Discounts and D-Grade Clients. | 66

Cutting your Electrical quote by 20% might feel like a small move—but you’re actually slashing your profit in half. In this one, I break down the real cost of discounts and share how to price jobs without shafting yourself. If you’re dropping your pants to win work, listen to this first.

Youtube Video - The simplified sparky mentorship HERE

1. The Electricians Guide to Profitable Clients HERE

2. Follow on Instagram - HERE

3. Join my FREE Skool community HERE

Transcript

Wipe that chocolate Easter egg off your children’s faces. Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing.

Let’s talk about the real cost of a discount on your electrical quotes and what it’s doing to your bottom line. This came from an Instagram post I made today, but also from revisiting a bunch of old jobs where I absolutely shafted myself—jobs where I gave discounts thinking I was still doing alright, when really, I was just throwing profit in the bin.

Here’s the scenario I shared: someone wants a job done, you quote ten grand. It’s six grand in materials, which leaves you four grand in profit. Then the client says, “Can you do it for eight?” You think, “Eight grand still sounds like a lot. Let’s do it.” What you’ve just done is handed over half your profit. It’s not 20% off the total—it’s 50% off your profit. You just reached into your own pocket and gave them two grand.

That discount doesn’t reduce your labour. It doesn’t shrink your overheads. It doesn’t cheapen your materials. It comes purely off your profit—and that’s brutal. I fell into this trap early on, working for builders in construction. I’d get squeezed, and because the quote was, say, 20 grand, I’d think, “What’s a couple of grand?” But that two grand came right off the top. I wasn’t getting better rates or cheaper gear—it was just pure loss.

So if you’re a young gun starting out, take this in: know your numbers. Know what your business needs to make each day to be profitable. When someone asks you to cut a quote, you’ll be able to confidently say no—because otherwise, you may as well be working for wages.

Here’s a fresh one. I got catfished on a job. It came in through my virtual assistant receptionist—looked close by, sounded juicy, a full apartment spruce-up. So I went to check it out. The bloke greets me covered in paint. Not a painter—clearly a Bunnings warrior trying to save cash. Turns out, it's not even his apartment—it’s his son’s investment property. And they just wanted it done cheap. Replace a few PowerPoints, some switches, one light fitting, smoke alarm.

I walked them through the place and flagged the switchboard—absolutely outdated. Quoted it the usual way: per point pricing, included a switchboard upgrade as an option. Then they came back saying someone else quoted $400 cheaper.

Now, I could’ve dropped a bit—but I stood my ground. I’ve got profitable jobs lined up. I don’t need to race to the bottom. So I asked for the competing quote. She wouldn’t send it. Then she admitted the other quote didn’t include the switchboard. That was it for me—I bowed out. I said, “We’re not the right fit. Best of luck.”

Here’s the lesson: sometimes it’s not just sparkies underquoting. Some clients are just cheapskates. Lovely people, maybe—but terrible clients. They don’t want quality, they want it done cheap. And no matter how low you go, if someone else comes in lower, they’ll jump ship.

So before you ever cut a quote, know what your minimum is. Know what you want to earn per day, after materials. I do this with every quote. I can glance at it, say, “That’s a day’s work, I want to make X”—done. It simplifies everything.

You can muck around with margins and markup and billable hours all you want—but this approach works. It’s what I teach my members, and they’re seeing wins from it too.

So here’s the takeaway: Know your numbers. Know your worth. And never drop your price until you know exactly what that drop is costing you.

If you want help working this out, grab the free nine-day email series for electricians. Link’s in the show notes.

Catch you in the next one.