To Charge or Not to Charge- That is the Estimate Questions

If you are not charging for you estimates, you may be losing money. Time, as we all know, is money. Estimates take time, effort and energy, and guarantee nothing. Charging for estimates may initially make your skin crawl, but it may be something you and your company want to take into consideration after reading on.

How many times have you been personally charged for a consultation with a dentist or an attorney? These are educated professionals who know the value of their time. What about your time?

Pictures this. You get a phone call asking for you to come out and give an estimate or bid. You go to the home, ask questions, scope out the situation and take notes. You return to your office and make calls to your subcontractors and suppliers to get needed information for the estimate.

You may even have to return to the potential customers home with a
subcontractor to finalize any details. Then, you go back and work on the estimate, which you will deliver to the customer. When you deliver this estimate, you will more often than not hear something like, “Thanks. We’ll get back to you after we compare it to the other bids and get back to you.”

They just may never get back to you. So, you just spent hours of your own time, and the time of others, for what? Sometimes for nothing.

Although you may have experienced that, you might still be giving free estimates. After all, it does look great in an ad. But after really thinking about it, do you agree that your time is worth more than, $0/hour? Thought so.

Charging for your estimates does something very valuable for your business. It weeds out those only concerned with price, and instead will attract those who care about the project and the company they are going to work with. You can also change your presentation, as you know that it is not going to revolve around price. You can instead sell yourself, your workers, your company and your product- then the price. Price of course may still be a factor for them, but they have a keen understanding that paying for an estimate means they are getting quality service, not just a meeting with a contractor who is lowballing just to win a job. Simply put, by charging for en estimate, you are telling your potential customers that you are professional that should be compensated for your time. In the long run, customers will appreciate that.

Another way charging for your estimates will help your business is that it will allow you to be more productive with you time. Rather than having a dozen or so projects to bid on, you will have four or five solid one to work on. Your time will be utilized working on worthwhile projects, rather than exhausted without compensation.