Here’s a good post from the Small Business Blog by BizLaunch on how to figure out what prices to quote customers. The original post can be found here.

Small business owners should quote services using ‘good, fast or cheap’ matrix

Afraid to stand up to that pushy customer and risk losing the job,
many entrepreneurs agree to supply their wonderful services for an
unrealistic mix of money, quality and time.

Charging for services can be tricky, especially if you’re running a
one-person show and typically earn by the hour because every customer
wants the job done ‘good, fast and cheap’.

You’ve likely heard this one before.

The customer wants high quality work from you (so they can look good
to their boss) to be completed in a very short time (because they failed
to plan ahead) for very little money (because they failed to establish
adequate budgets).

Next time you’re asked to quote, present the words ‘good, fast and cheap.’ Tell them they can have two.

For example, if your work must be ‘good and fast’, explain to your
customer how you must displace other paying customers, work late into
the night, miss out on family time, skip meals and chain yourself to the
desk. You may be willing to do all that for a premium rate.

If they want it ‘cheap and good’ – guess what? It won’t be done
quickly because you must first attend to other, better paying jobs that
are already scheduled for completion. Lower-paying work is done during
off-peak hours whenever you can get to it and will therefore take longer
to finish.

‘Fast and cheap’ delivers a result that won’t be very good. Without
the customer investment of sufficient production time and adequate
budget, quality will suffer because you must rush. In fact, you may opt
to preserve your good reputation by declining such work, or referring a
colleague who is willing to do it.

You get the idea. Customers will always demand good, fast and cheap together; but, time, money and quality are opposites.

Boost your bucks, reduce your stress and protect your reputation by
taking reasonable control of such customer expectations. Your work is
worth it.