Reasons For Not Giving Free Estimates
- Thread starter Sparky555
- Start date
- Status
weressl
Esteemed Member
Sparky555 said:
You would first need to understand what a staff engineer does, then you would propose a scenario that has to do with reality not a strawmen hypothesis.
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
I can understand not wanting to spend the money on giving out free estimates. What I don't understand is why you would deduct the cost of the estimate from the ultimate bill. It seems like you are back to the free estimates thing.
weressl
Esteemed Member
petersonra said:
Especially since the estimate is part of doing business so it is a tax deductible expense.
weressl
Esteemed Member
satcom said:
So you're saying if I want to build a house I have to pay the Contractor to tell me what is it going to cost?
- Location
- Massachusetts
petersonra said:
It seems like a pretty common technique.
If I go to any of the car dealerships in my area to have them check my trouble codes they will charge about $75 to take the 10 minutes to plug in the diagnostic equipment and check the codes and tell me why the check engine light is on.
If I say 'Thanks for telling me the problem' then drive away and fix it myself they keep the $75. If I have them fix it the $75 is credited. IMO it makes excellent sense.
weressl
Esteemed Member
iwire said:
But the argument has a logical fallacy. If you ask them how much it will be the diagnostic charge, they would charge you nothing.
The approriate example would have been if I call an electrician out to diagnose why my oven does not work, I expect to be charged for the diagnostic work, but woulld not expect to be charged by him to tell me what would it cost to fix the problem.
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
that only means you have increased your expenses, not your profits when you give something for free. the idea has to be that by "giving" something away, you get enough business in return to more than cover the cost of the gift.weressl said:
the free estimates thing seems to work pretty well in some cases, maybe less well in others.
most home remodeling contractors do not charge for estimates, nor do carpet and flooring contractors, at least not around here.
most mechanics have a charge as other posters have mentioned. its usually called a diagnostic fee or something similar, but it really is a charge for the estimate. i personally think the shop supplies charge is the outlandish one.
Last edited:
growler
Senior Member
- Location
- Atlanta,GA
weressl said:
If you call an electrician to diagnose your oven he will check the power at the plug or juntion box ( charge a service call fee ) and tell you to call an appliance repairman.
weressl
Esteemed Member
growler said:
That is appropriate, but if the reason was a faulty breaker he would tell you what it costs to replace it.
weressl said:
MikeHolt.com is probably the most active website in the world for electrical contractors. I'm offering some free advice to the younger contractors on the site to spare them what I went through.
Between emahler, satcom & I there is probably over 50 years experience in ownership of a residential service electrical contracting business. You're not helping.
My point is that there are many professionals that don't do free work, and Staff Engineers don't know very much about residential service electrical contracting.
Dave
weressl
Esteemed Member
Sparky555 said:
It has to do with fair business practices and you are just defending unfair ones. I do have over 35 years of experience with Contracting.
weressl
Esteemed Member
Sparky555 said:
Definition
Profession
A professional is a worker required to possess a large body of knowledge derived from extensive academic study (usually tertiary), with the training almost always formalized. Professionals are at least to a degree self-regulating, in that they control the training and evaluation processes that admit new persons to the field, and in judging whether the work done by their members is up to standard. This differs from other kinds of work where regulation (if considered necessary) is imposed by the state, or where official quality standards are often lacking. Professions have some historical links to guilds in these regards.
Professionals usually have autonomy in the workplace?they are expected to utilize their independent judgement and professional ethics in carrying out their responsibilities.[4] This holds true even if they are employees instead of working on their own. Typically a professional provides a service (in exchange for payment or salary), in accordance with established protocols for licensing, ethics, procedures, standards of service and training / certification.
The above definitions were echoed by economist and sociologist Max Weber, who noted that professions are defined by the power to exclude and control admission to the profession, as well as by the development of a particular vocabulary specific to the occupation, and at least somewhat incomprehensible to outsiders.[citation needed]
Therefore it would be appropriate to state that a 'true' professional must be proficient in all criteria for the field of work they are practising professionally in. Criteria include following:
- The highest academic qualifications - i.e., university college/institute
- Expert and specialised knowledge in field which one is practising professionally
- Excellent manual/practical & literary skills in relation to profession
- High quality work in (examples): creations, products, services, presentations, consultancy, primary/other research, administrative, marketing or other work endeavours
- A high standard of professional ethics, behaviour and work activities while carrying out one's profession (as an employee, self-employed person, career, enterprise, business, company, or partnership/associate/colleague, etc.)
- Also taking into consideration natural & harnessed talents integrated & used with qualifications & when doing work in professional capacity. These talents~skills are just as important in any forms of work be it paid, unpaid, volunteer, domestic jobs or any other work.
Trades
In narrow usage, not all expertise is considered a profession. Although sometimes referred to as professions, such occupations as skilled construction work are more generally thought of as trades or crafts. The completion of an apprenticeship is generally associated with skilled labor or trades such as carpenter, electrician, plumber, bricklayer and other similar occupations. A related (though not always valid) distinction would be that a professional does mainly mental or administrative work, as opposed to engaging in physical work. Many companies include the word professional in their company name to signify the quality of their workmanship or service (e.g., Professional Plastics, Inc. "The Plastics Professionals").
Sparky555 said:
There are many EC's, that don't understand the real cost of doing service work, so do service calls as end of day, or fill work, and have no idea that it is costing them money.
We do a lot of estimates on larger jobs on a will call basis, and no charge, but not on service work, or small jobs.
- Status