lose if you can fill their hours with other paying work. Leaving it out shows how many you can lose if those hours sit empty. On a $150 clean with a 10% increase, that is 25% against 11%.
Should long-time customers keep the old price?
That is your call, so count what it costs. The old price costs you the difference on every visit. For example, ten weekly customers paying $45 instead of $50 for 13 weeks costs you $650. For one customer, raising the price pays if the chance they leave is below the break-even table's number. If you keep the old price, put the end date in the notice. New customers get the new price from the start.
What do I say when a customer asks why I raised my prices?
Give one true reason and the date. For example: Fuel, supplies, and dump fees cost more than when I set your price. The new price starts December 1. Arborgold's guide says you don't need to over-explain. Jobber's 2026 report lists inflation (72%) and labor costs (50%) as the most common reasons for price increases.
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