The Service Pricing Ladder

A two-page fillable PDF that moves a service price off the clock and onto a rung you can defend.

Most service prices are set by what the seller can say out loud without flinching. That number measures the seller's nerve. The buyer cannot see any of that, reads the figure as a claim about value, and a low price is a low claim.

This is the instrument that replaces it. Six decisions in the order they have to be made, a ladder of six pricing structures with the risk that moves at each rung, and a worksheet you type straight into.

WHAT'S INSIDE

The six decisions — the unit, the purchase, the ceiling, the rung, the standard, the exclusions. Each one with the trap underneath it, because "my time" is an input and "high quality" cannot be enforced, so it cannot be sold.

The ladder — hourly through to a share of the result, with the risk that transfers at each step. The gap between two rungs is what you charge for carrying the thing the buyer used to carry.

The six tests — unit, ceiling, risk, enforceability, scope, and the flinch test. Say the number out loud. If you add a sentence without being asked, it is probably right.

A worked example — one finished fee structure with a holdback, a written remedy and an exclusions list, and a note on what each of them costs the seller.

Instrument No. 02 of The Assignment, published Monday 5 October 2026. A new task every Monday.