Who is reading it decides which price goes on it
This is the only genuinely difficult decision in a price list and most templates do not ask it at all.
A member of the public should see the price they will pay. That means including VAT. Showing a consumer an ex-VAT figure means the number on your list is not the number at the till, which is exactly what price marking rules exist to prevent.
A trade customer should see the price excluding VAT. They reclaim it, so the ex-VAT figure is the only one that means anything to them. Quote a builder inc-VAT and your prices look twenty per cent worse than the competitor quoting the other way for identical work, and neither of you is doing anything wrong.
So this page asks who the list is for before it asks for a single price, and converts whatever you type into whatever the reader needs.
Taking VAT off is a division
£120 including VAT at 20% is £100. It is not £96.
Taking 20% off the gross figure gives the wrong answer, because the 20% was worked out on the net amount rather than on the total. It is a small error, it is in your favour on the way up and against you on the way down, and it appears on a surprising number of trade price lists.
Say which basis you used
Nothing forces you to put a line on the document saying whether prices include VAT. You should anyway, and it should be at the top.
One sentence prevents the most common disagreement that happens at a counter, and that disagreement is always about the same twenty per cent. Small print at the bottom does not do the job, because small print gets read after the argument has already started.
Date it
An undated price list is quietly wrong within a year, and the way you find out is somebody producing a printed copy from two years ago and expecting the price on it.
A date is not a legal shield and it does not need to be. It turns that conversation from an argument into a sentence.
Shorter is better, for a reason people miss
Nobody reads past about twenty items. That is the obvious argument for keeping it short and it is not the interesting one.
The interesting one is that a long list puts your expensive work next to your cheap work, and context is most of how a price feels. A balustrade at £180 a metre reads differently on a list where the item above it is £55 an hour than it does on a list of comparable metalwork.
Grouping under headings fixes some of that: it lets somebody find the section they came for without reading the ones they did not, and it makes a price look like part of a range rather than a number standing on its own.
Common questions
Should my price list show VAT or not?
It depends entirely on who is reading it, which is why this page asks that first. A member of the public should see the price they will pay, so consumer prices go on including VAT. A trade customer reclaims the VAT, so the ex-VAT figure is the only one that means anything to them, and showing inc-VAT to trade makes your prices look twenty per cent worse than a competitor quoting the other way for identical work.
How do I take VAT off a price?
You divide, you do not subtract. £120 including VAT at 20% is £100, not £96. Taking 20% off the gross figure gives the wrong answer because the 20% was calculated on the net, not on the total. This tool converts either direction, so you can type prices in whichever way you hold them and show them whichever way the reader needs.
Does a price list need to say which basis it uses?
Nothing forces you to and you should anyway. One line saying "all prices include VAT at 20%" or "all prices exclude VAT" stops the most common disagreement at a counter, always over the same twenty per cent. This tool puts that line above the prices rather than in small print at the bottom, because small print gets read after the argument has started.
Should I date my price list?
Yes. An undated list is quietly out of date within a year, and eventually somebody produces a copy from two years ago and expects the old price. A date is not a legal get-out and it makes that a short conversation rather than a long one.
How many items should be on it?
Fewer than you think. Nobody reads past about twenty, and a long list works against you in a second way: it sits your expensive items next to your cheap ones, which makes the expensive ones look expensive. Grouping under headings helps. Cutting helps more.
What if I do not have a fixed price for something?
Write "on application" rather than leaving the space blank. A blank price reads as an oversight and invites the question. Saying it depends, and briefly why, is a perfectly good answer that also tells somebody the job is not standard.