Why You Need This Written Down
Without a pricing matrix, every phone call becomes a negotiation with yourself. You are trying to estimate the job from a customer description, factor in your schedule, account for drive time, and come up with a number - all while talking to a stranger who is already wondering if you are too expensive.
A matrix fixes that. You ask the right intake questions, match the job to a category, and give a price with confidence. The price did not come from the customer's tone or your mood that morning. It came from a system you built in advance.
Start With the Base
Your base price is for the simplest version of a job you do regularly. Define it in writing before you build anything else:
- What pool size does the base rate cover?
- How many pump systems are included?
- Is a spa included or separate?
- Are water features included or separate?
- What type of access is assumed?
- What is the maximum travel distance in the base rate?
- Does the base rate include a written report, or is that separate?
Write the answers down. That document is your base rate definition. Every job either fits it or it does not.
Build Your Complexity Categories
Attached or separate spa
A spa is its own water body with its own shell, lights, jets, and plumbing. It takes additional time to evaluate and test properly. Price it separately from the pool.
Water features
Waterfalls, deck jets, bubblers, and fountains each add potential leak sources and evaluation time. Some cannot be pressure tested because the plumbing has open ends. Price per feature or as a category.
Vanishing or zero edge
These pools have a catch basin, return plumbing, and a structural design that does not exist in standard pools. The trough and return system require separate evaluation. Price as a distinct category.
Large pool size
Define your base pool size clearly - for example, up to 400 square feet of water surface. Jobs above that threshold take longer to walk, evaluate, and document. Add accordingly.
Multiple pump systems
Each pump circuit feeds different areas or features with separate plumbing that needs testing. More circuits mean more time.
Extended travel
Define your standard service radius. Jobs outside that radius take more time and fuel. Add a travel fee or define a secondary zone with a higher base.
Formal written report
Real estate transactions, HOA documentation, and insurance-related work require structured reports that take more time. Price that separately or as a higher tier service.
Commercial pools
Commercial pools - hotels, HOA facilities, water parks, municipal pools - have different equipment, gutter systems instead of multiple skimmers, access requirements, and documentation needs. Do not try to fit these into a residential matrix. Quote them individually.
The matrix is only useful if you use it every time. A pricing system you abandon when a customer pushes back is not a system. It is a suggestion. Build it, train yourself on it, and stick to it. Customers who negotiate your price before the job will negotiate everything else too.
What the Matrix Does Not Cover
Write down what is not included at any price. That list is just as important as the pricing tiers:
- Repairs - unless your business separately prices and offers repair work
- Re-visits caused by conditions that prevented the original evaluation
- Excavation or demolition
- Engineering or structural assessment
- Jobs where safety conditions prevent entry or testing
When a customer asks "is that included?" you should never hesitate. The answer is either yes, it is in the base or the add-on, or no, and here is why.
Price With Confidence on Every Call
LBA teaches pricing strategy alongside field skills - so you know what jobs cost before you quote them.
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