Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
Good points.
At the end of the day you want a company you trust not only on work quality but pricing as well, where you know you are paying fair price to get the job done.
I understand both points of view. I just hate it when people want to say that a reputable company won't charge for estimates. That is simply not true.
The part of the industry I work in generally involves substantial work in a clients home, so it is nothing as simple as changing a hot water tank or fixing a toilet. So my perspective is skewed a bit.
I just know that most reputable companies I know who do good quality work are starting to charge for estimates/drawings. They also happen to be booked for 3-4 months.
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Yeah, it sounds like CaptainYooh is talking more from the perspective of a large organization. Small business can't afford to have dedicated staff to respond to RFPs. Also, we don't do jobs worth 100s of thousands so there's nowhere to roll that type of overhead into. Like, if the job I'm doing at your house will cost $450 once I have everything I need, where do I charge you for my time to come out there and the fuel it takes to do it? Also, if I spend an hour away with you in the middle of the day, that's an hour later I'm staying at night away from my family to do my other jobs. There's a cost that needs to be directly billed to the person triggering the cost. Charging an onsite measuring/estimating fee is fair and transparent.
My company does some work at people's homes as well. If you have a project that is basic and you've sent me photos and rough dimensions, I can usually give you a price over the phone. If I then need to go to your house, I'll take a 50% deposit on the project first. I can't afford to have me or one of my guys running around all over the city with no guarantee of work or compensation. If I can't get a good read on what it is that you need, I'll charge you an hour to come to your house that you can apply toward the price of the project if it goes ahead. But guess what, I'll pad the job by that hour anyway since I don't think it's fair to expect anyone to work for free.
I can tell you the vast majority of people have no problem with this pricing. The usual response is,
sounds fair.