Pricing and quoting for kitchen remodelers: ranges, good-better-best, deposits and the design fee
How to state a price range without losing the lead, structure three tiers a homeowner can choose between, charge for design, set deposits, and how pricing shapes every marketing channel.
The first question every homeowner has is "what will it cost," and most kitchen remodelers refuse to answer it until after a consultation, a measure and a week of drawing. That policy feels careful. In practice it fills the calendar with $12,000 budgets, hides your firm from the people searching for a number, and makes the eventual proposal a surprise. Here is how to price and quote so that marketing gets easier instead of harder.
State a range everywhere
On the website, on the Google profile services list, in the ad copy, in the first text to a lead. "Most of our full kitchen remodels run $48,000 to $95,000. Refacing and refresh projects typically run $14,000 to $30,000."
A range filters. The homeowner with $15,000 and a full-gut wish list reads it and either adjusts her expectation to a refresh or moves on. The homeowner with $70,000 reads it and relaxes, because you are clearly a firm that does her kind of project. Both outcomes save your designer an afternoon.
A range also gets quoted. Google's AI Overview and ChatGPT pull cost sentences from firm websites when someone asks what a remodel costs in your city. If you do not publish one, the assistant quotes a national average from a magazine and names the firms that did publish. The AI search guide explains what gets picked up.
Good, better, best
Present every proposal as three tiers. Not three different kitchens; the same kitchen at three finish levels, so the homeowner is choosing between versions of what she already wants.
- Good: semi-custom cabinets in a stock door style, quartz in the standard colors, standard-height uppers, existing layout, your usual hardware package. The number that gets the project done well.
- Better: the layout change she asked about, taller uppers, a quartz upgrade or a quartzite option, under-cabinet lighting, a better faucet and sink. Usually 20 to 30 percent above Good.
- Best: custom or inset cabinetry, the island she pinned, the appliance package, the lighting plan, the pantry built-in. 50 to 80 percent above Good.
Most homeowners choose Better. That is the point. Without a Best option, Better looks expensive. Without a Good option, the whole proposal looks like a stretch. Put the three on one page with the delta between them explained in one line each.
Charge for design
A free consultation is right; it is the sales call. Design is not the sales call, and giving away 20 hours of drawings to a homeowner who then takes them to a cheaper builder is the most common way a design-build firm loses money.
The usual structure: free 60 to 90 minute in-home consultation ending in a written scope and budget range. Then a design agreement at $1,500 to $5,000 depending on scope, credited against the contract if they build with you. The fee separates the serious from the curious, and homeowners who pay it almost always build. Make this clear in marketing: "Free consultation, then a design agreement credited to your project" is a sentence that filters and reassures at the same time.
Deposits and draws
Cabinet money leaves your account before the cabinets arrive, so the payment schedule has to match. A common structure for a $70,000 project: 10 percent at contract, 40 percent at cabinet order, 25 percent at start of construction, 20 percent at countertop install, 5 percent at final walkthrough. Check your state's limits on deposits for home improvement contracts; several cap the initial deposit or require specific contract language.
Write the schedule into the proposal and explain why each draw lands where it does. Homeowners accept a schedule they understand and resist one that looks arbitrary.
Change orders
Price them before the work, in writing, signed, every time. The firm that absorbs the "small" change to keep things friendly gives away 3 to 6 percent of the project and trains the client to ask for more. A one-page change order form with the description, the price, the schedule impact and a signature line, used from the first change, keeps margin and keeps the relationship clear.
How pricing shapes marketing
Everything in your marketing gets easier when the price is public.
Google Ads: "Kitchen remodels from $48,000" in the headline cuts the junk clicks and lowers your cost per qualified consultation. See the Google Ads guide.
Meta ads: a "what a kitchen costs in [metro]" guide is the strongest lead magnet in the trade, and it only works if you are willing to put numbers in it.
Reviews: ask clients to mention that the final price matched the proposal. "Came in on budget" is the phrase homeowners search for and the one that sets you apart from the trade's reputation.
Referrals: a past client who knows your range refers people who can afford it.
Financing
Offer it, even if most clients do not use it. A financing line on the website and in the proposal keeps the Better tier in reach for a homeowner who was about to drop to Good. Partner with one lender, present it as an option without pushing it, and know the monthly payment on your average project so you can say it in the consultation.
Frequently asked
Will publishing a price range scare off high-end clients? No. High-end clients expect a firm that is comfortable with numbers. What scares them off is a firm that will not say anything until a proposal arrives. If your range starts at $90,000, say so; the people you want will read it as a qualification.
What about a price-per-square-foot number? Avoid it for kitchens. A 180 square foot kitchen with custom cabinets costs more than a 300 square foot one with stock. Give project ranges by scope instead.
How do we handle the homeowner who wants an itemized bid to compare? Give a tiered proposal with a scope description per tier and a short list of what is included. Line-by-line itemization invites the client to shop each line and does not reflect how a design-build firm prices. If they insist, that is usually a sign they will choose on the lowest number, and you can decide whether you want that project.
If you want the pricing page, the tiered proposal template and the ads built around your real ranges, that work is included in the free 14-day trial.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, kitchen remodeling companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor