Quick Answer
A price increase notice is a formal written letter telling a client your rates are changing, by how much, from what date, and why. For mining contractors dealing with Tier-1 clients, an effective notice:
- Gives 30–90 days' written notice, in line with the contract's notice clause.
- States one headline average percentage, not a vague "costs have risen".
- Evidences the cost drivers — EBA/award increases, super, workers' comp, consumables, fuel, equipment.
- Shows what you absorbed internally before passing anything through.
- Attaches a line-by-line revised rate schedule.
- Confirms scope, response times and mobilisation rates are unchanged.
- Goes to the contract owner and procurement, with a follow-up call booked.
Download the free price increase notice template (PDF and editable Word) above, then use the guidance below to time and deliver it.
Why price increase notices are harder in mining
Most contractors don't lose the rate conversation because their numbers are wrong. They lose it because the notice arrives with no evidence, too little warning, and to the wrong person. In mining that's magnified: your client is a Tier-1 miner with a procurement function whose job is to hold supplier cost flat, a locked operating budget, an approved vendor list, and a category manager who has never seen your crews work.
At the same time your cost base moves whether you notify anyone or not — EBA and award increases, superannuation guarantee steps, workers' compensation premium renewals, consumables, fuel, freight into regional Queensland and WA, and the cost of the compliance systems Tier-1 sites now require. Contractors who don't index annually end up needing a 12% correction in one hit, which is almost impossible to get approved. Contractors who index every year with evidence get treated as routine.
The template below is built for that reality: short, evidenced, and written for someone who has to justify approving it to their own manager.
What a price increase notice should include
1. The header and contract reference
Your letterhead, ABN, the client's contract owner and procurement contact, and the exact contract or PO reference the increase applies to. A notice that doesn't name the agreement it's varying is easy for procurement to file and ignore.
2. The effective date and notice period
State the date the new rates apply and how many days' notice that is under the relevant clause. Tier 1s work to budget cycles — 30 days is the minimum, 60–90 days is what gets accepted without escalation.
3. The percentage, and the cost drivers behind it
One headline average percentage, backed by a table of verifiable drivers: EBA or award movement, super guarantee, workers' comp premiums, consumables, fuel and freight, equipment. Externally verifiable numbers turn an argument into a calculation.
4. What you've absorbed
State how much of the input cost movement you carried internally through productivity, scheduling or reduced rework. Contractors who show absorption get a materially easier conversation than those who pass through 100%.
5. The revised rate schedule
Line by line — ordinary hours, overtime, shutdown/night, supervisor, service vehicle, parts margin — with current rate, new rate and change. Procurement will build this into their system, so give them something they can paste in.
6. What is not changing, and what you're adding
Scope, response times, mobilisation rates, insurances and crews stay the same — say so. Then list what improved: digital pre-starts and SWMS in every job pack, same-day labour capture, live cost-to-complete reporting, guaranteed breakdown response.
How to communicate a price increase, step by step
Read the contract before you write anything
Find the notice period, the rise-and-fall or CPI mechanism, and whether increases are permitted mid-term or only at renewal. Some Tier-1 agreements fix rates for the term and only allow an indexed adjustment on the anniversary — issuing a notice outside that window puts you in breach, not in negotiation.
Build the cost evidence pack first
Weight your cost base — labour, super, workers' comp, consumables, fuel, equipment — and calculate the weighted movement since your last increase. Attach sources: the EBA increase, the insurer's renewal notice, supplier price letters. Never lead with 'costs have gone up'.
Decide what you absorb
If your weighted movement is 6.2%, going out at 4.5% and stating you absorbed 1.7% is far stronger than 6.2% with no explanation. It signals you ran the numbers and shared the pain, which is exactly what a category manager needs to justify approving it.
Tell the contract owner before procurement gets the letter
Phone or meet the superintendent or maintenance manager who actually uses your crews first. Give them the reasoning and the performance data. When procurement asks them 'do we need these guys?', you want that conversation already had.
Issue the written notice
Formal letter on letterhead, emailed to both the contract owner and the procurement/category manager, with the rate schedule attached. Reference the clause, state the effective date, and grandfather quotes already accepted.
Follow up within five business days
Book a 20-minute call to walk through the build-up. Most resistance dissolves when someone can see the line items. Silence, on the other hand, gets your notice bounced back with 'not approved this cycle'.
Update your systems on the effective date
Rate cards, quoting templates, work order rates and payroll charge-out all change together. Contractors who forget this quote at the new rate and invoice at the old one for a month — which wipes out most of the increase they just fought for.
Telling a Tier-1 miner: six rules
Talk to procurement in their language
Category managers are measured on total cost of ownership and supply risk, not hourly rate. Frame the increase against rework avoided, downtime prevented, audit evidence supplied and response times met — not against your wage bill.
Never surprise them at invoice time
An unannounced rate on an invoice is a disputed invoice, a payment delay of 30–60 days, and a mark against your vendor record. Written notice before the effective date is non-negotiable on Tier-1 sites.
Expect a counter — plan for it
Common counters: 'phase it over two steps', 'hold mobilisation and travel', 'we'll accept it on shutdown rates only', 'give us a longer term for the increase'. Decide in advance which of these you'll trade and which you won't.
Bring performance data, not sentiment
TRIFR, on-time completion, first-time fix, hours delivered, callouts responded to inside SLA. A contractor who can produce that in a single page is treated as a supplier; one who can't is treated as a rate.
Watch the timing against their budget cycle
Australian miners typically lock operating budgets in the months before 1 July. A notice landing in April or May with a 1 July effective date is far more likely to be approved than one landing in September.
Keep it to one page plus a schedule
Long, defensive letters read as weakness. One page of reasoning, one page of rates, one attachment of evidence.
Sample price increase notice wording
Notice of price adjustment — effective [date]
Dear [Name], thank you for the work [Client] has entrusted to us over the past [period]. Across [contract reference] our crews have delivered [X] jobs and [X,XXX] hours with [X] recordable injuries and [XX]% on-time completion.
This letter provides formal notice that our rates under [contract reference] will be adjusted by an average of [X.X]%, effective [date] — [XX] days from the date of this notice, in line with clause [X.X] of our agreement.
The adjustment reflects verified movement in our cost base since [date of last review]: [EBA wage increase of X.X%], [superannuation guarantee increase], [workers' compensation premium increase of X.X%], and [supplier and freight increases of X.X%]. We have absorbed [X.X]% of this movement through [productivity and scheduling improvements]. The attached schedule sets out the revised rates line by line.
Scope, response times, availability commitments and mobilisation rates are unchanged. Quotes accepted before [date] will be honoured at existing rates.
I'm available to walk through the cost build-up with you and your procurement team at any time. Thank you again for your continued partnership.
Subject: Rate adjustment notice — [Company] / [Contract ref] — effective [date]
Hi [Name], formal notice attached: our rates under [contract ref] increase by an average of [X.X]% from [date], which is [XX] days' notice under clause [X.X]. The drivers are [EBA increase of X.X%] and [insurance premium increase of X.X%]; we've absorbed [X.X]% internally. Scope, response times and mobilisation rates are unchanged, and quotes accepted before [date] are honoured at current rates. Happy to walk your procurement team through the build-up — I can take 20 minutes any time this week.
Winning tenders even after a price increase
Putting your rates up and winning work are not opposites. Tier-1 tenders are scored on safety and compliance, capability, resourcing, schedule certainty and price — and price is rarely more than 30–40% of the weighting. Here's what moves the rest of it.
Bid the true cost, then justify it
Underbidding to win and then chasing variations is the fastest way onto a Tier-1 no-fly list. Price the job at real cost plus a defensible margin and spend the submission proving why that number is the lowest-risk option on the table.
Show your rate build-up
Evaluators reward transparency. A rate table that breaks out base wage, on-costs, allowances, PPE, equipment, supervision and margin lets them see you're not padding — and it makes a competitor's suspiciously low number look like a risk.
Include a clear rise-and-fall mechanism
Offering a defined indexation clause (CPI, WPI or a named EBA schedule, reviewed annually) removes the fear that you'll come back mid-term with a surprise. Predictable beats cheap for anyone managing a multi-year contract.
Compete on total cost, not hourly rate
Quantify what you save them: fewer callbacks, lower rework, faster mobilisation, less downtime per breakdown, no compliance admin on their side. A $6/hr premium is nothing against one avoided day of unplanned downtime.
Lead with compliance evidence
Tier 1s disqualify on documentation long before they compare price. Current insurances, verified competencies and tickets, SWMS/JSA systems, incident reporting, subcontractor management — supplied as evidence, not as claims.
Offer scope options rather than discounts
If the price is above budget, change the scope — reduce crew size, extend the window, adjust response times — instead of dropping the rate. Discounting the rate teaches the client your first number wasn't real.
Common price increase notice mistakes
- Announcing the increase on an invoice instead of in a written notice.
- Giving a percentage with no cost evidence behind it.
- Passing through 100% of cost movement with no absorption shown.
- Sending it to procurement only, and blindsiding the site contact who advocates for you.
- Applying the new rate to work already quoted and accepted.
- Issuing notice mid-budget-cycle, when there is no money left to approve it.
- Apologising for the increase — it invites negotiation before the conversation starts.
- Forgetting to update rate cards and quoting templates, then invoicing at the old rate anyway.
- Ignoring the contract's notice period and rise-and-fall clause entirely.
Know your real cost before you set the rate.
SprintSuite captures labour, parts, travel and compliance against every job — so quoted versus actual is visible before you write the notice, and your new rates flow straight through quoting, work orders and invoicing on the effective date.
Related reading: Free work order template · Mining tenders in Queensland · How to work with Glencore as a contractor.
Price increase notices — FAQs
This article and template are general guidance for Australian contractors, not legal advice. Always check your contract's notice period and rise-and-fall provisions before issuing a price increase notice.
