Pricing · 8 min read

When and how to put your scaffolding prices up

Most scaffolders leave a price rise too late. Wages, fuel, insurance and steel all creep up every year, but rates on the quote form sit still until margin has quietly evaporated. By the time it's obvious, the increase needed feels too big to put through in one go.

Raising prices well is mostly about timing, sizing and communication, get those right and almost no one leaves.

When to raise your prices

• Annually, on a fixed date. Many firms move rates every April alongside NI and minimum wage changes, so it reads as routine rather than reactive.
• When your cost per gang day moves. If wages, fuel or insurance have jumped, your rate card should follow within the same quarter, not a year later.
• When you're consistently booked out. A full diary for 6–8 weeks ahead is a demand signal, not just a scheduling problem.
• When margins on repeat clients have drifted below new-client pricing. Long-standing contractors often end up on old rates by accident.

Work out your real cost first, see our guide to true cost per gang day , so the increase is based on numbers, not a guess.

How much to put prices up

As a general guide for 2026, most UK scaffolding firms are moving rates by somewhere between 4% and 9% a year, with bigger one-off jumps where a specific cost (fuel, steel, insurance renewal) has spiked. Anything under inflation just bakes in a real-terms pay cut for the business; anything over about 12% in one hit tends to trigger pushback even from loyal clients, unless it's clearly tied to a specific, explainable cost increase.

Giving notice to existing contractors

Give regular contractor clients real notice, 4 to 6 weeks before the new rates apply is standard, longer if they're pricing their own tenders off your numbers. Put it in writing, even if you've already mentioned it on site.

A short letter or email works better than a phone call because it gives a paper trail and lets them absorb it without responding under pressure. A simple structure:

• Thank them for the ongoing work.
• State plainly that rates are increasing from a specific date.
• Give the new rate card or the percentage/£ change.
• Give one or two honest reasons (wages, insurance, fuel, material cost).
• Reaffirm you value the relationship and are happy to talk it through.

A script that works

Example wording for an email to a regular commercial client:

"From 1 April our erect and dismantle rate is moving from £38 to £41 per metre per lift, and our weekly hire rate is moving from 3.5% to 4% of the erect value. This reflects wage and insurance increases over the last 12 months, our first rate change since [date]. All work quoted before 1 April will honour the current rate. Happy to talk through the numbers on your live jobs if useful."

Naming the last time you changed rates does a lot of work, most clients don't realise how long a rate has stood still, and it reframes the increase as overdue rather than opportunistic.

Handling pushback

• "Can you hold the old rate?". Offer a short transition period (one more job, or 4–6 weeks) rather than an indefinite exception.
• "Your competitor is cheaper". Ask what's actually being compared; hire period length, tie patterns and inspection frequency are rarely equal.
• Volume clients threatening to leave, decide your walk-away point in advance. A client only profitable at old rates isn't worth keeping at the cost of everyone else's margin.
• Silence. If no one queries the increase, you probably didn't put it up enough.

Losing the occasional price-sensitive client to a rate rise is normal and rarely a sign you did it wrong. For quotes still in the pipeline, see our guide on following up scaffolding quotes for how to handle price objections generally.

Common questions

Should I raise domestic and commercial rates by the same amount?

Not necessarily, see our guide on domestic vs commercial pricing for why they carry different cost bases; review each separately.

Do I need to honour old rates on live contracts?

Only if a written agreement fixes the rate for a period. Otherwise, apply the new rate to work quoted or started after the effective date and say so clearly in your notice.

What if I've never raised prices before?

Start now with a modest, clearly explained increase rather than waiting for a bigger catch-up later. The longer rates sit still, the larger and more painful the eventual correction.