How to know your competitors' numbers
You'll never see their spreadsheets, but you can build a surprisingly accurate picture of where the rest of the market is pricing.
You will never get to look at a competitor's spreadsheet. That's fine. You don't need their spreadsheet — you need a working picture of where they tend to land. That picture gets built one quote at a time, from a handful of honest sources.
1. Ask the client. When you lose, ask politely: "Do you mind sharing where we came in compared to who you went with?" Most won't tell you. Some will. Even a rough "you were about 15% high" is gold. When you win, ask the same question in reverse: "Were there other bids? How did we compare?" Clients are surprisingly open once the decision is made.
2. Log every data point. Build a simple record: project type, your total, who you lost or won against, and whatever number the client shared. After 20–30 quotes you'll start seeing the spread — who's consistently below you, who's consistently above, and roughly by how much.
3. Talk to the GCs and designers. The general contractors, kitchen designers, and project managers you work with see every bid that crosses their desk. They won't hand you exact numbers, but they will tell you things like "you're usually a bit higher than X but cleaner on scope" or "Y is always the cheapest, but they miss deadlines." That context is worth more than a single price point.
4. Trade-swap quietly. Other shop owners are not your enemy. Find one or two you trust — usually shops in a slightly different niche or geography — and compare notes occasionally. A 10-minute conversation about how each of you priced a similar kitchen will teach you more than a year of guessing.
5. Read the room on showrooms and websites. Door styles, finishes, showroom location, and the type of work on a competitor's site tell you where they sit in the market. A shop with a glossy downtown showroom is not pricing the same as a two-man garage operation, and you shouldn't benchmark yourself against the wrong one.
Over time these signals add up to a real range — and once you know the range, your own pricing decisions stop feeling like guesses. You'll know when you're leaving money on the table, when you're inside the comparable band, and when you're priced out. That's the whole game.