What things cost, and what moves the price

The figures in this post are illustrative. They come from the small set of demonstration listings the site was built with, not from a real market survey. Once the directory carries real listings we will rewrite this from them, and say so.

Prices are the thing people most want and least often find. A directory that hides them is wasting your time, and one that publishes a single number is lying, because almost nothing here has a single number.

What a price on a listing means

Every listing shows a starting price, and most show a range. That is the range the provider gave our representative on the day of the visit, for the work described on that page. It is a starting point for a conversation, not a quote.

Across the demonstration data the site is running on, starting prices sit roughly between ₹300 and ₹3,100 depending on the service and what is included. That spread is the point: the bottom of it and the top of it are different services, not better and worse versions of the same one.

Always agree the actual price with the provider before work begins. If what you are quoted is far from what the listing says, tell us — a wrong price is one of the more useful things to report.

What moves a massage price

Four things, in roughly this order.

The treatment. The seeded catalogue on this site distinguishes Ayurvedic, Thai, deep tissue, Swedish, reflexology and head massage, and they are not priced alike. A head massage and a ninety-minute deep tissue session are different amounts of a therapist's time and training.

The length. Sixty minutes against ninety is the single biggest lever, and it is the one most often glossed over when a price is quoted over the phone. Ask which you are being quoted for.

Where it happens. A home visit costs more than the same treatment at a premises, because someone is travelling with equipment and losing the slot either side. Listings that offer it say so.

Extras. Steam and scrub are usually priced separately. A listing page shows what a provider includes, what they charge extra for and what they do not offer at all — read that section before you ring, and you will not be surprised at the end.

What moves a household help price

Hours, and whether they are yours alone. Part-time help who does three houses in a morning and a live-in arrangement are not comparable. The seeded taxonomy separates part-time from live-in for exactly this reason.

What the work is. Cleaning, cooking, child care, elderly care and patient care are different jobs with different going rates, and care work is the one most often underpriced by people who have not employed a carer before.

What is inside the scope. Utensils, laundry and ironing are the three that quietly get added later. Price them in at the start or leave them out on purpose.

Cooking, specifically. A cook who can do the regional food your household actually eats is worth more than a general one, and the listings here record which cuisines a cook offers rather than treating cooking as one skill.

How to compare two quotes properly

Put them side by side on the same basis: same duration, same inclusions, same location, same frequency. Most of the time a quote that looks 30% higher turns out to be for ninety minutes against sixty, or to include the extras the other one bills separately.

Then ask about the things a price never shows — how long someone has been doing this, whether the same person comes each time, what happens when they are unwell.

A note on paying too little

It is possible to hire below the going rate, particularly for domestic work. It tends to end in a few weeks, with a person who leaves without notice and a household that has to start again. Paying the market rate to someone you want to keep is cheaper than replacing them twice.

Once we have real listings in a city, this page will carry real ranges — by service, by area, and by what is actually included. Until then, treat everything above as the shape of the thing rather than the number.