Customer Comes Back Months Later and Wants the Old Price: What to Say

You get a text on a Tuesday. "Hey, you quoted me on the back deck last spring. I'm ready to move forward. Same number still good?"

Maybe it is. Maybe it is not. Your lumber cost changed, your crew changed, and you honestly forgot half of what you wrote in that quote. Say yes too fast and you can end up working for less than you should. Say no the wrong way and you lose a customer who just did you a favor by coming back.

Here is how to handle it without getting weird.

Quick answer

Do not answer the price in the first message. Say you are glad they came back, then tell them you need to check the old quote against today's costs and you will get back to them within a day. Then actually check. If nothing important changed, honor the number. If costs moved, requote and explain the change in plain words before they have to ask.

First, be glad they called

A customer who comes back after months already picked you. They shopped around, or waited, or got their money together, and they still want you. That is worth a lot more than a cold lead. So the tone of your first reply matters.

Something like this works:

Good to hear from you. Yes I remember the deck. Let me pull up what I sent you and check it against current material prices. I'll text you back tomorrow with where we land.

That is it. You did not agree to anything, you did not push back, and you bought yourself a day to do the math. If you want a bit more detail on the shape of that kind of quick reply, customer said they'd call back covers the other direction, when you are the one waiting.

Look at the old quote before you answer

Pull the actual document. Do not go from memory. Check a few things.

The date and the expiry line. Did your quote say it was good for 30 days? 60? Nothing at all? If you wrote a valid-until date and it passed months ago, you are not on the hook. If you never wrote one, you have no clean excuse and it gets more of a judgment call. This is a good reason to always put one on there. How long a quote should be valid goes through what to write.

What was actually in scope. Customers remember the number and forget the details. Look at what you included. Same size, same material, same access? Often the job in their head has grown a little since last spring.

What changed on your side. Material, fuel, sub rates, your own labour rate. If you did the quote in April and it is now October, some of that has probably moved. If you want a refresher on how to talk about it, material prices went up after the quote has the wording.

Your schedule. Last spring you may have had room and wanted the work. Now you are booked three weeks out and the job is less attractive. That is allowed to change the number too, or at least the start date.

Three honest paths

After you check, you are in one of three spots.

Path one: nothing changed much

Costs are about the same, scope is the same, and you still want the job. Honor it. It costs you almost nothing and it buys a lot of goodwill. People talk about the contractor who stood by his number.

I checked and the number still works. I can start the week of the 4th if that suits you. I'll send the paperwork today.

Then actually send the paperwork the same day. A returning customer who waits three days for a contract starts to wonder.

Path two: costs moved a bit

This is the common one. Lumber is up, say, or your crew rate moved. Do not quietly bump the price and hope they do not notice. Show them.

I checked the old quote against today. Lumber is up about 8 percent since April and my crew rate went up a little. The new number is 7,400 instead of 6,900. I wanted to tell you straight so there are no surprises. If you can go ahead this month I can hold it.

The numbers in that example are made up, use your real ones. What matters is that you give the reason, you give the exact change, and you give them something to do next. A fair customer understands. Prices went up everywhere and they know it.

Path three: the job is basically different now

Maybe they want a bigger deck, or a different material, or the house has had a problem since then. Then it is not the old quote at all. Treat it as a fresh quote and say so kindly.

Sounds like the job is a bit different from what I priced last spring, so let me come take a fresh look and give you a new number. Same level of care, just a number that matches what you actually want built.

Do not feel bad about this one. Honoring a price for a job that no longer exists is not generosity, it is a mistake.

What if they push back

Some people will say, "But you quoted me 6,900." Fine. They did hear that number. Stay calm and put it on the calendar.

You're right, that was the number in April. It was good for 30 days and costs have moved since. I'm happy to look for ways to bring the new one closer, maybe a different material or doing a little of the prep yourself.

Offering a way to trim the scope keeps the door open without you eating the difference. If they just want you to match it for nothing, customer asks for a discount goes through how to hold your number without a fight.

And if they say a price is a price and they will go elsewhere, let them. A customer who needs the six month old number to the dollar is going to haggle on every change order too. You get to choose who you work for.

Why this happens more than you think

People come back late for normal reasons. They saved up. A spouse needed convincing. The insurance claim took forever. They waited for good weather. None of it means they were shopping you or wasting your time.

Which is exactly why the quote you sent in spring is still worth a message in the fall. A short check in on an old quote turns some of these into booked jobs before they ever have to come asking. Re-engaging old quotes has the wording for that.

Protect yourself next time

A few small habits keep this from stinging:

• Put a valid-until date on every quote, in writing, near the price.
• Write the scope in a couple of plain lines so nobody remembers a bigger job than you priced.
• Add a line that material prices can change after the date. Keep it short.
• Keep old quotes somewhere you can find them in under a minute.

If you are also thinking about whether your base rates are still right, how to raise your prices as a contractor is worth a read before the next round of quotes goes out.

A short version

When an old customer comes back wanting the old price, thank them, buy a day, and check the old quote against today. Honor it if little changed. Explain the difference clearly if costs moved. Requote if the job itself changed. Put an expiry date on everything you send from now on.

The part that slips

Those spring quotes sit in your phone and your inbox. Nobody follows up, so half of them go quiet and the other half show up months later when you have forgotten the details. The fix is simple. Check in on every quote while it is still fresh, and again when it is about to expire.

That is what QuoteChaser does. It follows up on every quote that has gone quiet, in your own voice, and pings your phone when a customer writes back, so the people who were going to come back anyway come back sooner.

Join the QuoteChaser waitlist and stop letting good quotes go cold.