charging for estimate?

macrocarpa

macrocarpa

Branched out member
Location
Midwest
Within the last year or two I have been charging for estimates that require driving over 20 minutes, and those estimates like for condo associations that take more time.

I've generally been charging $30, and then I reimburse it if I get the job.

Just recently I got calls from a homeowner wanting pruning work 45 minutes away, and a near by condo association wanting a list of trees I recommend for a couple planting sites.

In both cases I explained that I charge $30 for such estimates, and in both cases they said "we'll call somebody else".

Now there are 2 ways to look at this. Either I just weeded out 2 cheap customers that aren't really looking for quality and would be hard to work for? Or I just lost 2 potential jobs??????
 
Nah, you weeded out the tire kickers. A 45 min. drive is well worth the gas $, and a townhome assoc. knows about a fee for quotes - what d'ya think their plumber charges just to show up?
You're right for charging for your time, I just started last fall and it's working great. $20 to show up, refundable if work approved. Of the calls that I've gotten I'd say about 30% say "No thanks, I'm too cheap", 10% hand me a twenty(lunch $?), and 60% say "Just do it".
The trick now is to get everyone charging for their valuable time so the tire kickers won't have a choice.
 
Good on Ya! I've been in business for 33 years. I've been charging for them for 14 years. I decided that for the most part, the time is spent educating the client. Therefore it is a consultation, not an estimate. We even tell folks that call that we don't give estimates, but will be happy to provide a consultation. Once we explain the difference they are willing to pay the cost. We charge $75 to homeowners, $150 to condos and another $150 if a detailed written report is involved. All but the report fee is refunded if we are hired. It has worked out well. It lets us know that our clients are commited to the care of their trees from the start. I feel all legitimate tree care companies should consider charging for this time. It will raise the bar. Let's face it. This time is getting charged somewhere in the price breakdown. You are getting the money only if you land the job though. Therefore the clients that hire you are paying the price for those that don't.
 
I wish I could say I charge for estimates, but I do not think I would last long doing that in the Bay Area.

Any other Bay Area tree companies out there charging? Its pretty competitive out here... Id love to get away doing it, though.
 
There's no "getting away with it." It's a matter of assigning a value to your time whether you have a crew on a site whether you're educating a client about management options for their trees.

People tend to discount free advice as being worth what they paid for it. When they pay to become informed, they tend to take the information more seriously, and to utilize it.
 
"getting away with it" was a poor choice of words. I could get away with it. I could also not get the chance to look at as much work, either.

For me, estimating is part of my job, which I do get paid for each month from my salary. I'd love to charge for it, I just think that the market I am in, you will not be looking at much work at all. I know many tree guys down here, and no one I know is charging. I'd rather look at 10 jobs and get 5, rather then look at 5 jobs, get 20 bucks, and maybe land 2 of them.

It does not make sense, for me. Many other service companies do NOT CHARGE for quotes. Take a house painter. I had my house painted this year, and had 3 bids. None of them charged, and I am sure they NEVER charge for that work. I went with the highest bid, just because he had great referrals, and also educated me.

Do roofers charge? Do Building Contractors charge? Do Fence contractors charge? I have used all the above, and no one charged. Also, I dont agree with plumbers charging.... If you call a plumber out, and say you want to get a quote for installing a water softener, they will not charge for that. They will, however, charge for a service call if your toilet gets backed up. I am basing this off the plumber I have used in the past.

What separates the tree industry from other service providers in this area? Why is it that we are special enough to charge or a quote, when most others are not doing this?
 
I'd like to try it as well. There's always next year. I can see it creating a signifigant difference in customer relations.

As a plumber opens the homeowner's eyes to the price of a water heater, we open their eyes to a healthy new way to look at the world they live in. That's got to have value. But I suppose living with a broken water heater isn't that healthy either. Hmm. Some of us have a little or a lot more education than the other trades. Often from schools whose graduates from other disiplines make more than us. Maybe we need that consultant title to charge for consulting.
 
"Why is it that we are special"

because the name of my business ends with "specialists" and my momma told me I was.


Good questions! I also wonder what is best. As of now I am only charging for longer drives then usual, and lengthly estimates/consults.
 
MTC brings up some good points about other providers but here is the rub. They are bidding on known work and they are going to a customer's property for the express purpose of figuring out how much it will cost to do their thing whether it be paint the house, replace the roof or install a fence.


While we do our share of "how much will it cost to do blah" the vast majority of our calls are more along the lines of "tell me what you think should be done and how much will it cost to do that."

So that makes ours an entirely different animal from the building trades.

I think the better analogy using the house trades is this:

The customer who wants a building either comes up with an idea or hires an architect to come up with one, then they hire an engineer or architect to design or approve, a set of blueprints for what they want built.

The customer then calls several contractors and says, "tell me how much to build this..."

In our case, more often than not the client calls us and expects us to envision, design, specify and quote the entire project and do it for nothing.

I've got no problems with giving Mrs Jones a free estimate to take down the decrepit Fagus grandifolia in her front yard.

But if she wants me to look around and tell her what needs to be done I just cannot do that for free.

We have all invested a lot of time and money into our education, whether formal or otherwise. Just as your plumber charges a fixed minimum just to come out we ought not be afraid to do the same.

As already pointed out though, we do recover those costs. Either by charge for the visit directly or building it into our billable rate for those that eventually hire us.

I really wonder how much my customers would be happy to know that x% of their bill is to cover the cost of going to see 10 tire kickers?

When we stopped advertising free estimates we cut our estimating hours by nearly 2/3rds yet our total sales didn't decline.

Something to be said for that I suppose.
 
this subject has come up before. we tend to tread both sides of the equation on this.If a client knows what they want,say for a removal,free estimate.If the caller says something like "we would like to have someone come out and look at our trees" BAM!! consultation.$45 bucks.When folks kick and moan i go, "good bye",(not our type of client)!! But the ones who invite and pay the fee.....we are closing a much higher percentage of those!!
There is always a little fear in charging,it is similar to pulling out your yellow page ads.You tend to think omg i wont have any business......not true!! You may have fewer calls BUT your close Rate Will go up. You will be relying more on referals and regular clients...they already know and like you..
 
I charge $75 for a verbal assessment on a typical residence, $150 written. I don't charge for estimates but I don't go far from home for work either, usually no more than 30 minutes. I reimburse the assessment fee if it turns into significant work.
 
As already said, the difference is "quotes on known work" vs "assessment & advice in order to quote on a recommended solution that is the best out come for them & their tree".

The problem i feel stems from the difference between "tree cutter" vs "arborist".

For the tree cutter who is happy to do whatever the client wants whether it's right or wrong for the tree, whether it's against arb standards, against local laws etc a free quote is fine. It only takes minutes to put a price on a job.

For the arborist, when placed in the same circumstance, either needs to throw their ethics, morals, science, education, qualifications out the window & quote the bad work or...spend 45minutes of their time trying to educate the customer.

Should we have to do that for free time & time again?
Is that just part of the sales process that wins you work?
Or does it all go out the window for the bottom line?
Are they too stubborn to open their mind to a better way than they thought their trees should be cut?

However you want to be doing it, you need to position your business in the marketplace accordingly.

In our tree service business we try very hard to qualify the leads & distinguish consultations from quotes.

The amount of free quote appointments has dropped to around 50% of what was a few years ago while generating the same or more work.

This has saved about 30 man hrs a week + the associated costs of running around.

Paid consultations are at $110 for call out & first 15mins + $20 per 15mins thereafter. It is interesting how quick people take in what you have to say on that basis compared to just a flat fee. That usually results in spending an hour telling them the same thing in five different ways.
 
I do think there is a challenge within what your demographics are.
When I first started my business, I lived in a very high tech community with a lot of educated people. I guess they new the value of knowledge professionalism. I got some advice on charging for estimates, took the leap and went for it. The first call hung up on me, after that, I think maybe 2-5% of my calls ended up in not providing a bid. Most often I was hired on the spot.
HOWEVER, after a few years, I moved (long story) to a way different community. Its rural and farming type of community and if your not our acting like you helping out your neighbor, you might as well not even advertise. I really had to change my ways. For the first summer, got hung up on and even chewed out by callers for the audacity to charge for an estimate and even consultations. If I was getting work, it would not have bothered me, but had I not changed, I would have went under.
Currently for the long distance stuff, I charge for milage and I charge for consults, but around here, I cannot charge for estimates. I guess it's kinda the way things are.

Having written that, I still believe in the concept of charging for estimates/consultations what have you. If you are apprehensive about it, find a month when you normally do really good, and go for it. Commit to the month and stick with it. I think you will find that you won't go back (unless you live in an area such as I live and described).
 
I think the decision to charge or not charge is indeed related to one's regional "culture", and also to the type of tree service one is running, for instance, how large it is, and what services it specializes in. I continue to happily offer free estimates, and I continue to enjoy offering a potential client the experience of meeting with me about their trees, if I can say that without sounding completely obnoxious. I kind of like the challenge of it, and I like seeing new situations. I guess I like selling, but I like it on my own terms. For instance I will adjust the amount of work to be done to fit it into a budget, but I will not simply lower the price because they are price shopping.

Usually when I arrive I simply try to get them talking about why they are searching for an arborist, which trees they are concerned about, and we go over those. I will give a verbal opinion on the tree, things to think about regarding it, etc, but not a quote. After that I may point out other trees or issues they hadn't mentioned. Then, depending on the interaction, I either ask them if they want me to send them an estimate (via email), or I ask them to contact me if they are interested in one down the road.

During the conversation we have both sized each other up, and generally I know if its a good fit or not, and thus how much effort I subsequently put into a written estimate/job description.
 
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