What do I say when a customer asks 'Can you do it cheaper'?
Short answer
'I can if we change what's in the job. Tell me what to take out.' Don't drop the price for the same scope.
Why this works
It moves the conversation from a haggle to a real conversation about what they actually need. Most customers don't want less, they want to feel like they negotiated. Saying yes too fast cheapens the whole quote.
The fallback
If they truly need less, give them less for less. If they want the same scope for less, they're testing you. Hold the line politely and most of them book at full price.
Ask your version of this question
This is one business owner-tested take. Your shop size, trade, and team change the answer. Ask the exact version inside Ask a Shop Owner and get a response grounded in how owners like you actually handled it.
Now run it against your numbers.
This answer is written for shops in general. Inside Ask a Shop Owner it becomes your answer: your revenue, your crew, your market, your history. Ask "What do I say when a customer asks 'Can you do it cheaper'" and get the version that accounts for what you already told us.
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