Some of you have been visiting our website for years. Between our website, books and classes you’ve discovered how to properly charge for your work, sell your services, work with clients in a positive relationship and protect your business. You know that what you do has value. You respect your time and your knowledge, and expect others to respect it as well.
If that’s you, you might not need this article. If you’re not sure, please keep reading. Should you charge for your time creating an estimate?
If you’ve spent hours or even days doing drawings for and/or estimating a project only to be told that your price is too high, or that “we want to think about it”, you know you wasted valuable time. You probably kicked yourself as you walked out the door, and wished you could kick them as well.
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Too many contractors are afraid to ask to be paid for their time developing an estimate because they’re concerned the potential client will get upset and not want to work with them. They know that other contractors promote “free estimates”, so this must be the industry practice. I’ve got a secret for you: it’s also industry practice for many contractors to be broke and not able to pay their bills. You don’t want to always follow industry practice.
Think about this. The construction industry lost a number of businesses and workers during 2008-2010. They left this business for whatever reason and only a few have returned. There are also fewer young people getting into this industry; many just aren’t interested in learning the trade. There are fewer of us to do the work.
So, if there are fewer contractors, doesn’t it make sense that the home and building owners are having a harder time finding someone to do their jobs? If that’s the case, those who are doing the work are getting stretched thinner and thinner trying to cover their clients’ wishes and demands, especially for “free bids”. If you’ve developed and continually work on a good reputation, you should be able to charge for the service of preparing a firm price quotation to your perspective customers. You’re providing a service and should be paid for it.
Many of your potential clients understand that they need to pay for the services received. If they don’t understand it up front, they’ll understand after you explain why you work by design agreement only. If you don’t know how to prepare or present a design agreement, it’s covered in our book, Profitable Sales, A Contractor’s Guide.
Present yourself as a professional who deserves to be paid for the services you provide. You’ll waste less time, and you’ll also be amazed to watch your sale-to-leads ratio improve. The best part is that you’ll see an improvement in your profitability as well.
The knowledge and experience Michael Stone gained in his 60+ years in construction has helped thousands of contractors improve their businesses and their lives. He is the author of the books Markup & Profit Revisited, Profitable Sales, and Estimating Construction Profitably, and is available for one-on-one consultations.