Hit 15 years as a contractor and only now realizing how many clients ghosted me after giving free estimates

I was looking back at my old job books and saw I did over 200 free estimates in 2023 alone, and probably 60 of those people just vanished without a word after I drove 45 minutes to their house. Anyone else start charging a small fee for quotes and see their serious client rate jump way up?

2 comments

2 Comments

carr.luna5d ago

Oh, that sounds frustrating. But a small fee for quotes often just weeds out the looky-loos, while still being accessible for serious homeowners who actually need the work.

shane1705d ago

Yeah weeding out the looky-loos. My buddy runs a handyman service. He had this one lady call him six times for estimates on a fence. Six times. She'd schedule, he'd drive out, she'd say oh I'll think about it. Finally he just started charging for quotes. Funny thing is the real customers didn't even blink at paying. The time wasters vanished like magic.