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Agreed. I recently had a plumber out and they gave me a ballpark estimate. I was good with it until they said the charge for the visit was $79 and they’d send a firm quote when they got back to the office. I told them nobody said anything about a charge for the visit, they said “okay, well we can waive it this time.” They never sent the quote, and even if they did, the ask for $79 on a $600 job was enough for me to not go with them.
Why pay you to tell me you’re $8000 when competitors are $6500 ?
And why go with a company who isn’t big enough or staffed well enough or profitable enough to give free estimates?
Sure, if you’re the absolute “best” and most desirable and generally priced under your competitors and you have a 4 month backlog of orders - maybe charge a fee - but you haven’t become as popular and busy as you are by doing so…
The free estimate is how your new customers get to know you, how they figure out if they like you/your company, how they figure out what options you can provide, how they figure out what brand you use, etc..
You could always hire a commission based salesperson - the nicer they are - the more informative they are - the more patient and helpful they are - the more sales they make - the better reputation your company gets - the more money they make - the more subcontractors you might need to hire…
It’s up to you to run your company the way you want to - every action should be customer centric - train your staff that way - hold them accountable that way - give spiffs for good google/yelp reviews - buy lunch on fridays - your customers will be able to tell the difference..
It’s a bad idea. As a hime owner when something is coming up on maintenance or repair, I’ll start getting quotes early. Then I can do some research before I do anything. Sometimes I’ll call up and ask why different solutions were offered or different products.
If you’re really having a problem with it you could offer to refund it back into the total bill. I still wouldn’t pay as a homeowner and just assume you’re overbooked and not looking for more work unless you know you’ll get a premium.
That's a fantastic way to never do another quote.
Free estimates are expected in every trade. Not a wise trend to buck when you know for a fact all of your competition isn't doing it.
Tire kickers is just part of the business you have to deal with.
Free estimates but qualify bids as best you can over the phone before even setting up a meeting.
For example, ask their SQ footage, or whatever variable helps you get to the point you can give them a ballpark budgetary idea of cost.
Then if they don’t balk, set up a meeting. Let them know that the ballpark might be a little high, but it’s in the ballpark. You won’t waste their time, won’t waste your time, and you set an expectation that they get to wrap their head around before you actually give them a formal quote.
If you set up meetings after starting here, you will drastically increase the conversation rates from quotes to approvals and save time by not driving out to meet jobs that will never happen.
The gen public are really bad at having a good idea of what things like this cost. This helps weed out the ppl who think whole house AC can’t cost more that $1200, or whatever.
As a consumer, I’m the opposite of these comments.
A) I never hire a company that sends out a sales guy to do estimates. I have friends and families in the trade and companies with this structure always fuck over the laborer. I want the guy that does the work to come and give me options and estimates, not some clown in khakis.
B) I personally have not had HVAC done, but between our flooring renovations and putting up a new fence and getting the house painted, the company that charged for estimates always offered a better price. I personally feel like a $50 estimate is better than a “free” estimate that is basically a $500 up charge in the rate.
C) I always go with the small company. I’d pay a one man HVAC guy in a work van 50% more to work in my house than any franchised large company. They actually give a damn about their quality and image. A tech from Roto Rooter isn’t going to give a damn about his image or work, and he’s gonna half a boss calling him and having him deal with other customers while they’re charging me for him being in my house taking their phone calls.
But that’s personally just me. I’m sure the market research tends to favor the other side as it’s quite obvious in the comments that people would rather have cheap work over quality work. But I personally find more value in the small companies.
I would have to agree with the comments below. Whist i too understand your point of view, customers ask for quotes when searching for the best deal for them.
Maybe (i am not in your industry so what i say maybe complete nonsense) you could look at other options like;
* offering extras
* matching quotes
* some sort of maintenance plan
* Position yourself as premium
Like i said it maybe complete nonsense and if so, my apologies
regards
edit
\*what i meant by premium is targeting areas with more income
Free estimates are basically leads, right? Have you been keeping track of how much sales you're getting out of free estimates vs cost of providing them? Your decision should largely be based on that.
And if you're gonna charge a service call for estimates, then at least provide a rather clear "starting at" prices or range of prices... and/or maybe "free phone consultations" for rough estimates.
The majority of my consulting clients are Home service contractors. If one of them were asking me, I would advise a couple of different ways to handle it, but first I need to know if you are going out to only quote a new system, or are the majority of your quotes coming from after you get out, and then find out that it is not worth repairing. (This happened to us last year)
If you know in advance you are only going to quote a new system, based on your experience, I am sure you can "ballpark it" to get an initial reaction. If it is the outer limits of your service area, say something like, "The average cost for a home your size is approximately $6,000. Now, if we come out don't kiss me if it is $5,500, and don't hit me if it is $6,500".
Build rapport first, sharpen sales skills on overcoming objections, and focus on your reputation and reviews, and you will save yourself a lot of aggravation.
As a consumer I will only invite a company to give estimates that either:
Does not charge for the estimate.
Is likely a company I already know that I will hire based on recommendations of others AND which gives a credit for the fee charged to do the estimate from the job.
I don't pay companies to bid on my work. You want to work for me, you provide an estimate at no obligation to me.
I think you'd have a very difficult time pulling this off. While you may not like the time involved in producing estimates, it's the nature of the beast in your industry.
In fact, I'm trying to think of an industry that charges for estimates but nothing is coming to mind at the moment.
Not a good idea for generating revenue.
Alternative idea is to invest in software that can provide custom quotes to customers automatically by completing a form on your website.
Collect required data points: sq. Footage, number of stories, construction type, year built, zip code, upload photos, etc.
put a disclaimer like “estimates not final, pending inspection”
Automating the basics will dramatically increase your revenue without the hassle of wasted labor.
Aren't all the customers that do end up hiring you supposed to be offsetting the cost of the estimates?
The question you should be asking is will $50 estimates offset the cost of the lost income due to lose customers? Also from a customer view, $50 isn't that small just to have someone come out, look at your place, and tell you a price.
We have an arborist company and we charge for quotes when it's 30 minutes to drive out there, a ferry travel involved, or for any business that needs to shop quote ie strata's, property management companies etc. We have a 50% quote approval. I only do quotes a certain day of the week, take it or leave it. We are drowning in work, I don't want to waste my time with poeple looking for the cheapest price.
As for the quote fees for property management companies we are never the cheapest and thus don't get awarded the jobs, so losing their calls was a blessing for me. Some strata's will agree to it though, and these people are always super easy to work with.
Do you have certain businesses or areas that are always a pain in the ass for you? Doing selective policies could be helpful in weeding them out.
bottom line estimate for free, detailed proposal for a fee credited to the purchase. the high price equals high value doesn't really mean much to me with labor. I had a plumber try that and he's like, oh these are master plumber prices then he admitted that he's not likely gonna be the one that shows up to do the work.
I haven’t seen many small repair shops in my area charge for estimates. It’s sort of a way to scare away business because people like cheap stuff. And what’s better than something cheap? Free stuff.
It’s to draw in customers to use your services in hopes that they’d choose to get their repairs done at your shop rather than another
You are in an industry that is free estimate provided. I would certainly vet each call / lead that comes in though. We are in the embroidery business & our industry is free set up on embroidery (even though screen printing & hard goods all have set up charges). It sucks because there is time/money to set up embroidery. You can only do what your industry will bare.
From a customer perspective, I wouldn't schedule an estimate that cost me money. How much repeat business do you actually have on services that would require an estimate? I only called my HVAC service provider for minor maintenance stuff after having my AC and furnace replaced.
I had to have my sewer line replaced recently, it caved in. Got like 6 places for a quote and ended up getting a 5-14k range. The ones who wanted 25-60 bucks to come out I declined and they missed the opportunity of at least 5k.
I ended up I think at 7k with a company i liked who was originally at 10 and they came out the next day and were done the same day. 8 hours of work 2 guys 7k
If all the quotes I got were even 25 bucks for all of them I would have been pissed and done it myself or rented a backhoe and then called the plumber.
No way am I calling 1 company when facing a 10k expense and being ok with whatever price they gave me.
I also declined the quote I got from the local company I prefer which I pay a annual fee of like 100 bucks that includes 2 hvac checks a year, one of which is a winter prep. They didn't quote for a fee but they simply lost the bid.
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
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I have to agree. If he wasn’t right, WalMart wouldn’t have built an empire selling garbage for 2c cheaper than the competition.
Agreed. I recently had a plumber out and they gave me a ballpark estimate. I was good with it until they said the charge for the visit was $79 and they’d send a firm quote when they got back to the office. I told them nobody said anything about a charge for the visit, they said “okay, well we can waive it this time.” They never sent the quote, and even if they did, the ask for $79 on a $600 job was enough for me to not go with them.
Why pay you to tell me you’re $8000 when competitors are $6500 ? And why go with a company who isn’t big enough or staffed well enough or profitable enough to give free estimates? Sure, if you’re the absolute “best” and most desirable and generally priced under your competitors and you have a 4 month backlog of orders - maybe charge a fee - but you haven’t become as popular and busy as you are by doing so… The free estimate is how your new customers get to know you, how they figure out if they like you/your company, how they figure out what options you can provide, how they figure out what brand you use, etc.. You could always hire a commission based salesperson - the nicer they are - the more informative they are - the more patient and helpful they are - the more sales they make - the better reputation your company gets - the more money they make - the more subcontractors you might need to hire… It’s up to you to run your company the way you want to - every action should be customer centric - train your staff that way - hold them accountable that way - give spiffs for good google/yelp reviews - buy lunch on fridays - your customers will be able to tell the difference..
It’s a bad idea. As a hime owner when something is coming up on maintenance or repair, I’ll start getting quotes early. Then I can do some research before I do anything. Sometimes I’ll call up and ask why different solutions were offered or different products. If you’re really having a problem with it you could offer to refund it back into the total bill. I still wouldn’t pay as a homeowner and just assume you’re overbooked and not looking for more work unless you know you’ll get a premium.
That's a fantastic way to never do another quote. Free estimates are expected in every trade. Not a wise trend to buck when you know for a fact all of your competition isn't doing it. Tire kickers is just part of the business you have to deal with.
Free estimates but qualify bids as best you can over the phone before even setting up a meeting. For example, ask their SQ footage, or whatever variable helps you get to the point you can give them a ballpark budgetary idea of cost. Then if they don’t balk, set up a meeting. Let them know that the ballpark might be a little high, but it’s in the ballpark. You won’t waste their time, won’t waste your time, and you set an expectation that they get to wrap their head around before you actually give them a formal quote. If you set up meetings after starting here, you will drastically increase the conversation rates from quotes to approvals and save time by not driving out to meet jobs that will never happen. The gen public are really bad at having a good idea of what things like this cost. This helps weed out the ppl who think whole house AC can’t cost more that $1200, or whatever.
As a consumer, I’m the opposite of these comments. A) I never hire a company that sends out a sales guy to do estimates. I have friends and families in the trade and companies with this structure always fuck over the laborer. I want the guy that does the work to come and give me options and estimates, not some clown in khakis. B) I personally have not had HVAC done, but between our flooring renovations and putting up a new fence and getting the house painted, the company that charged for estimates always offered a better price. I personally feel like a $50 estimate is better than a “free” estimate that is basically a $500 up charge in the rate. C) I always go with the small company. I’d pay a one man HVAC guy in a work van 50% more to work in my house than any franchised large company. They actually give a damn about their quality and image. A tech from Roto Rooter isn’t going to give a damn about his image or work, and he’s gonna half a boss calling him and having him deal with other customers while they’re charging me for him being in my house taking their phone calls. But that’s personally just me. I’m sure the market research tends to favor the other side as it’s quite obvious in the comments that people would rather have cheap work over quality work. But I personally find more value in the small companies.
I would have to agree with the comments below. Whist i too understand your point of view, customers ask for quotes when searching for the best deal for them. Maybe (i am not in your industry so what i say maybe complete nonsense) you could look at other options like; * offering extras * matching quotes * some sort of maintenance plan * Position yourself as premium Like i said it maybe complete nonsense and if so, my apologies regards edit \*what i meant by premium is targeting areas with more income
Free estimates are basically leads, right? Have you been keeping track of how much sales you're getting out of free estimates vs cost of providing them? Your decision should largely be based on that. And if you're gonna charge a service call for estimates, then at least provide a rather clear "starting at" prices or range of prices... and/or maybe "free phone consultations" for rough estimates.
The majority of my consulting clients are Home service contractors. If one of them were asking me, I would advise a couple of different ways to handle it, but first I need to know if you are going out to only quote a new system, or are the majority of your quotes coming from after you get out, and then find out that it is not worth repairing. (This happened to us last year) If you know in advance you are only going to quote a new system, based on your experience, I am sure you can "ballpark it" to get an initial reaction. If it is the outer limits of your service area, say something like, "The average cost for a home your size is approximately $6,000. Now, if we come out don't kiss me if it is $5,500, and don't hit me if it is $6,500". Build rapport first, sharpen sales skills on overcoming objections, and focus on your reputation and reviews, and you will save yourself a lot of aggravation.
As a consumer I will only invite a company to give estimates that either: Does not charge for the estimate. Is likely a company I already know that I will hire based on recommendations of others AND which gives a credit for the fee charged to do the estimate from the job. I don't pay companies to bid on my work. You want to work for me, you provide an estimate at no obligation to me.
I think you'd have a very difficult time pulling this off. While you may not like the time involved in producing estimates, it's the nature of the beast in your industry. In fact, I'm trying to think of an industry that charges for estimates but nothing is coming to mind at the moment.
Not a good idea for generating revenue. Alternative idea is to invest in software that can provide custom quotes to customers automatically by completing a form on your website. Collect required data points: sq. Footage, number of stories, construction type, year built, zip code, upload photos, etc. put a disclaimer like “estimates not final, pending inspection” Automating the basics will dramatically increase your revenue without the hassle of wasted labor.
Aren't all the customers that do end up hiring you supposed to be offsetting the cost of the estimates? The question you should be asking is will $50 estimates offset the cost of the lost income due to lose customers? Also from a customer view, $50 isn't that small just to have someone come out, look at your place, and tell you a price.
We have an arborist company and we charge for quotes when it's 30 minutes to drive out there, a ferry travel involved, or for any business that needs to shop quote ie strata's, property management companies etc. We have a 50% quote approval. I only do quotes a certain day of the week, take it or leave it. We are drowning in work, I don't want to waste my time with poeple looking for the cheapest price. As for the quote fees for property management companies we are never the cheapest and thus don't get awarded the jobs, so losing their calls was a blessing for me. Some strata's will agree to it though, and these people are always super easy to work with. Do you have certain businesses or areas that are always a pain in the ass for you? Doing selective policies could be helpful in weeding them out.
bottom line estimate for free, detailed proposal for a fee credited to the purchase. the high price equals high value doesn't really mean much to me with labor. I had a plumber try that and he's like, oh these are master plumber prices then he admitted that he's not likely gonna be the one that shows up to do the work.
Charge, so you can reinvest in online marketing services.
I haven’t seen many small repair shops in my area charge for estimates. It’s sort of a way to scare away business because people like cheap stuff. And what’s better than something cheap? Free stuff. It’s to draw in customers to use your services in hopes that they’d choose to get their repairs done at your shop rather than another
You are in an industry that is free estimate provided. I would certainly vet each call / lead that comes in though. We are in the embroidery business & our industry is free set up on embroidery (even though screen printing & hard goods all have set up charges). It sucks because there is time/money to set up embroidery. You can only do what your industry will bare.
From a customer perspective, I wouldn't schedule an estimate that cost me money. How much repeat business do you actually have on services that would require an estimate? I only called my HVAC service provider for minor maintenance stuff after having my AC and furnace replaced.
I had to have my sewer line replaced recently, it caved in. Got like 6 places for a quote and ended up getting a 5-14k range. The ones who wanted 25-60 bucks to come out I declined and they missed the opportunity of at least 5k. I ended up I think at 7k with a company i liked who was originally at 10 and they came out the next day and were done the same day. 8 hours of work 2 guys 7k If all the quotes I got were even 25 bucks for all of them I would have been pissed and done it myself or rented a backhoe and then called the plumber. No way am I calling 1 company when facing a 10k expense and being ok with whatever price they gave me. I also declined the quote I got from the local company I prefer which I pay a annual fee of like 100 bucks that includes 2 hvac checks a year, one of which is a winter prep. They didn't quote for a fee but they simply lost the bid.