Price increase letter to painting and decorating clients
Copy it, replace the bracketed bits, send it. Below the letter: the text-message version, how much notice to give, and what to say when they push back.
Hi [NAME], With [N] of your properties on our schedule this year, I wanted to give you the new rates before the next void comes in. From [DATE]: - Day rate per decorator: [OLD] → [NEW] - Standard void repaint (up to [N] bedrooms, walls and ceilings): [OLD] → [NEW] - Paint: now billed at trade cost on each invoice, rather than built into the price The change in how paint is charged matters more than the rate itself. Trade paint has gone up several times in the past couple of years, and building it into a fixed price meant either guessing high or eating the difference. Billing it at cost means you see exactly what went on the walls, and you only pay for premium paint where you have chosen it. Anything already quoted and signed stays at the quoted price. Turnaround on voids stays at [N] working days from keys. [YOUR NAME] [BUSINESS NAME]
How many customers can this price rise lose?
10% ÷ (40% + 10%) = 20%
Open the full calculator, with your prices and customer count →immediate for new quotes; signed quotes honoured; 30 days for property-manager accounts
6–10% on day rates; paint passed through at cost
The text-message version
For the customers whose entire relationship with you lives in a phone. Send it before the visit, never on the invoice.
Hi [NAME], [YOUR NAME] from [BUSINESS]. Sent you our [YEAR] rates — day rate [NEW], paint now at trade cost on the invoice. Signed quotes unaffected. Call [PHONE] if you want to go through it.
Why it is going up, in words you can use
“Rising costs” persuades nobody because everyone says it. Name the actual driver in painting and decorating instead:
- trade paint prices rose repeatedly — the premium lines most of all
- caulk, fillers, tape, sundries and dust sheets
- prep is most of the job and is pure labour
- property managers want faster turnarounds on voids, which means more people on site at once
When they push back
You will hear these within a week. Having the answer ready is the difference between holding the price and folding on the phone.
- "Can't you use cheaper paint?"
- "We can, and on a void that is being re-let quickly it is sometimes the right call. It will need redoing sooner, and it shows scuffs on the first move-in." Offer both specs on the quote. Letting them choose is the fastest way to end the argument.
- "Another decorator quoted [LOW PRICE] for the same job."
- Ask what their quote says about prep. "Does it include filling, sanding and a mist coat on new plaster? That is usually the difference." A low quote that skips prep turns into peeling paint and a callback.
- "We need a fixed price, not paint at cost."
- Give them one — with the paint priced in at today's trade cost plus a margin, valid for 30 days. Some accounts need a single number for budget sign-off, and that is a fair reason to offer it.
Is a price rise even the right move for you?
Sometimes it is not. Sometimes the money is in a service plan for customers you already have, or in the job you are quoting below cost without realising. Describe your business in one sentence and you will get three specific moves back — priced per month, with the arithmetic written out so you can put your own numbers in.
Free, no signup, about thirty seconds. If one of them is a price rise, you will get the number to put in the brackets above.
Give me three movesMore letters: trades and repairs
Other trades
A template, not legal advice. If you have a written contract with these repeat clients, check what it says about notice periods and price changes before you send anything — the contract wins over any template, including this one.