Price increase letter to customers: templates and examples

Free price increase letter writer and checker

Pick who it's for, add the old and new price and the start date, and tick what's gone up. It writes the email or letter, a subject line, a text message version and replies for customers who push back, and shows what the rise means in money. Then edit the letter and it checks it for the mistakes below. You can also paste a letter you've written yourself and press Check. Everything stays in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Five price increase templates

Change the names, prices and dates, keep the shape. Each one does the same six things: thanks, the exact change and date, one reason, what stays the same, what happens to booked work, and a way to ask questions.

1. Recurring customers (email)

For cleaning, gardening, window rounds, pest control, servicing plans: anyone you visit on a schedule.

Subject: Your fortnightly clean price from 4 January 2027

Hi Amira,

Thank you for having us for the last two years. From 4 January 2027, your fortnightly clean will be £68 a visit (currently £60).

Our costs for materials, fuel and insurance have gone up since our last price review in 2024. This lets us keep the same team and the same standard of work.

Visits before 4 January 2027 stay at £60. If you'd rather not carry on at the new price, just let me know before then: there's nothing to pay beyond the visits already done.

If you have any questions, just reply or call me on 07700 900123.

Thanks,
Lisa
Hale Cleaning

The line about stopping matters. For an ongoing service, the fair way to raise the price is to give enough notice for the customer to leave if they want to, with no penalty (see the law). Most won't, and the ones who stay feel they chose to.

2. Regular customers who book jobs now and then (email)

Subject: Our day rate from 4 January 2027

Hi Sam,

Thanks for using us since 2021. From 4 January 2027, our day rate will be £260 a day (currently £235).

It's the first change to our prices since 2023, and our costs for materials and insurance have gone up since then. This lets us keep the same standard of work and the same guarantee.

Any job already booked, or quoted before 4 January 2027 and still within its quote period, stays at the price we agreed.

If you have any questions, just reply or call me on 07700 900123.

Thanks,
Dave
Hale Building

3. Landlords and letting agents (email)

Subject: Hourly rate from 4 January 2027

Hi Jo,

Thanks for the work you've sent our way since 2023. From 4 January 2027, our hourly rate will be £60 an hour plus VAT (currently £55). Our call-out charge stays at £45.

Our costs for materials and insurance have gone up since our last price review in 2023. This lets us keep same-day emergency cover.

Jobs instructed before 4 January 2027 stay at the current rate. Please update your contractor rate records and let your landlords know if they need to approve the change.

If you have any questions, just reply or call me on 07700 900123.

Thanks,
Dave
Hale Plumbing

Agents often have to get landlord approval for rate changes, so give them more notice than you'd give a homeowner. Six weeks is kind.

4. Commercial accounts (letter)

Dear Ms Patel,

Thank you for your continued business since 2020. From 1 February 2027, our quarterly maintenance visit will be £420 plus VAT (currently £385), in line with the annual review in our service agreement.

Our costs for parts, fuel and insurance have gone up since our last review in February 2025. This lets us keep the same engineer on your account and the same four-hour response time.

Purchase orders raised before 1 February 2027 stay at the current price. Please update your supplier records before then.

If you have any questions, please call me on 07700 900123.

Yours sincerely,
Dave Hale
Hale Mechanical Services

Read the contract first. If it has a review date, a notice period or a formula (for example a rise capped at CPI), follow it and say so. If it's a fixed-price contract with no review clause, the price can't change until it ends.

5. Text message

Hi Amira, from 4 January 2027 your fortnightly clean will be £68 (now £60). Visits before then stay the same. Our costs have gone up; same team, same standard. Any questions, just ask. Lisa

Under 300 characters is two texts at most. Use a text as a nudge after the email or letter, or on its own for customers who only ever text you.

New customers and one-off jobs: no letter needed. Put the new price on new quotes from the day you decide, and update your website.

How much notice to give

For most small service businesses there's no fixed legal notice period. Your own terms, or the customer's contract, come first. If they say nothing, these work:

Timing: a new price from the first working day of January is the most common choice, which means letters out by early December. Don't send it on the same day as an invoice, and don't send it in the middle of a job. If the rise is big for a long-standing customer (over about 20%), think about two steps, half now and half in six months, and give both dates in the same letter.

Quotes, contracts and the law (UK)

• Accepted quotes are fixed. Once a customer accepts a fixed-price quote, that's the price. You can only change it if the contract says how and when (for example a materials clause for long jobs), and then you explain it. Quotes still within their validity period should be honoured at the old price too.
• Ongoing services to homeowners: the Consumer Rights Act 2015 lists, as a term that may be unfair, one that lets a trader raise the price without giving the consumer the right to cancel if the final price is too high. The CMA's guidance says price rises in consumer contracts are more likely to be fair when there's a real reason (costs that actually rose), the customer gets "sufficient and effective advance notice", and they can genuinely leave without penalty. That's why the recurring template offers a free exit.
• Your terms: if your terms let you review prices, say when and how (once a year, with a month's notice, saying the new price and the reason, with the right to cancel). The CMA's example of a term that's "more likely to be fair" is close to that. "We may change our prices at any time" is the kind it calls unlikely to be fair.
• VAT: show homeowners prices including VAT if you're VAT-registered. "Plus VAT" is for business customers.
• Business customers: the contract governs. Read it for a review clause, notice period or index before you write.

This is general information about how price rises usually work, not legal advice. For a large contract or a dispute, ask a solicitor or your trade association's legal helpline.

What never to write

Before and after

The letter most people write first:

Dear Valued Customer,

Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control and the rising cost of everything we have been forced to increase all our prices by 15% with immediate effect! Prices are now £70 plus VAT. We are still the cheapest in town. We hope you understand.

The Management

The one that keeps the customer:

Hi Jo,

Thanks for having us for the last three years. From 4 January 2027, your monthly garden visit will be £84 including VAT (currently £72).

Our costs for fuel, equipment and insurance have gone up since our last review in 2023. This lets us keep the same gardener and the same day each month.

Visits before 4 January stay at £72. If you'd rather not carry on, just let me know before then: there's nothing to pay beyond visits already done.

Any questions, just reply or call me on 07700 900123.

Thanks,
Sam

The first one gets fourteen warnings from the checker (pick "recurring" first): apologising, "beyond our control" and "forced to", "immediate effect", an exclamation mark, a percentage, plus VAT to a homeowner, "cheapest in town", "valued customer", "we hope you understand", only one price, no date, no way to ask questions, nothing about booked visits and no way to stop. The second gives the exact change, one reason, what stays the same and a way out, in under 100 words.

Is your new price high enough?

Before you write, check the new price against what you actually need. A quick sum: what you want to earn in a year, plus your business costs, divided by the days you can really bill.

Business costs means the van, fuel, insurance, tools, phone, software, scheme memberships, accountant, and any staff or subcontractors. Billable days is the honest number after quoting, travel, admin, holidays, bank holidays and sick days: 180 to 220 is common for a sole trader, not 260. If you're booked up weeks ahead and rarely lose a job on price, that's a sign the price is too low. Tax questions: ask your accountant.

Replies when customers push back

Most people say nothing. For the few who reply, hold the price politely. The letter writer above fills these in with your prices.

"That's a lot."

I understand, and I don't put prices up lightly. Our costs have gone up, and the new price lets us keep the same team and the same standard. If it helps, we could come every four weeks instead of every fortnight, which keeps your monthly cost down. Let me know what you'd like to do. Lisa

"Someone else is cheaper."

Thanks for telling me. I can't match every price, but I can promise the same standard you've had from us. If you do decide to go elsewhere, no hard feelings, and we'd be glad to help again. Lisa

"Can you keep me on the old price?"

I'm keeping the new price the same for everyone, but as you've been with us since 2019, I can hold £60 until the end of March, then £68. Lisa

Only if you want to. Make any concession time-limited and say the end date, or it becomes the price for ever.

"I'm cancelling."

Thanks for letting me know, and thank you for having us. I'll take you off the round after your visit on 21 December. If you ever need us again, just get in touch. Lisa

Update everywhere on the same day

• Your website prices page and any "from £..." lines
• Quote and invoice templates (and the quote validity period)
• Booking system, recurring invoices and standing orders or Direct Debit amounts (customers must be told before a Direct Debit amount changes)
• Directory listings: Google Business Profile, Checkatrade, MyBuilder, Bark, Facebook page
• Price lists you've given agents and commercial customers
• A note in your diary to review prices again in a year, so it never builds up for years again

Using ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude

AI is good at taking the apology out of a price-rise letter. Give it the facts and tell it not to add any:

Write a price increase email from my small [trade] business to a [recurring / regular / commercial] customer. UK. Under 150 words.
Old price: [£] New price: [£] Starts: [date]. Reason (true): [what went up]. What stays the same: [ ].
Rules: no apology, no "beyond our control", no percentages or inflation figures, exact prices and date, say work already booked stays at the old price, say they can stop without a penalty if it's a regular service, end with "Any questions, just reply or call me on [number]".
Then write a text message version under 300 characters and calm replies to "that's a lot" and "I'm cancelling".

Then paste the result into the checker.

FAQ