Most service business owners price their work by asking: "What will the market accept?" That's the wrong question. The right question is: "What do I need to charge to build a business that gives me my life back?"
The unbillable hours you forget to count
For every hour billed to a client, there are 30–60 minutes of unbillable time: driving, quoting, answering emails, chasing invoices, buying materials, doing admin. When you factor those in, your effective hourly rate can be half of what you think it is.
What a real pricing model looks like
A healthy service business prices based on fully loaded cost — labour, overhead, acquisition cost per job, and a margin buffer for growth. If you're not pricing that way, you're subsidizing your customers' projects with your own time and sleep.
The fix isn't raising prices arbitrarily
It's knowing your numbers well enough to price with confidence, and building a marketing system that attracts clients who value what you do — not just whoever responds to the lowest quote.