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How Service Pricing Works

In Flashquotes, pricing is configured directly on each service. You can combine multiple pricing components to create the perfect pricing structure for your business.
Pricing rules let you handle variations like duration, guest count, and event type within a single service—no need to create separate services for each scenario. See Structuring Your Services to learn more.

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Pricing Components

Each service can use any combination of these pricing elements:
The foundation of your pricing:
  • Fixed amount added to every quote
  • Use for setup fees, minimum charges, or equipment costs
  • Can be the entire price for simple flat-rate services
Example: $500 base for photo booth rental
Labor-based pricing:
  • Charged per hour, per staff member
  • Choose how hours are counted: shift hours (full crew shift — packing, unloading, on-site setup, service, and teardown) or service hours (the customer-facing service window only)
  • Both modes exclude travel — bill drive time separately via travel fees
  • Automatically multiplies by hours and staff count
Example: $75/hour per bartender. A 4-hour service with 1 hour packing/unloading and 30 min setup + 30 min teardown bills 6 shift hours ($450) or 4 service hours ($300) per bartender.
Use shift hours to charge for your crew’s full on-the-clock time. Use service hours when you only want to bill the customer-facing portion of the event.
Scale with event size. Choose how the guest rate is applied:
  • Per guest: Flat rate multiplied by guest count. Great for per-person food, favors, or fixed per-head costs.
  • Per guest per hour: Rate multiplied by guest count and event duration. Ideal when consumption or service scales with both attendance and time.
Example (Per guest): $15 per guest for appetizer service — 50 guests = $750Example (Per guest per hour): $3/guest/hr for bar service — 50 guests × 4 hours = $600
Offer volume discounts as guest counts grow. Replaces a flat per-guest rate with rate bands.
  • Set per-guest tiers (e.g. $20/guest for 1–49, $15/guest for 50–99, $12/guest for 100+)
  • Only works with the Per guest mode (not Per guest per hour)
  • Optional minimum hourly guests floor — bill against a minimum guest count for short, low-attendance events
Example: $20/guest under 50, $15/guest at 50+ — a 75-guest event bills $15 × 75 = $1,125
Resource-based pricing. Choose how the resource rate is applied:
  • Per resource: Flat rate multiplied by resource count. Great for setup, delivery, or unit-based equipment fees.
  • Per resource per hour: Rate multiplied by resource count and event duration. Useful for equipment that bills by run-time (machines, generators, espresso bars).
Example (Per resource): $50 per espresso machine — 2 machines = $100Example (Per resource per hour): $25/machine/hr — 2 machines × 4 hours = $200
Charge per individual item your customer selects:
  • Set a unit name (e.g., “churro”, “paleta”, “espresso shot”)
  • Configure a price per unit and optional min/max quantity constraints
  • Customers choose their quantity on the lead intake form
Example: $3 per espresso shot, min 50, max 200 — a customer who enters 75 shots adds $225 to their quote
Protect your profitability:
  • Sets the absolute minimum you’ll accept
  • Overrides calculated price if it’s too low
  • Ensures every booking meets your minimum requirements
Example: $800 minimum for any event

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Pricing Formula

Your service price is calculated as:
The Guest Component depends on the guest pricing mode set on the service:
  • Per guest: Guests × Per Guest Rate
  • Per guest per hour: Guests × Hours × Per Guest Rate
The Resource Component depends on the resource pricing mode:
  • Per resource: Resources × Per Resource Rate
  • Per resource per hour: Resources × Hours × Per Resource Rate
This ensures you’re always paid at least your minimum while allowing flexible pricing based on event specifics.

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Common Pricing Strategies

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Flat Rate Services

Setup: High base price, no hourly or per-guest charges Example:
  • DJ Service: $1,500 base price
  • Covers up to 5 hours
  • Simple, predictable pricing

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Hourly Services

Setup: Low/no base price, strong hourly component Example:
  • Bartending: $100 base + $75/hour per bartender
  • Scales with event duration
  • Fair for both short and long events

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Per-Person Services

Setup: Base price for minimums, per-guest for scaling Example:
  • Catering: $500 base + $25 per guest
  • Covers fixed costs + variable food costs
  • Profitable at any event size

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Per-Person Per-Hour Services

Setup: Per-guest rate that also scales with event duration (use “Per guest per hour” mode on the service) Example:
  • Bar or beverage service: $4/guest/hr
  • 75 guests × 5 hours = $1,500 from the guest component alone
  • Ideal when consumption or service intensity scales with both attendance and time

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Per-Resource Services

Setup: Base price for labor/setup, per-resource for equipment Example:
  • Photo Booth Rental:
    • $200 base (delivery/setup)
    • $150 per booth
    • Scales with equipment count

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Per-Unit Services

Setup: Base price for setup/travel, per-unit for item count the customer selects Example:
  • Balloon Twisting:
    • $150 base (setup/travel)
    • $3 per balloon, min 50, max 300
    • Ideal when consumption doesn’t scale with attendance and you’d rather have the customer order a specific quantity

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Hybrid Pricing

Setup: Combine all elements for sophisticated pricing Example:
  • Full Bar Service:
    • $300 base (equipment/setup)
    • $75/hour per bartender (labor)
    • $12 per guest (supplies)
    • $5 per signature cocktail kit (per unit, min 10)
    • $1,000 minimum

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Setting Your Prices

1

Navigate to Services

Go to Services & items in the sidebar
2

Select or Create Service

Click on an existing service or create a new one
3

Configure Pricing Fields

Set your base price, hourly rates, per-guest pricing, and minimum
4

Test with Sample Quotes

Create test quotes to verify pricing calculations
Pricing rules are evaluated when a service is added to a quote. Later changes to the quote’s guest count, duration, event type, staffing, or resources do not overwrite the price of an existing line item. To apply the updated calculation, re-add the line item and remove the original.

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Pricing Tips

Cover All Costs

Include setup time, travel, supplies, and overhead in your pricing

Use Minimums Wisely

Set minimums that ensure profitability even for small events

Keep It Simple

Don’t use every pricing component unless necessary

Test Your Math

Create sample quotes for different scenarios before going live

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Dynamic Pricing

Adjust prices automatically based on demand, lead time, dates, weekdays, time of day, event type, and location. Open a service, go to Pricing, and switch to the Advanced tab. Standard rates build the price; advanced modifiers adjust it. Each modifier is a percentage. Positive to upcharge, negative to discount. You only add the rows you want to change; anything you don’t configure keeps the base price.
Automatically charge more when resource availability is low for a service — high demand triggers a price uplift, no manual adjustment required.
  • Percentage modifier added to the service price when availability dips
  • Service-aware — references only the resources linked to that service, so demand is measured per service rather than across all your resources
  • Auto-applies on any quote for dates where the linked resources are scarce
Modify the service price based on event lead time — how far out the event is from the booking date. Use it to upcharge rush jobs, charge a premium for far-out reservations that lock up your calendar, or both.
  • Set tiers by days between the booking and the event
  • Short lead time — e.g. +30% within 7 days to cover the cost of rush jobs
  • Long lead time — e.g. +10% beyond 12 months to price in the opportunity cost of holding the date
Charge more for the days that are hardest to staff, or discount the ones you’re trying to fill.
  • Add only the days that need a change. Unlisted days bill at the base price.
  • Matched on the day the service starts at the event location
  • Each day of a multi-day event is priced on its own weekday
Example: +20% on Saturdays, −10% on Tuesdays.
Charge a premium on holidays and specific dates without editing the service every year.
  • Add all holidays at once — pick Add dates → All US federal holidays (the list matches your company’s country), set one percentage, and every missing holiday is added. Change any of them individually afterward.
  • Add a single holiday — search the list for Valentine’s Day, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and more
  • Custom dates — name a one-off date or range (e.g. “Peak season”, Jun 1 – Aug 31) and set its percentage
  • Repeat every year — tick Repeats every year on a custom range and it applies on the same month and day each year
Holidays recalculate their date every year, so Thanksgiving and Memorial Day land correctly without maintenance. If more than one date row covers the event day, all of them apply.Example: +10% on every US federal holiday, plus a “New Year’s Eve” row at +25%.
Charge more for early-morning starts and late-night finishes.
  • Set ranges of clock time at the event location, each with a percentage
  • Both the start and the end are checked — a 12:00 AM to 7:00 AM range catches a 6:00 AM start and a 1:00 AM finish alike
  • Applies once per service day. When both ends match, only the larger adjustment applies, so a late event isn’t charged twice.
Example: +10% from 12:00 AM to 7:00 AM, no change from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM, +10% from 10:00 PM to midnight.
Charge differently for the same service depending on event type — wedding, corporate, festival, and more:
  • Set the price modifier for each event type on a service
  • Bump or discount specific event types
  • Captured from the Event Type form question on your lead intake form
Price the same service differently in each market you operate in.
  • Set a percentage per company location
  • Add rows only for the locations that need a change
  • Applies based on the location assigned to the quote

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How Modifiers Stack

Modifiers compound on the running price rather than adding together. A +10% and a −10% modifier combine to −1%, not 0%. Day-of-week, holiday and date, and time-of-day pricing are evaluated per service day, using the local date and clock at the event location. A Saturday 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM event prices as Saturday, and each day of a multi-day event is priced on its own date.
Dynamic pricing is folded into the line item price on the customer’s quote. Customers see one price per service, not a modifier breakdown.

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Copying Pricing Between Services

Once one service is priced the way you want, reuse it instead of rebuilding it. Every pricing section has its own copy control at the bottom:
  • Start from… appears on an empty section. Choose Starter template for suggested values, or pick another service to copy from.
  • Copy from… appears once the section has settings, or when there’s no starter template.
1

Open the pricing section you want to fill

Go to Services & items → your service → Pricing, then expand the section you want: surge pricing, days-out pricing, day-of-week pricing, holiday and date pricing, time-of-day pricing, event type pricing, or location pricing.
2

Click Start from… or Copy from…

Search for the service you want to copy, then select it.
3

Confirm the replacement

If the section already has settings, you’ll be asked to confirm. Copying replaces that section only. Your other pricing settings stay the same.
Each control copies one category at a time, so you can take holiday pricing from one service and day-of-week pricing from another. Holiday and date copying brings over custom dates and yearly repeats.
Only services that already have settings in that category show up in the list. If a service is missing, configure the category there first.

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Preview Your Pricing

The Quote preview panel on the pricing page shows what a service would cost before you send a real quote. Change the hours, guests, units, distance, date, start time, location, event type, or resource utilization, and the price and its breakdown update as you type.
  • Controls only appear for pricing you’ve actually configured. Add day-of-week or holiday pricing and an event date picker shows up; add time-of-day pricing and a start time stepper appears.
  • The breakdown names every modifier that fired and by how much, like “Day-of-week pricing, on Saturdays, +20%”.
  • Derived staff and resource counts are shown too; click through to edit your staffing rules.
Add-ons have the same preview. Open Services & items → Add-ons → your add-on to see the price for a given quantity, guest count, resource count, hours, and number of days.

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Service Charges

You can also apply automatic service charges (like gratuity or delivery fees) that calculate as a percentage or flat fee on top of your service pricing. Navigate to Settings → Service Charges to configure these additional fees.

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Common Questions

Q: Can I have different prices for different event types? A: Yes — use Event Type Pricing to apply different rates for weddings, corporate events, festivals, and more, all within a single service. See Structuring Your Services for best practices. Q: How do I handle peak season pricing? A: Add a custom date range under Holiday & Date Pricing and tick Repeats every year, so the season prices itself every year. Use Surge Pricing on top of it to react to how booked up you already are. Q: What if my costs vary by location? A: Use Location Pricing to set a percentage per company location. For drive-time costs within a market, configure travel fees instead. Q: Can I charge more for holidays? A: Yes — Holiday & Date Pricing adds every holiday for your country in one step, and each holiday recalculates its date each year. Q: Can I charge more for late-night events? A: Use Time-of-Day Pricing. It checks both the start and the end of the service, so an event that runs past midnight is caught even if it started at a normal hour. Q: Do I have to set this up on every service? A: No — price one service, then use Copy from… on the others. Each category copies separately.

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Next Steps