I got a call today from a fella about some tenit houses he has. He was telling me that the lady that lives there is hearing scatching going on at night in the walls and in the floor of the house. At first I thought rats. We get into a disguession about the house and all the other question and answers that I always ask over the phone to get a better idea of the problem at hand. After all that he ask what do you charge. I said 100 service charge which includes set up if he desides to go with my quote. Then I explain to him the every job is different and I could not give a exact number without looking at the house first. He then tells me that he has already talked to 2 other companies and they did not charge a service charge or set up fee and he would give them a try. I told him ok and if he has any problems to just give my a call.

My question is how do these companies stay in business by not charging a service charge and doing a set up for free????

I guess I will give it a week or so and give him a call back and see if he has been able the resoulve the problem.

B, the first part of this sentence is what I'd roll with. This comes up from time to time, not charging for inspections, etc...

The only thing you can do is what you did, unless you want to offer the same and for most folks this means not meeting
their business model needs.

The greater the quantity of calls, the less you have to worry about the percentage that call looking for free...

Just my .02, but do what you need to, don't take what you don't need to and keep on promoting in your market.

Most folks would say that those who don't charge these fees won't be around before long anyway, that may be true, might
not, either way, nothing you can do other than match them and again, that won't help most folks.

Good luck!

Justin

We just lost a job for the same reason. Wanna bet that after a year goes by and the guy still has bats, that we'll be getting another call?

The one of the many things this forum has taught me is charge for your time. I have a potential beaver job next week. They want me to explain to them what I am going to do. I told them okay but, it will cost you $150. They told me no problem. I am not going to travel one hour and discuss a problem with a potential client and then not get the job.

Every other trade offers free estimates,,,,,,,sooooooooooo i am guessing that they may last longer then you?

An estimate is different than set up and service charge.

Yes.....but the final price will be adjusted for it......

Jobs like this are landed by high pressure sale. Addition profit is gained by add ons........

If this is the norm for bdrooks area,,,he will need to adapt on move over......

Pre qualify your customer by charging a service fee/ inspection. If loosing a few jobs from free estimate companies really hurt your business/ company... U should think about getting a second job or changing careers.

Ditto Jordan's opinion. Get paid for your time/expertise!

Ditto

I do some of free estimating depending on the job and the customer but set up will cost.

I have been on those calls or even on the phone when they were asking a lot of questions. After a few questions you can normally tell when they are pumping you for information so that they can do the job themselves and won't need you. That's when I just stop and politely tell them that I'm willing to answer any and all questions but it will cost you a service call.

Get used to dealing with those who want free stuff. If you have to, by all means develop a way to compete with competitors gambling their time and money on a potential sale. I prefer to cherry pick.

And what Muddawg said.

Getting your foot in the door is key to selling a job. If doing a "free" estimate is the way to get an audience with a customer, then so be it. I'll only do free estimates for chunky money work like rat and bat proofing. After an explanation of services and showing my credentials (training, certifications, experience), I sell 90%+ of those jobs. Of course that "free estimate" fee is built into the cost of the job. Those are the only free estimates I do. Everyone else gets told over the phone what my fees will be. That, and a list of questions from my end, pre-qualifies my customers. If I don't like the responses, I'll quickly flick that booger to a competitor.