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What to charge

⏱ 40 min7 steps

A price you set years ago can sit there untouched while your costs creep up. In this lesson you'll take one job or product, list what it really costs you, and work out what's left. Then you'll compare what others publish and try a new price on paper. You set the price, and Claude helps with the sums. Bring a rough idea of your costs. Numbers often get muddled partway through. If yours do, the fixes under each step help.

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  1. Start a new chat and pick one thing to price

    Pick one thing you sell often: a furnace tune-up, a box of candles, a monthly bookkeeping package or a one-hour massage. This sets the rules for the sums before you give Claude any numbers.

    drafts and sorts; a person approves anything with a price, a date or your name on it. A price is yours to set. Claude does the sums from your numbers, and you check every one.

    This part of the section is words and worksheets only. Use your own round totals for costs. Don't paste bank statements, card numbers or account details into the chat.

    1. Open the or claude.ai and start a new chat.
    2. Copy the prompt below.
    I own a small business, and I want to check what I charge for one thing I sell. You'll help me with the sums in this chat. The rules: you never suggest a price, a rate or a margin I should aim for. Use only numbers I give you. Show every sum line by line, so I can check it on a calculator. If a number is missing, write FILL IN and ask me for it. Never ask me for bank, card or account details. The thing I want to price: [one job, service or product, and how you charge for it now]
    1. Paste it into the chat. Replace the part in square brackets with the thing you picked and how you charge for it, like a gutter clean, by the job or a bookkeeping package, by the month.
    2. Send it.
    prompt What you type to Claude. A good one says what you want, how to work and what never to do. All wordsAI Short for artificial intelligence. Here it means a program like Claude that reads what you write and writes back in plain words. All wordsClaude app Claude on your phone or computer, where you chat with it by typing. claude.ai is the same thing in a web browser. All words

    You should see:

    Claude says it understands the rules, then asks about the thing you picked.

    That's not what I see
    Claude went straight to suggesting a price.
    Ignore it, and reply: Don't suggest prices. Help me with the sums from my numbers only.

  2. Have Claude help you list your costs

    A price has to cover more than the materials. This prompt goes through each kind of cost with you, one at a time, and leaves a blank for any number you don't know yet.

    1. Have your own records nearby: supplier bills, what you pay staff, and a month of .
    2. Copy the prompt below.
    Help me list every cost that goes into one [the thing you picked]. Ask me about one kind of cost at a time: materials or stock, my time and any staff time, travel, fees I pay on each sale, and a fair share of my running costs, like rent, insurance, phone and software. For each one, ask me for my number. If I don't know it, write FILL IN and move on. Don't guess any number. When we're done, show the list with a total, and show the sum.
    1. Paste it into the same chat. Replace the part in square brackets with the thing you picked.
    2. Send it, and answer each question with your own number.
    3. Check the total on the Calculator app or your phone.
    running costs What it costs to keep the business open whatever you sell, like rent, insurance, phone and software. Some people call this overhead. All words

    You should see:

    Claude asks about one kind of cost at a time, then shows a list of your costs with the total and the sum written out.

    That's not what I see
    I don't know what share of my running costs to put on one job.
    Add up a month of running costs from your own records. Divide it by how many jobs or sales you do in a typical month. Give Claude that number, and check the division yourself.
    I don't know what my time is worth.
    Write down what you'd pay someone else to do your part of the work, and use that. It's a starting point, and you can change it later.

  3. Have Claude work out your margin

    Your is what's left of the price after costs, as a percentage of the price. It tells you how much of each sale you keep. Markup is different: it divides by your cost, so on a job that makes money it comes out bigger. This prompt works it out from your numbers and shows the sums.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    My price for one [the thing you picked] is [your price now]. Using only my cost total, work out: what's left after costs, and that as a percentage of my price, not of my cost. That percentage is my margin. Show each sum line by line. If the price includes tax I collect, ask me before you go on. Don't tell me whether the margin is good or bad.
    1. Paste it into the same chat. Replace the parts in square brackets with the thing you picked and your price now.
    2. Send it.
    3. Check each sum on a calculator. Claude's arithmetic can be wrong.
    margin What's left of the price after your costs, written as a percentage of the price. All words

    You should see:

    What's left after costs and your margin as a percentage, with each sum written out line by line.

    That's not what I see
    My margin came out below zero.
    Check the sums on a calculator first. If it's right, you're losing money on each one at that price. Keep going with the next steps before you decide anything.

  4. Look up what others charge

    Published prices show you roughly what customers see when they shop around. Look them up yourself, or have Claude search the web for them. Only use prices a business has put out in public. Never pretend to be a customer to get someone's quote.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    Search the web for prices that businesses near [your town] publish for [the thing you picked]. List only prices a business shows on its own website, its listing or a public price list, with the business name, the price, what the price includes, and the link. Say when you can't find any. Don't estimate or average prices, and don't use prices from articles about what things "usually cost".
    1. Paste it into the same chat. Replace the parts in square brackets with your town and the thing you picked.
    2. Send it.
    3. Click each link and check the price is really there.

    You should see:

    A short list of published prices, each with the business, what's included and a link, or a note that Claude couldn't find any.

    That's not what I see
    Claude answered without looking anything up.
    is built in. If you see a Web search switch under +, turn it on. Then reply: Search the web for this, and give me a link for each thing you found. If it still can't look things up, look up the prices yourself.web search Claude looking things up on the internet during a chat. Its answer comes with links to the pages it used. All words
    Nobody near me publishes prices.
    That's common for trades and custom work. Look farther away, or at businesses that sell online. Ask people you know what they paid. Don't pretend to be a customer to get a quote.
    Claude gave a price without a link.
    Reply: Show me where you found each price, or take it off the list. Then click every link and check the price is really there.

  5. Have Claude put your price next to theirs

    Two prices can cover different amounts of work. This prompt lines them up with what each price includes.

    1. If you found prices yourself, paste each one with its link into the chat first.
    2. Copy the prompt below.
    Make a table with my price and the published prices you found. For each one, show the price and what it includes, as the page says. Mark any where you couldn't tell what's included. Don't rank them, and don't tell me what I should charge.
    1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
    2. Read the table, and note anything you include that they don't.

    You should see:

    A table with your price and the published prices, with what each includes and any you couldn't tell marked.

    That's not what I see
    Their prices include things mine don't, or the other way around.
    Add a line to the table for that, in your own words. If their price leaves out the clean-up or the delivery, you're comparing a lower price for less work.

  6. Try a new price and check the margin

    Now pick a price you're thinking about, and see what it leaves you. Claude does the sums. The price is your call.

    1. Decide on a price to try.
    2. Copy the prompt below.
    If I charged [a price you're thinking about] for one [the thing you picked], what would be left after costs, and what would my margin be? Use my same cost total. Show each sum line by line, and don't tell me which price to pick.
    1. Paste it into the same chat. Replace the parts in square brackets with your price and the thing you picked.
    2. Send it.
    3. Check each sum on a calculator.

    If you decide to raise a price for regular customers, the lesson "The money conversation" has a note you can send them.

    You should see:

    What's left after costs and the margin at the price you gave, with each sum written out line by line.

    That's not what I see
    I want to try a few prices at once.
    Reply with each price on its own line, and ask for the same sums for each one in a table.

  7. Put it on one page as a worksheet

    This prompt turns the steps into a worksheet you can fill in again for anything you sell.

    1. Copy the prompt below.
    Turn what we did into a pricing worksheet I can fill in again for any job or product. Put these sections in order, each with blanks: the thing I'm pricing; each kind of cost, with a line for my number; total cost; my price now; what's left after costs and the margin, with the sums written out; published prices, with where I found them and what they include; a new price to try, with its margin. At the top, write these rules: Use my own numbers. Check every sum on a calculator. I decide the price. Never paste bank, card or account details into AI.
    1. Paste it into the same chat and send it.
    2. Copy the worksheet into a note or a document called Pricing worksheet.

    You should see:

    A worksheet with the rules at the top and a section for each part, with blanks to fill in.

    That's not what I see
    I'd rather have it as a spreadsheet.
    Copy the worksheet's sections into a spreadsheet, one per row, and write the sums yourself. Check each one against your calculator the first time.
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Your challenge

Fill in your worksheet this week for the job or product you sell most, with your real costs. Check every sum on a calculator. Then decide, yourself, whether its price stays where it is.

Last checked 2026-10-21

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