Free Estimates

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patrick

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With the price of gas and people trying to be frugile, any ideas on how to cut down on free estimates.I have a plumber friend who will not do free estimates,he will give them a ballpark fiqure over the phone, he tells the customer if you really want me to come out, its a service fee,if I do the work the fee is deducted from the total cost.It seems to work for him.I have went out on estimates and its taken hours,driving there and back,unavoidable small talk with the customer,looking at the job,next thing you know an hour an a half goes by.The day goes by so quickley its tough to find time.If its a big job I have less of a problem with this.Are free estimates a good or bad idea?I have wasted a lot hours of not getting paid,some jobs I did,some I didn't.I just wanted some input on this,I realize some contractors do give free estimates and some don't.
 
Re: Free Estimates

I regret having "Free Estimates" on my cards/ads...thankfully, I target ONE town ~ the town I live in. Ads placed in "out of town" papers do NOT say "Free Estimates".
 
Re: Free Estimates

A rough estimate on phone sure free.At job site maybe.Depends if this is a major remodel or long term GC and is it on the way to another job.Would i give an estimate on adding say a ceiling fan or a flood light,yes over phone first then if they say yes go see the job and if your wrong by much then let them out of it free if your more than 10 % more.Use your best judgement case by case.If they sound like there shopping for price then tell them its a trip charge but if they say yes then deduct it.
 
Re: Free Estimates

I agree with all of the above. I use to do the free estimates but no more because of the reasons listed. I give the customers a HIGH ball park figure and tell them my hourly rate and i will bill them the hours i work plus the material needed I try to throw in a sales pitch on what my company has to offer (reliable service, warrenties, i'm on time). So far this has atracted the good customers that want it done right and know the game of contracting, sales and what it takes to do business.I also charge if i need a trip to the supply house (I tell them B.C. i don't load my truck to the ground with supplies my overhead is lower and that gives the customer a lower rate. Chances are that when i come to their house i will have the correct items for the job.) I do quote bigger jobs like monday i have to go out and see how much it will be for a 200A service plus the other needs this home investor needs to rehab a home so far he just listed a heat pump unit. This job is 15 miles from home. so no biggy. I hope this helps.
 
Re: Free Estimates

I get a few calls a week wanting a free estimate on a nothing job. Change some outlets, fix a 3 way they tried installing, cutting in 1 can, a light doesn't work, etc. I give them a price off the top of my head but leave it pending us seeing the job (if we go to do it). Small unknown things problems I tell the customer it's a min. charge of $xx to come out to look at it. If it's something simple we may be able to fix it for that price.

Some still insist you come out for free & I say no. It's also the same people that want you to come out on a weekend for an estimate and want the work done that day if they like your price.

For the small jobs the drive time and figuring out what's wrong can be most of the job. You already have so much involved then they want to play games. Like say another EC was 1/2 that. Or your here now so how bout I just pay you this.

Some people have no intention of using you. They may want you to solve the problem. Or use a written quote for real estate negotiations.

I would not charge for GC bids, bigger jobs, or established customers. Not many of my customers would ask for a free estimate. They would just ask you to come out to do it.

Tom
 
Re: Free Estimates

OK. All of this sounds fair. But what if I wanted to have someone come to my house and give an estimate for, let us say, a complete re-wire job. What if I told the person up front that I probably won't be able to do the job (or at least, not the whole job) right away. What would be a fair price to pay for getting the estimate?
 
Re: Free Estimates

Originally posted by charlie b:
What would be a fair price to pay for getting the estimate?
Click to expand...
How does $150 sound...that price will be taken off the final payment of the job ~ should you decide to hire us.
 
Re: Free Estimates

I'm also starting to re-think my policy on free estimates. Lately I've been doing too many of them that haven't turned into jobs.

But it's a tough call. If you don't offer free estimates, I imagine the phone will ring a lot less, which is a real problem if you aren't a well-established EC who has plenty of calls coming in without having to advertise. I do mostly project work, rather than service calls, and people generally want to know the price in advance, rather than be surprised by a big T&M invoice at the end. And most people aren't going to be too keen on the idea of paying for estimates. I've also found that it's very difficult to do a good estimate over the phone. I've had people describe what they wanted done and say how easy it should be, but when I get on site I find that the actual situation is quite different (i.e., much more difficult), primarily because the homeowner didn't know the first thing about the constraints of the NEC.

I'm toying with the idea of free estimates only for people who ultimately hire me. I know other ECs in my area do things that way. Doing a free estimate for a potentially big job is one thing, but it's usually not worth it to do a free onsite estimate for a job that's only going to bill a few hundred dollars.
 
Re: Free Estimates

Here is what we do:

Secretary takes the call and the customer wants an estimate. She then forwards the call to the next tech in line to take the call. We then evaluate what the customer wants. We give a "ballpark" estimate based on a sheet we made "not flat rate standard". 220v/20amp circuit with level 1 access and available space in the panel $xxx.xxx. We ask a series of questions? Slab house, raised house, fuse panel, breaker panel, etc. We then offer to come to the home to give a more accurate estimate for a "trip charge" which will be refunded if we do the job.
We also explain to the customer that the quote over the phone is only an estimate based upon their information given at a time.

We have a policy system in place so that a customer cant say "Well XXX told me it will not be more than $xxx.xxx on the phone"

Lost calls, not at all, It actually saves us money by weeding out those who are only price shopping. Have yall checked the price of Gas lately and how much it cost to run a service van?

We find the system that we made to be very effective with limiting the time we spend on "Ghost" calls.
 
Re: Free Estimates

I had a home appraisal done the other day.
Cost $250 and he was there less than a 1/2 hour.
Had a TV repairman come out. He charged a $40 trip charge and $40 to give me an estimate on how much it would cost to repair the tv so it was $80 wether I decided to have the set repaired or not.
I don't know why we feel that we have to come out and give free estimates. Our time ought to be worth something. I was thinking why not charge a trip charge to come out but the estimate is free. If we were charging for an estimate it would be a lot more than a $40 trip charge.

[ June 22, 2005, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: aline ]
 
Re: Free Estimates

I charge $20 for an estimate and you get the money back if you use me to do the work. If you look in the yellow pages though about 3/4 of the EC adds say Free Estimate. So my $20 bids usually gets laughed at, but somedays Im to busy to drive around and give out free prices. A big thing here has been to advertise "one hour or its free". Im not sure exactly what they give you for free but if you look in the Dallas yellow pages there are about 5 adds with that slogan. One even says 59 minutes or its free.

[ June 22, 2005, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: GG ]
 
Re: Free Estimates

aline....Home appraisal $250 for less than 1/2 hour....sounds like a good parttime job! Must of been a drive-by....
Tv repairman...As I understand it...do mostly warranty work! If I purchase a tv for less than $500, the factory warranty is all I use...when it fails, I trash it! Service warranty is a must on those wide screens and plasma's...
Free Estimates....been there...done that! I do mostly repair work (small jobs)! An estimate over the phone is free, a visit to the job site is not! Flat rate to come out is $45...this includes a written estimate good for 15 days...
never do the job that same day (unless it is an emergency)
A warranty can be purchased on about everything!!
bought an electric tooth brush the other day for $11.95 (on sale) salesperson offered a warranty for $6.25 for 1 year,$9.50 for 2 years, and $11.75 for 3 years....factory warranty was 90 days...can you guess which one I chose? wildman
 
Re: Free Estimates

I'm sure on the appraisal there is more to it than what I saw. They most likely have to take the information and put all together and submit it to the bank. I still feel that if it costs $250, which I here is on the low side, for a home appraisal we should at least be charging something for an estimate. As far as the TV I had repaired it was a widescreen that I Paid $3500 for and the waranty had run out. All total it cost me about $400 to have it repaired.
 
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Who ever came out with the idea of free estimates anyway?If you like working for free,you'll like free estimates!!I agree the only free estimate I'll give is over the phone.
 
Re: Free Estimates

never do the job that same day (unless it is an emergency)

Wildman, (or anybody else)

Why do you say this?
BTW, this is my first post and I love this forum for (re)learning the business

Mike
 
Re: Free Estimates

Unless it's new construction or a major remodel, I don't give free estimates except over the phone. On the phone we give a ball park figure and tell the customer if they want an exact quote we will come out for a trip charge that will be deducted from the final price if they choose us.
 
Re: Free Estimates

The key words are "part-time" and "emergency"!
How many times have you traveled to a job and the customer said "How much will you charge me to do this job and I need it done ASAP(as soon as possible)" With me...about 99% of the time!!
If the customer considers this an "emergency", then I will adjust my busy schedule and take care of the job ASAP...The customer feels special and usually doesn't mind paying what I
estimate! Since this is "part-time" work for me,
I can have a more personal relationship with my customer.....take the time to explain what gfci's
and afci's are, how they work, why they are required, and how to test them with that little button...(once a month..according to manufacturer) The customer has just received a fair price, quality work with a warranty, and a
lesson on safety! The customer is happy and will gladly tell their friends!
 
Re: Free Estimates

By the way....the answer to my previous post question....I chose the 90 day warranty...If that electric toothbrush fails after 90 days, I have an old "manual" one available! The salesperson at the store said a lot of people purchase the one or two year warranty! Go figure! wildman
 
Re: Free Estimates

By the way....the answer to my previous post question....I chose the 90 day warranty...If that electric toothbrush fails after 90 days, I have an old "manual" one available! The salesperson at the store said a lot of people purchase the one or two year warranty! Go figure! wildman
 
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