How to price phone repairs in your shop
"How much do I charge for this screen?" is one of the questions that costs repair shops the most money — usually because the answer is improvised. If you set your prices by glancing at what the shop down the road charges, you might be working all day and barely making a profit. In this guide you'll learn how to build a price that covers your real costs, pays you for your time and still leaves a margin, without falling into the trap of competing on price alone.
Why pricing right matters more than you think
A repair shop doesn't go under because it has no work. It goes under because it has plenty of work that leaves almost no money. When the price barely covers the part and a tip for your trouble, every busy day is an exhausting day that doesn't move the bank balance. Getting the price right is, quite simply, the difference between a hobby and a business.
And it's not only about margin. A well-built price gives you something hard to win back once you've lost it: trust. The customer who gets a clear, upfront quote — instead of a "let's see how it goes" number — feels they're dealing with a professional. Cheap, vague pricing attracts the customer who'll leave for the next shop the moment they save two euros, and you'll never build a business on that.
The 3 components of every repair price
However complex it looks, the price of any repair breaks down into three pieces. Get these three right and you'll never improvise a figure again:
What the component you fit actually costs you — the screen, the battery, the charging connector. It seems obvious, but most shops only count the purchase price and forget everything that comes attached to it (more on that below). The part is the floor of your price, never the ceiling.
The work of opening, diagnosing, repairing, testing and reassembling the device. This is the piece shops forget most often, and it's the one that hurts most: your hour has a cost, and a repair that takes you forty minutes can't be billed as if it cost you nothing just because the part was cheap.
What's left over once the part and your time are covered — the profit that lets the business grow, absorb the odd warranty claim and pay for tools and overheads. Margin isn't greed; it's what keeps the shutter open next year.
Final price equals part cost plus labour plus margin. Keep these three apart in your head (and in your software) and you'll always know whether a repair pays — or whether you're working for free.
Calculating the REAL cost of the part
This is where the silent leak lives. A part doesn't cost you what the invoice says: it costs you that plus everything you have to add to actually hold it in your hand, ready to fit. Count only the purchase price and your margin is smaller than you think on every single repair.
- Purchase price: what the supplier charges you for the component
- Shipping: split the delivery cost across the parts in each order — it's never zero
- Breakage and waste: parts that arrive faulty, break while fitting or get returned. A percentage of every batch is lost, and that loss has to be priced in
An easy way to handle it: take your real average part cost and apply a small buffer (say, a few percent) to cover shipping and breakage. That way no repair quietly eats into your margin because a screen arrived cracked or the courier bill landed at the end of the month. If your software tracks the real cost of each part, this maths is done for you.
Setting your labour rate
Your time isn't free, and your hour has a price even when nobody's watching the clock. To price labour you need a starting figure: your hourly rate. It should cover not just your time but the fixed costs that run whether you're busy or not — rent, electricity, tools, software, insurance. Add those up, divide by the hours you can realistically bill, and you have a floor for your rate.
From there, apply the rate by difficulty and time, not by the price of the part:
- Quick, standard repairs (a battery on a common model, a simple screen swap) take little time and carry a smaller labour charge.
- Fiddly repairs (full-glue screens, tricky disassembly, water damage) take longer and demand more skill — they're worth more labour.
- Specialist work (micro-soldering, board-level repair) is a different league: scarce skill, real time and risk. It carries the highest labour, regardless of how cheap the component is.
Indicative price ranges per repair
The most common question is "but how much do I charge for a screen?". There's no universal answer, and anyone who hands you a fixed figure is selling you a shortcut that doesn't exist. Prices swing enormously by model, by part quality (original, OEM, compatible), by your area and by your costs. Treat the following only as a way to think about ranges, never as set figures to copy:
It's usually the priciest part and the one that varies most: a screen for an old budget phone and one for a recent flagship can be worlds apart. Part quality changes the cost a lot, and so does fitting difficulty (glued, fragile, OLED). Quote each model on its own — never one flat "screen price".
The component is usually more affordable, but some models are sealed with strong adhesive and take real time and care to open. Don't price the battery purely on the part — factor in how long that particular phone takes to open safely.
On some phones it's a plug-in flex; on others the connector is soldered to the board and the repair is far more involved. The same fault can mean very different labour from one model to the next.
Front camera, rear, lens glass — each is a different repair. The part is often moderate, but access can require a near-full teardown. As always: price it model by model, not by a fixed table.
The lesson behind every range is the same: there are no binding figures. Your price has to come out of your costs and your time, not from a list someone posted online.
Giving the customer a quote
Once you know your numbers, the moment that earns trust (and protects you) is how you present the price. The professional sequence is always the same:
- Diagnose first: check the device before naming a figure, so you don't promise a price that turns out wrong
- Quote upfront: give the price before you start, not when the customer comes to collect
- Be transparent: explain what's included — part, labour, testing — so the number doesn't feel pulled from thin air
- Include the warranty: say clearly what's covered and for how long; a warranty turns price into peace of mind
A customer rarely walks because the price is high. They walk because the price felt arbitrary, or because a "surprise" appeared at pickup. A clear quote up front removes both problems at once.
The most common pricing mistakes
Almost every shop falls into at least one of these. Spotting them is half the fix:
- Not counting your time. Pricing only the part with a little on top, as if the hour at the bench cost nothing. It's the number-one reason for working hard and earning little.
- Racing to the bottom. Matching the cheapest shop in town to "not lose the customer". You win the price-shopper and lose your margin — and the price-shopper leaves anyway at the next discount.
- Forgetting VAT and warranty. Quoting a figure and only later realising tax and the cost of covered claims weren't in it. Both have to live inside the price from the start.
- Never reviewing prices. Setting a price once and leaving it for a year while part and shipping costs climb. A price that was healthy months ago can quietly turn into a loss-maker.
How TekPair helps you price right
TekPair is built for phone repair shops, so pricing isn't an afterthought — it's woven into how you create every quote and repair:
- Fast quotes from templates: pick the repair type and the part, labour and price load in, ready to adjust and hand to the customer in seconds
- Margin per repair: with the real part cost recorded, you see straight away how much each job actually leaves you — no guesswork
- Reports by service: find out which repairs give you the best margin and which barely pay, so you focus on what's worth your time
- Customer history: every past quote and repair on hand, so you price consistently and never re-improvise a figure
- E-invoicing / Verifactu: coming soon, so your invoicing stays in line with the latest requirements without leaving the app
The point isn't to charge more for the sake of it. It's to know, repair by repair, whether your price is doing its job — covering the part, paying for your time and leaving a margin that keeps the shop alive.
TekPair — built for phone repair shops
Fast quotes, margin per repair, reports by service and full customer history. All in one app from €9.90/month.
Start free 15-day trial →Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate the price of a phone repair?
Add up three things: the real cost of the part (purchase plus shipping plus an allowance for breakage and waste), your labour based on how long the repair takes and how difficult it is, and a margin on top. The final price is part cost plus labour plus margin — never just the part marked up a little.
How much should I charge for my labour on a repair?
Set an hourly rate that covers your time and your fixed costs (rent, tools, software, electricity) and apply it according to how long and how tricky each repair is. A quick battery swap and a delicate micro-soldering job should not be billed at the same labour, even if the part is similar in price.
Should I compete on price with other repair shops?
Racing to the lowest price is the fastest way to work more and earn less. Customers also value a clear diagnosis, an upfront quote, quality parts and a warranty. Compete on trust and service rather than on being the cheapest, and protect your margin on every repair.
How often should I review my repair prices?
Review them at least every few months, and whenever part costs move. Supplier prices, shipping and new models change constantly, so a price you set a year ago may now be leaving you no margin. A quick periodic review keeps your prices in line with your real costs.
Want to see how it works in practice? Try TekPair free for 15 days with no credit card.