Putting prices on your website: when it helps and when it doesn't

Most owners leave prices off for one of two reasons: they think a number will scare people off, or they don't want a competitor reading it and going a pound cheaper. So the page says "contact us for a quote" and they wait for the phone.

Most people who can't find a price don't ring to ask. They ring someone who published one.

Should you put prices on your website? Usually yes. But that doesn't mean a full list.

Why people leave prices off

Three reasons come up, and all three are fair.

The first is that every job is different. A bathroom in a 1930s semi isn't the same job as a bathroom in a new build, so one number on a page feels like a lie. That's a real problem, and most of this post is about getting round it.

The second is competitors. Fair enough, but it matters less than it feels like it does. Anyone who genuinely wants to know what you charge can ring you as a customer and get a quote out of you in ten minutes.

The third is the one nobody says out loud: the worry that your number looks dear next to someone cutting corners. That's worth taking seriously, and it comes down to how you word it.

What actually happens when there's no price anywhere

Picture someone on their phone with three of your competitors open in other tabs. They're not reading your about page. They're working out who to ring first.

With no price anywhere, they do one of two things. They guess, and the guess is usually wrong in one direction or the other, so they either decide you're out of their range or they ring expecting half what you'd charge. Or they move to the tab that told them something.

Then there's the quieter cost. The enquiries you do get haven't been filtered by anything. You spend evenings writing quotes for people who were never going to spend that, and you find out on the doorstep.

A number on the page does some of that sorting for you, before the phone goes.

You don't have to publish a full price list

This is where most people get stuck. They hear "put prices on" as "publish a full list", and for a lot of trades that's impossible. It isn't the only option.

Pick whichever of these fits what you sell:

• A "from" price per job type, so a boiler swap and a full system aren't lumped together.
• A typical range. Most bathrooms land between one figure and another, and saying so is more honest than silence.
• Fixed prices for the things that genuinely are fixed: call-out, annual service, consultation, first appointment.
• A worked example of a job, with what it included and what it came to.
• An hourly or day rate, with a line on what a day actually covers.

My Okus Dental demo site is a fictional private clinic in Old Town Swindon with treatment prices sitting right on the page. A clinic can do that because the common treatments are standard items.

When leaving the number off is the right call

Sometimes a number on the page does more harm than good.

Bespoke work is the clearest case. If the range runs from two grand to forty, the number tells nobody anything. Same with commercial and tender work, where you price per client and the figure depends on what they've asked for. And anything that needs a survey first, because you genuinely don't know until you've been.

Even then, don't leave a blank. Give a minimum project size. Say what it typically costs to get started. Or explain what moves the price: access, materials, spec, how old the building is.

My Ridgeway Stone demo, a fictional firm of stonemasons in Chippenham, does it that way. No price list, but the process is laid out so you can see what you're buying and why it isn't a fixed number.

How to word it so the number doesn't land cold

Four rules keep a published price honest.

Put it next to what's included. A number on its own invites the worst assumption; a number with three bullets under it answers the question properly.

Say what moves it. "Add £x for a second floor" or "more if the old one's boxed in" stops the awkward call later.

Date it, or diary a review. Put "prices correct as of March 2025" on the page and you're not stuck honouring last year's figures.

And don't write "from £90" if you've charged £90 once. People remember the small number and hear the real one as a markup.

That only works if you can change it yourself in two minutes. A price you can't edit is a price you'll leave wrong for two years, so I build sites the owner can update, and the editing options and care plans are on my services page.

I show mine, and here's why

I take my own advice. Page tiers, add-ons, care plans and day rates are all written down on my services page, with no form to fill in first.

The reason is selfish as much as anything. By the time someone emails me, they already know roughly what a site costs, so the first conversation is about what they actually need rather than twenty minutes of me working up to a figure. That's a better call for both of us.

The trade-off is real. Some people read the numbers and I never hear from them. That's fine. It saves them an awkward meeting and saves me an evening writing a quote that was never going to land.

If you want the detail behind those figures, I broke it down in what a small business website actually costs.

If you're not sure which of these fits your trade, tell me what you sell and how much it varies and I'll give you a straight answer on whether a number on the page helps you or hurts you. Takes a couple of minutes to describe, and you're not committing to anything by asking.