Brian Kaskavalciyan explains why undercharging is a hidden tax on contractors. Low prices don't account for overhead, callbacks, and inflation, turning jobs profitable on paper into losses. Raising prices cuts stress and stops the cycle of being busy yet broke.
If you're undercharging jobs, you're basically paying out of your own pocket to keep clients happy. Most contractors think lowering prices is the way to win work, but undercharging is like a hidden tax on your business. Because once you factor in overhead, finance costs, labor callback, and inflation, you're not just making less, you're actually losing money. And the bigger you grow, the worse it gets because now you're scaling losses and grinding harder for for less, which is why so many contractors stay busy, broke, and exhausted thinking they need more leads when really the problem is pricing. The moment you raise your prices to what the job is actually worth, your margins climb, your stress drops, and your business finally starts paying you instead of draining you. And yes, some clients will walk away, but the ones who stay are the ones who value your work, and those are the only ones worth keeping anyway.
