Options-based quoting presents a customer with several versions of the same job on one quote, usually three tiers called good, better and best, instead of a single fixed figure. For an air-conditioning cleaning business, this means a basic clean, a fuller service and a premium treatment are offered side by side, each with a clear scope and price. The customer chooses a level rather than deciding whether to accept or decline. The sections below cover how the model works, how to build each tier, the Australian rules that apply to quotes and how to track whether it is working.
TL;DR
- Options-based quoting gives the customer three priced service levels for the same job, so the decision shifts from "yes or no" to "which one".
- Each tier needs a defined scope, a total price including GST where applicable, and a plain description of what is and is not included.
- Australian Consumer Law requires prices to be accurate and not misleading, so every displayed price must be one the business is prepared to charge.
- Results are measured through quote acceptance rate, average job value and margin per tier.
- Quoting software that sends options, records acceptance and converts the quote to an invoice reduces the admin involved.
Table of Contents
- What options-based quoting means
- How the three tiers work in practice
- Building each option for an air-con cleaning service
- What each option must include on the quote
- Australian rules that apply to multiple prices
- Advantages of offering choices on one quote
- Creating, sending and following up efficiently
- What to check before adopting quoting software
- Measuring whether the approach works
- Perspective
- Running quotes and bookings from one place
- FAQ
- Sources
What options-based quoting means
A traditional quote gives one price for one defined job. The customer either accepts it, negotiates or goes elsewhere. An options-based quote gives the same customer a short menu. The most common format is good, better, best: three distinct levels of service for the same job, shown together.
For an air-con cleaner, the job is usually a split-system clean, a ducted system clean or a multi-unit property. The options differ in depth of work and in what is added around the core clean, not in the basic purpose of the visit. A customer who wants a clean unit can still get one at the entry price. A customer who wants more protection, or a more thorough process, can see exactly what the extra money covers.
The approach suits the trade for several reasons:
- Most customers compare a quote against a mental budget and one or two other quotes. A set of options keeps the conversation on scope and value rather than on price alone.
- The same visit can serve different households. A rental property manager, an allergy-affected family and a small office all have different priorities.
- The business controls the range of work it is willing to do. Every option on the quote is a job the operator has priced and accepted in advance.
How the three tiers work in practice
The three tiers are not three random prices. They follow a ladder in which each step adds clearly named work or benefits.
| Tier | Typical purpose | What changes from the tier below |
|---|---|---|
| Good | Entry level, routine maintenance clean | Core clean of the indoor unit: filters, front panel, accessible components |
| Better | Most customers, fuller service | Adds deeper work, such as coil and drain attention, and a documented checklist |
| Best | Premium, long-lasting result | Adds extras such as sanitising or protective treatment, and before and after photos |
The exact content of each tier is for the operator to decide. The principle is that the difference between tiers is visible and countable. A customer should be able to read the three columns and say in one sentence what the extra money buys.
The middle option tends to attract the most selections. One Australian trade marketing source notes that customers tend to anchor on the middle "Better" option, which raises average job value without any discounting or pressure. This is a general observation from a trade marketing blog rather than a guarantee, and each business should test it against its own quote history.
Building each option for an air-con cleaning service
Start with the work, not the price
The first step is to list the tasks that make up a full service on each unit type. Then group them. The entry tier holds the tasks that every visit must include. The middle tier adds the tasks that most customers would want if they understood them. The top tier holds the extras that suit customers who want the most thorough result.
A simple test applies to each tier: if the customer chose only this one, would the business be happy to do the job at that price? If the answer is no for any tier, the tier needs to be redesigned before it appears on a quote.
Use a fixed price per unit
Many Australian cleaning businesses quote a fixed price per unit rather than listing labour, travel and materials separately. A fixed price is easier to compare across tiers and avoids a customer questioning individual line items. Prices in the market differ by city, unit type and access, so each operator should calculate its own from time on site, travel, consumables, insurance, software costs and the margin it needs.
A worked example, using illustrative figures only, shows how the ladder can be set out for one split system:
| Tier | Scope summary | Illustrative price (incl. GST) |
|---|---|---|
| Good | Indoor unit clean, filters, front panel | $120 |
| Better | Good plus coil and drain tray clean, checklist record | $170 |
| Best | Better plus sanitising treatment, before and after photos | $230 |
These numbers are examples to show the spacing between tiers, not market prices or recommendations. A gap of roughly 30 to 40 per cent between steps is a common starting point to test, but each business should set spacing from its own costs.
Name the tiers for the customer
Labels such as Standard, Premium and Ultimate are common, but descriptive names often help more: Essential Clean, Full Service Clean, Full Service with Sanitising. The name should tell the customer what the tier is for. Avoid names that suggest the lower tier is inadequate, since the entry option must still be a job the business is proud of.
Keep the number of options at three
Two options reduce the sense of choice. Four or more create comparison work and delay the decision. Three gives a clear low, middle and high, and is simple to explain over the phone and on a mobile screen.
What each option must include on the quote
A tiered quote still has to function as a proper quote. The federal government's business information service lists the elements of a written quote: business name, ABN and contact details, customer details, a description of the service, itemised and total costs (including GST where applicable), variations, payment terms, work dates, an expiry date and customer acceptance.
For a tiered quote, the practical checklist looks like this:
- Business details. Name, ABN, phone and email at the top.
- Customer and site details. Name, address and the number and type of units.
- Three option blocks. Each with a name, a bulleted scope, the total price and GST treatment.
- Exclusions. Work that is not covered, such as repairs, gas top-ups or inaccessible units, stated in plain words.
- Payment terms. Deposit if any, when payment is due and accepted payment methods.
- Proposed dates and expiry. A validity period after which the prices are no longer held.
- Acceptance. A clear way for the customer to select one option and confirm.
The same source notes that quoting helps set clear expectations and lower legal risk, and that an accepted quote becomes a legally binding contract. For this reason, the scope in each tier should be specific enough that nobody can later dispute what was agreed.
Australian rules that apply to multiple prices
Showing several prices on one quote raises questions under Australian Consumer Law. The ACCC's guidance for business covers price representations, and the points below are drawn from it and from the business.gov.au summary.
Every displayed price must be real. Under the rules summarised by business.gov.au, if multiple prices are displayed for the same service, the business must charge the lowest price or withdraw the service from sale. A tiered quote is different from this situation, because the tiers describe different scopes of work and not the same service at different prices. The tiers must therefore differ in substance. A "best" option that includes the same work as "good" at a higher price is a risk.
Show the total price. The ACCC's advertising guidance covers component pricing: where a partial price is promoted, the total price, including GST and mandatory fees, must be displayed at least as prominently. For air-con cleaning, this means call-out fees, travel charges or add-ons should be included in each option's headline figure and not added later.
Keep comparisons genuine. The ACCC advertising and selling guide advises that any "was/now" style comparison must reflect a higher price that was actually offered for a reasonable period. A tier presented as "normally $230, now $170" needs that history to be true.
These are general points and not legal advice. A business with a specific question about its quote wording, terms or warranties can contact the ACCC or its state consumer affairs office, or speak to a solicitor.
Advantages of offering choices on one quote
The main benefits reported for the approach are practical:
- Higher average job value. When customers choose among tiers and many pick the middle one, the average value per accepted quote can rise without changing the base price.
- Fewer price-only comparisons. A customer comparing three scopes within one business is less likely to compare a single figure against another company's different scope.
- Clearer expectations. Each option is a written list, which reduces misunderstandings at the door.
- A faster decision. The customer is choosing, not deciding whether to keep searching.
- Better fit for different customers. A property manager with a budget and a family with a health concern can both find a suitable option.
The approach also asks something of the operator: the tiers must be designed, written and kept consistent across quotes. This is largely a one-time job, and it is simplified when the tiers are saved as templates. The related topic of bundling services into packages covers how to structure these offers for repeat use.
Creating, sending and following up efficiently
For a sole trader or small team, the time cost of a quote is the main barrier. A quote built by hand in a word processor after a day on the tools tends to go out late, and late quotes are accepted less often. A repeatable process reduces this.
- Save the tiers as templates for each unit type, so a quote is built by selecting units and quantities.
- Send the quote the same day by email or text link, in a format that opens easily on a phone.
- Let the customer accept online. Selecting an option and confirming in one step shortens the time from quote to booking.
- Follow up on a schedule. A short reminder after a few days, and another before the quote expires, recovers a share of quotes that would otherwise lapse. The guide to quote follow-up for air-con cleaning businesses sets out a simple sequence.
- Convert the accepted quote to an invoice without retyping. The process, including the 28-day GST rule, is described in the article on converting quotes to invoices.
Quote quality also depends on who is asking. A business that attracts better-fitting enquiries spends less time quoting jobs that will not proceed, a topic covered in finding quality clients.
What to check before adopting quoting software
Software can handle the template, sending, acceptance and follow-up steps, but the features differ between products. Before committing, an operator can work through these questions:
- Can a single quote show more than one option, with the customer selecting one?
- Does the quote carry the ABN, GST treatment and expiry date that Australian quotes need?
- Can an accepted quote become a booking and then an invoice without re-entry?
- Does it work on a phone, since much of the quoting happens on site?
- How are payments handled, and what are the fees? Subscription and per-transaction costs both affect margin.
- Are automated reminders available for unaccepted quotes and for repeat service?
- Can the tool be tried at low or no cost before a paid plan is needed?
The cost comparison matters for small operators. A breakdown of flat monthly pricing against booking-fee pricing shows how the break-even point depends on monthly booking volume. Operators comparing wider categories can also read about field service apps for small and mid-sized businesses.
Measuring whether the approach works
Options-based quoting should be treated as a test, with numbers recorded before and after the change. Four measures cover most of what matters.
| Measure | How to calculate | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Quote acceptance rate | Accepted quotes divided by quotes sent | Whether the presentation converts |
| Tier mix | Share of accepted quotes at good, better and best | Whether the spacing and scopes are right |
| Average job value | Total accepted revenue divided by accepted quotes | Whether choices lift revenue |
| Margin per tier | Price minus time, travel and materials, per tier | Whether the top tiers are worth selling |
A reasonable approach is to record at least a month or two of results before changing anything, then adjust one variable at a time: a tier's scope, its price or its name. If nearly every customer chooses the entry tier, the gap to the next step may be too wide or the extra value unclear. If nearly every customer chooses the top tier, the entry price may be too low or the premium price too modest. If acceptance rates fall after the change, the quote may be too long or the options too similar.
Margin matters as much as volume. A premium tier that takes twice the time for a 30 per cent higher price lowers the hourly return. Tracking time per job by tier gives an honest view.
Perspective
We built MyAirCare from experience of running an air-con cleaning business, and the same pattern appears repeatedly: operators lose jobs not on price but on delay and on unclear scope. A quote that goes out the same day, shows what is included and lets the customer choose a level tends to be the quote that gets answered.
Our view is that options should be simple. Three tiers, written in plain words, with a total price and a clear difference between each, are enough for nearly every residential job. The administrative side should not take longer than the work itself, which is why we place quotes, bookings, invoices, payments and reminders in one system rather than across separate tools.
Operators who run under their own brand also need the quote to look like their own business. A branded booking page, service terms the operator sets and online acceptance support that, without franchise royalties or a fixed template from a head office.
Lewis
Running quotes and bookings from one place
MyAirCare is a booking and management platform for Australian air-con cleaners. It brings together online scheduling, quote and invoice generation, automated reminders, customer records, Stripe payments, branded booking pages and a mobile app for job tracking and on-site payment. A free plan is available at $0 per month, supported by booking fees, and MyAirCare Pro is $199 per month. An AI phone agent add-on is $29 per month. Current plan details are on the MyAirCare pricing page.
New operators who also need equipment, training and setup can review the full range on the MyAirCare site.
FAQ
What is good, better, best quoting?
Good, better, best quoting presents three service levels for the same job on one quote. Each level has its own scope and total price, and the customer selects one. It replaces a single take-it-or-leave-it figure with a choice.
Is it legal to show several prices on one quote in Australia?
Yes, when each option is a genuinely different scope of work and every price shown is one the business will charge. Prices must include GST and mandatory fees in the headline figure, and any comparison with a previous price must be genuine, as set out in ACCC guidance. A solicitor or the ACCC can advise on specific wording.
How many options should a quote have?
Three is the usual number. It gives a clear low, middle and high without making the comparison hard. Two options limit choice, and four or more can slow the decision.
What must a written quote include?
The business name, ABN and contact details, customer details, a service description, itemised and total costs including GST where applicable, payment terms, work dates, an expiry date and a way for the customer to accept. These elements are listed on business.gov.au.
How can an operator tell if the approach is working?
By comparing quote acceptance rate, average job value, the split of accepted quotes by tier and margin per tier before and after the change. Results should be reviewed over several weeks, with one adjustment made at a time.
Sources
- Prepare quotes, business.gov.au
- Advertising and selling guide, ACCC (July 2021)
- Tradie Marketing Secret #8: Good, Better, Best Quoting