Instead of guessing or giving way, use four figures worked out in advance: the price to quote, the lowest price clearing your minimum margin, break-even, and the cash floor. With the wording that works at each rung, and what to trade for every baht you concede.
This article covers management-accounting principles for decision support. It is not accounting or legal advice for your specific circumstances. Always use your own figures.
The minute that decides the whole job
The customer calls — "can you do a bit better on the price?"
What happens in most people's heads at that moment is a guess: there is probably still some margin in it, so out comes a round number.
The problem is not that you discount — the problem is that you do not know where on the ladder you are standing while you do it.
If you know in advance that there are four rungs and which one you are on, the answer changes from "can I go lower?" to "I can go ฿X lower, and here is what it has to be traded for."
The four rungs
Same example used across this cluster — fixed costs ฿420,000/month · hours actually sold 416 (⇒ overhead ฿1,009.62/hr). The job: materials ฿38,000 · freight ฿4,000 · 24 on-site hours · no extra labour paid.
| Rung | Figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 🟢 Price to quote (25% target margin) | ฿88,308 | The opening point. Always start here |
| 🟠 Lowest price clearing minimum margin (10%) | ฿73,590 | Company policy line — below it, someone has to approve |
| 🟡 Break-even | ฿66,231 | The job exactly carries its own share of rent and salaries |
| ⛔ Cash floor | ฿42,000 | Below this, real money leaves the business. Refuse |
From the opening price to the cash floor is ฿46,308 — and the entire negotiation happens inside that range.
Which rung you are on, and what to say
🟢 ฿88,308 → ฿73,590 — safe ground
Still within policy margin. You can concede without approval — but never concede for nothing.
Every baht should be traded for one of:
- Faster payment — "I can do ฿4,000 better if you settle within 15 days instead of 60."
- Combining work — "That price works if all three locations go in one visit — I save on freight and travel."
- Flexibility on scheduling — "If I can fit it into next month at my discretion, I can do this."
💡 All three carry a reason the customer can verify — and that is what lets the price go back up next time without damaging the relationship.
🟠 ฿73,590 → ฿66,231 — needs approval
Below policy. Still profitable, but by less than the business decided it wants.
This rung needs a clear rule about who may approve it, and the reason should be recorded — not to catch out the salesperson, but so that at month end you can see how many jobs came down here, and why.
Wording that works: "I'd have to get that approved. Can I ask — is that the exact figure you need, or is there a budget you're working to? Sometimes I can adjust the scope to fit the budget without dropping quality."
🟡 ฿66,231 → ฿42,000 — only in a quiet month
Below break-even but above the cash floor. The job does not carry its full share of fixed cost, but it still brings in surplus cash that helps carry it.
Accept when the schedule is genuinely open and it does not displace full-price work — the full reasoning is in break-even and the cash floor.
Wording that works: "I can do that price for work that goes into this month's schedule, because I happen to have a gap. If it moves to next month it goes back to the original figure." — that sentence does three things at once: gives the price they wanted · gives a true reason · puts an expiry on it from the start.
⛔ Below ฿42,000 — refuse
This is no longer a question of more or less margin. It is spending ฿42,000 on materials and freight and receiving less than that back. The more you work, the more you lose.
Wording that works: "I genuinely can't do that price — it's below what the materials cost me. If that's the budget, can I put together a different option at a lower specification that fits it?" — refuse the price, not the customer.
🔴 Remove scope before you cut price
Whenever the price can be lowered by taking work out, do that first.
| Percentage discount | Removing scope |
|---|---|
| Reads as "the original price had padding" | Reads as "less delivered, less paid" |
| Your unit rate is permanently damaged | Your unit rate is untouched |
| Next time starts from the discounted price | Next time starts from the full price |
| Margin genuinely lost | Margin per unit unchanged |
Things that can genuinely be removed in contracting and installation work: making good · extended warranty · waste removal · the full documentation pack · out-of-hours installation.
🔴 Before matching a competitor, ask one question
"The other supplier quoted ฿55,000" is heard every day, and almost every time the scopes being compared are not the same.
In contracting and installation, large gaps usually come from:
- Material specification (grade, thickness, brand, country of manufacture)
- Warranty length, and what the warranty actually covers
- Whether making good, cleaning and waste removal are included
- Whether freight and on-site labour are included
- Whether documentation, testing and material certificates are included
If the scopes differ, matching the price is choosing to take a loss. And if they really are identical and still below your cash floor — that is work to let go, not work to fight for.
What to do
- Work out the four numbers before you call, not during the call — guessing mid-conversation is where margin goes
- Always open at the price to quote, not at the price you think they will accept
- Trade every baht you concede for something verifiable — faster payment, combined work, scheduling flexibility
- Remove scope before cutting a percentage
- Always attach a reason and an expiry to a special price — a price with no reason attached is simply your new price
- Below the cash floor, refuse — however large the customer
- Count at month end how many jobs went below break-even — if it is all of them, the problem is not your negotiating
The tool for doing this today
Job Costing & Pricing Calculator works out all four rungs for every job from materials, on-site hours and freight:
- Cash floor · break-even · lowest price clearing your minimum margin · the price to quote, all on one row
- A five-step status light 🟢🟠🟡🔴⛔ tells you instantly which rung the customer's number lands on
- Prices are always shown in whole baht — type the figure you see and you are at or above target, rather than missing it to a rounding difference
- A banner frozen to the top of the sheet shows how much of this month's fixed cost no job has picked up — so "is the schedule really open?" is answerable at the moment you are about to reply
- A per-customer sheet to look back at whether the account that negotiates on every job still makes you money
- No macros — Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets all open it
One-time payment of ฿999 — launch price until 31 Dec 2026 (regular price ฿1,490) · includes 7% Thai VAT · full Thai tax invoice available · instant download after payment
ℹ️ The workbook itself is in Thai — sheet names, labels and the in-file manual. The formulas and the logic are language-independent, and the product page shows renders of the real file so you can see exactly what you receive.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1Why four numbers? Is cost and selling price not enough?
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2Should I tell the customer I have a floor?
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3If a customer goes below break-even but stays above the cash floor, should I accept?
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4Is it better to discount by a percentage or to remove scope?
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5The customer says a competitor is much cheaper. Should I match?
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6Can I accept a loss on the first job for a big account with repeat work ahead?
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