Free estimates are not really free. They’re not free to the estimator, and not free to the prospective customer. Even for simple, relatively straightforward work (like mowing yards for example), there is still a small amount of time involved in calculating the price. The customer actually incurs two forms of cost…the amount the company will include in the price for the time it takes to calculate the estimate (they do this even if they don’t intend to) and the price of the tension, the discomfort, which comes from choosing to walk away.
Some estimates should not be free (even though we just learned they’re not). Estimates which involve a diagnosis should come with a price. A diagnosis requires significant skill, training, effort and time. It has real costs behind it. And, if someone is diagnosing your problem, they aren’t working on someone else’s. Chasing down an electrical issue with your car isn’t the same as washing it. One’s a diagnosis, the other an estimate.
And on marketing (Free Estimates!)…if it’s really free, we don’t need to crow about it. At best it’s confusing. And at worst we’re seen as desperate, hanging on to overused, trite market messages because we don’t have something better to proclaim.
And since our thoughtful and generous work is not free, we should not only be transparent about it, we should be proud to charge for it as soon as it begins.