Why A Builder Should Never Negotiate on Price

Let me be clear—this isn’t about refusing to look after your customers. You absolutely should look after your good customers. Offer them gifts, help them out, give them things for free and reward their loyalty. But do not negotiate on price. If you’re client asks for a discount upfront don’t be dismissive or rude but stand your ground and make it clear that you can’t do that.

The Classic Scenario

A client says: "I want to go ahead, but only if you knock $10,000 off your quote." Or: "Drop your margin by X percent and we’ve got a deal."

Here’s the problem: agreeing to this is almost always a mistake. Lets Explore why:

1. You Probably Don’t Have To

At a Housing Industry Association seminar, a bunch of builders told me: "Clients push and push until I’m ready to walk away—then they agree, but only after negotiating me down."

My response? Get ready to walk away sooner. Don’t get drawn into the game. You don’t need to play it.

2. You’re Devaluing Your Own Service

Negotiating down your margin sends one message: “My work isn’t worth what I said it was.”

You’re undermining your own value and clients feel that. You seem more desperate for work. You are not helping the client feel like they’re going to get a premium experience, they want to know that it’s a premium product.

3. You’re Setting the Wrong Tone for the Whole Project

This is arguably the biggest issue.

When you fold on price, you're setting the tone for the entire relationship. You're building a house together so this isn’t a one-off - the message the client will hear is that your terms are always negotiable. If you negotiate once, you’ll be negotiating to the very end.

4. Better Approach: Offer Less, Not for Less

I got a great piece of advice from YouTuber Chris Do (check out The Future channel):

If your customer wants a discount, offer it—by removing something. Take out a service. Reduce the number of hours. Cut a feature. Come back with a solution that’s equitable, not a straight discount.

That’s stuck with me ever since.

5. The Outcome? Confidence—and Better Clients

These days, I don’t get asked to cut my price. Clients tend to value the service, curiously when you don’t cut your price - it’s like they know already that it won’t happen.

Maybe it’s confidence. Maybe it’s positioning. But I’m not in those conversations anymore. I’m always prepared not to do the job and that makes all the difference. 

And sometimes, truthfully, some customers just aren’t worth doing the job for.

More resources to come. I’ll turn this into a full blog series. Let’s see how it goes, we’re here to support you all the way.