I've been on both sides of broke. This is a Deep Dive into where the money hides.
Hey, Will here,
Think about this……
When was the last time you raised your prices?
Not when you added a new service. Not when you landed a bigger client who expected to pay more. When did you look at your existing rates — the ones you've been charging the same people for the same work — and say "this isn't enough anymore" and actually change the number?
Most builders I talk to can't answer that question without staring at the ceiling for a while. Some haven't raised prices in two years. Some in four. A few are still charging rates they set before the pandemic, back when gas was cheaper, and their health insurance didn't feel like a second mortgage.
Meanwhile, everything in their business went up. Rent went up. Insurance went up. Payroll went up. Software went up. The coffee in the break room went up. The guy who fixes the copier went up. Even the copier went up, and nobody uses it anymore.
Everything went up except the one number they control.
Here's what I've learned in 50 years of working with builders: your clients won't tell you you're undercharging. That's not how it works. They will happily pay the old rate until the sun burns out. They're not being malicious — they just won't volunteer to spend more money. That's not their job.
It's yours. And most builders won't do it because they're terrified of the conversation.
I get it. You've built relationships. You like these people. You don't want to be the guy who sends an email that starts with "effective immediately, our rates are increasing." You imagine the awkward silence. The pushback. The client who says, "We'll need to evaluate our options." You imagine losing someone you spent three years earning.
So you eat the difference. Year after year. And you call it loyalty.
It's not loyalty. It's a leak. And it compounds.
Ok, you've got clients. You've got revenue. And something still isn't working the way it should.
I'll find it in under 10 minutes. Or I'll be wrong. I'm almost never wrong.
THE FIX Playbook. 5 questions. A diagnostic that shows you where the money is stuck, where it's leaking, and the one move you're not making. Built on 50 years of doing this with businesses between $500K and $10M.
If you're pre-revenue or still building, this won't help you yet. If you've already built something and it should be performing better — this is the fastest way to see what you're missing.
Want the full picture? Every blind spot. Every leak. Every stuck dollar. With a plan.
Why This Matters More Than You Think
A 10-15% price increase on a $2M business is $200K to $300K in additional revenue. Same clients. Same work. Same team. Not a single new proposal was written. Not a single new lead was generated. Just a number that finally matches the value you've been delivering for years at a discount you never agreed to — it just happened slowly enough that you didn't notice.
That's the thing about pricing erosion. It doesn't feel like a crisis. It feels like normal. Your margins shrink by a point or two a year, and you blame the economy, or the market, or that one client who always negotiates. But the real reason is simpler: you set a price once and never revisit it, while the entire cost structure beneath it keeps climbing.
I've watched builders agonize for months over a price increase. Run the scenarios. Lose sleep. Draft the email six times. Then they finally send it, and not a single client leaves. Not one. The client says "okay" and moves on with their day. Some of them — the good ones, the ones you actually want to keep — will say "honestly, I'm surprised you didn't do this sooner."
Because they know what your work is worth. They've always known. They were just never going to bring it up.
And the clients who DO leave over a 10-15% increase? Those were your worst clients anyway. The ones grinding you on scope. Slow-paying invoices. Treating your team like a drive-through window. Raising prices is the fastest filter in business. The good clients stay. The bad ones self-select out. And you end up making more money with fewer headaches. That's not a loss. That's a renovation.
If you're running a business north of $500K with clients who've been paying the same rate for more than a year, I'll bet you're leaving at least 10-15% on the table right now. My diagnostic finds pricing leaks the same way it finds stuck cash — by asking the questions nobody else is asking. → Prove me wrong
Nobody is going to tap you on the shoulder and tell you to charge more. Your clients won't. Your accountant won't. Your team won't. Everybody around you benefits from you staying exactly where you are.
So I'm doing it now.
Raise your prices.
— Will
P.S. Pricing is one leak. There are usually three or four more hiding right behind it. Want me to find all of them? Apply here
— Will
P.S. You don't need a $5,000 consultant. You need someone who can tell you in 5 minutes what your accountant hasn't found in 3 years.
(Don’t click here, it’s just a test for our filters, here)
This newsletter may include paid promotions or affiliate links. We may earn compensation if you sign up through them. See our Privacy Policy here.
