What is the Shopping List Pricing System?
The Shopping List Pricing System (SLPS) bundles labour, materials and markup into a single price for each completed item. Your client sees a clear price for the finished result, not an hourly rate, a hours-on-site figure, or a materials cost they can Google.
This removes the most common quoting objections: questioning your hourly rate, disputing the hours you spent on site, or finding the same materials cheaper online. When everything is wrapped into one item price, there is nothing to pull apart and compare.
Why does bundling protect your margin?
When you price per item, a competitor pricing differently makes it hard to compare apples for apples. Clients are already used to seeing prices this way: every product they buy online, in a shop, or at the supermarket is listed as a single item price. A quote that matches that familiar format builds trust rather than inviting scrutiny.
The system is also designed by you, which means your experience, your methods and your desired margin are already baked in. No other trade's price list can replicate that exactly.
How do you build each item price?
Start with the jobs on your very next quote. Build one item at a time as you need it, not the entire list before you start.
For each item, set:
- A labour allowance based on an average tradesperson completing the task, not you at your most efficient
- A materials allowance that covers everything you might need for the job, including items you will not always use
- Your markup, rolled into the final price so it is never visible to the client
The first item might take ten minutes to build. The next time you add it to a quote, it takes thirty seconds.
Why should you price for an average worker, not yourself?
If you price based on how quickly and efficiently you do a job yourself, that pricing falls apart the moment you hire someone. A new team member will take longer and may use more materials. Pricing around an above-average time allowance and a generous materials list means you are covered regardless of who does the work.
Over time, as you train people to work faster and use materials efficiently, the gap between your priced allowance and actual cost becomes profit. The system also gives you clear data on where to focus that training.
What are the main benefits of this system?
Transparency for clients. A single clear price for each item builds trust and reduces the chance of price objections after the quote is sent.
Accurate quoting every time. Every job is pre-priced so nothing gets missed and no cost is left to guesswork.
Flexibility for the client. Clients can add or remove items from their quote based on their budget, which keeps them in control without exposing your internal pricing.
Quoting speed. Once the system is built, anyone in your team, your admin, your apprentice, your tradespeople, can produce an accurate quote quickly because the hard work is already done.
Job tracking and improvement. With costs bundled by item, you can track actual performance against your priced allowances and make small, ongoing improvements to time and materials usage.
How do you keep the system accurate over time?
Review your item prices regularly. If your supplier puts up material costs, or you increase your tradespeople's hourly rate, those increases must go straight into your item prices. If they do not, the difference comes directly off your profit margin.
Use a job management system or a spreadsheet to keep your pricing list organised and easy to update. There are several software options available for trade businesses. The right tool is whichever one your team will actually use consistently.
Also explain the system briefly when you send a quote. Let clients know you price per item so they can clearly see the cost of each part of the job, add things they want and remove things they do not. That short explanation makes the format feel transparent and professional rather than unfamiliar.
