The guide to renewing at the right price

A renewal isn't a formality — it's the one moment each year when you can reset price to reality without competing for the work all over again. Here's how to use it.

Why renewal is your easiest price increase

Winning a new contract means bidding against everyone else. Renewing an existing one means talking to a client who already trusts you and doesn't want the disruption of switching. A modest, well-justified increase at renewal is the highest-leverage pricing move you have — and the client's alternative (finding, vetting, and onboarding a new cleaner) costs them far more than a few percent.

The four numbers that move — and margin, which follows

The tool compares estimate to actual across the four inputs that decide whether a contract still pays:

• Hours — the quiet one. If you're spending more hours than you bid, you're subsidizing the client. The tool flags the variance so you can see it.
• Labor cost — wages rise over a contract term. If you're paying more per hour than you priced, that's straight off your margin.
• Supplies — consumables and materials creep up with usage and inflation.
• Revenue — what you're actually billing, which may not have moved at all while the three costs above did.

Put together, these tell you your actual margin versus the one you signed up for. The gap is your renewal case, in a single number.

Ask with data, not an apology

Owners under-ask at renewal because it feels like asking for a favor. It isn't — you're correcting a price to match the work being done. When you can show the client that hours ran 14% over estimate and materials rose with their usage, the increase reads as fair bookkeeping, not a grab. Lead with the evidence and the number defends itself.

Two levers make the case cleaner:

• Compete on quality, not a shrinking scope. The temptation at renewal is to quietly drop tasks to hold the old price. Don't. Keep the scope the client actually values and price it properly — a complete, reliable service is worth more to them than a cheaper one that skips things, and it's a far easier renewal conversation than explaining why the work got thinner.
• Name your technology cost. If software (scheduling, time tracking, inspections) is part of how you deliver a dependable service, it's legitimate to carry a small technology fee in the renewal that covers that cost for this client. It frames the increase around the value they receive — verified, on-time, accountable work — rather than around your rising costs.

Do this, not that