The Go-Away Price: Quoting a Job You Don't Want

Why this matters

Sometimes a job is one you would rather not take, but you do not want to flatly refuse: maybe it is a referral from a good customer, maybe you are not certain it will be as bad as it looks, maybe outright declining feels harsh. The go-away price is the answer. You quote a number high enough that if they say no you are relieved, and if they say yes the job is worth the pain. Used right, it is an honest filter, not a trick. Used wrong, it damages your reputation. This explains the difference.

What a go-away price is (and is not)

A go-away price is a high but honest number on a job you are reluctant to take. It is not a lie and it is not gouging. It reflects the real risk, hassle, and opportunity cost of a job you would only do if it paid enough to make those worth it. The customer is free to accept or decline. You win either way: a clean no, or a yes that compensates you properly for a difficult job.

It is not quoting an absurd number to a customer you simply dislike for no business reason, or padding a fair job because you feel like it. That is the kind of pricing that gets a shop a bad name. The go-away price is reserved for jobs that genuinely carry extra cost in risk, difficulty, or grief.

When to reach for it

Use the go-away price when a job has a real reason to be unwanted but you do not want to (or cannot easily) decline outright.

• People risk. A customer with a history of disputes, indecision, or non-payment. The premium covers the real chance the job costs you in time and grief.
• Bad fit. Work outside your specialty, far outside your service area, or at a scale that disrupts your other jobs. The premium covers the disruption.
• High risk you cannot fully scope. Old, neglected, or hard-to-access conditions where the unknowns are deep. The premium is your cushion for the overrun you half-expect.
• The reluctant referral. A good customer refers someone you would rather not take. A go-away price lets you honor the referral (you quoted, you did not refuse) without committing to a bad job at a normal rate.

How to set the number

Work up from your real costs, then add for everything that makes this job worse than a normal one.

• Start with your true cost (loaded labor, materials, overhead share) and your normal margin, as you would for any job.
• Add a risk premium for the unknowns, sized to how deep they go.
• Add a hassle premium for the grief: difficult customer, bad access, disruption to your schedule, the stress tax.
• Land on a number that passes the two-way test: if they accept, you are genuinely glad to do it at that price; if they decline, you are genuinely relieved. If a yes would still make you unhappy, your number is too low. Raise it or just decline.

Stay honest about it

The go-away price only works as a tool because it is defensible. Keep it clean.

• Quote it like any other quote: in writing, with scope and exclusions. The high price still has to correspond to real work and real risk.
• Be ready to explain it if asked, in terms of scope, materials, risk, and conditions, not "because I don't want to." A go-away price you cannot justify is just gouging.
• Do not bad-mouth or insult the customer to signal you do not want the job. Let the number do the work, professionally.

Watch the reputation risk

Word travels in local trades, and a customer who feels gouged tells people. Protect yourself.

• Never use it as a substitute for a needed no. If a job is genuinely dangerous, unethical, or beyond your competence, decline it. Do not price-gouge your way out of a job you should simply refuse.
• Be aware it can backfire on referrals. If a good customer's referral gets a wildly high number with no clear reason, it can sour the good customer too. When the reluctance is about fit, sometimes a polite decline plus a referral elsewhere is cleaner than a go-away price.
• Keep it rare. A shop that go-away-prices half its quotes is not filtering, it is just expensive and unfriendly. Reserve it for the genuine exceptions.

When to just say no instead

The go-away price is for "I'd do it if it paid enough." When the honest answer is "I would not do this at any price" (unsafe, unethical, far beyond your skill, or a customer you truly cannot work with), skip the pricing game and decline cleanly. A direct, polite no, ideally with a referral to someone better suited, protects your reputation better than a number designed to be rejected. Know which situation you are in before you quote.

References

• SBA: pricing strategy and customer selection for small businesses
• Trade-standard practice on risk pricing and scope documentation
• See related: Pricing for Risk: The Job That Could Go Sideways
• See related: Walk From a Lowball Customer: A Decision Tree