Free quoting of services

This topic is something that I think about all the time. Since I am in an industry that requires quoting to be done on a regular basis to continue gaining work, it is a necessary evil.

Just about all quoting goes about being done for free. This really means that the business owner is spending anywhere from 3 to who knows how many hours working for the possible clients for free on those quotes on the hope that they will win the quote.

I look at it like this. Generally it takes 30 mins or so to drive to a quote and another 30 to drive back. As a general rule I try not to spend anymore than 1 hour in a quote getting measurements and determining what the client is wanting. Then after spending a further 45mins to 1 hour doing the design and then another 15 to 30 mins doing the actual pricing. I figure it works out to 3 to 4 hours for a basic quote, this would mean no outsourced products that have to be faxed off to get prices on as well, or any out of the ordinary items that require special attention to quote on.

Say one would do 3 quotes a week, thats an average of 9 to 12 hours a week on just basic quotes. All of a sudden 1 day a week is spent working for clients that more than likely you will never recoup. 

I have always thought that free quoting should be thrown out the door and customers should be asked to pay a minimum fee of say $100 to get a quote done. If the quote is won then the $100 should be taken off of the price. This would at least allow tradesmen to get paid something for their time and also cover expenses in travel time, and would probably also get people to stick with around 3 quotes instead of some getting up to 10.

I have personally had quotes that have taken nearly a week to price up. Some industries it's quite simple to walk in and quote on the spot EG: curtains, but others like my own (cabinet making) that isn't possible due to the options that people ask for. Same goes for building of houses and architectural work.

More than likely this will never happen and it's probably something that myself being someone that has to do this will just have to live with. But wouldn't it be nice if people realised that tradesmen probably do charge more for their services because of all the down time that they don't actually get paid for.

I guess the main thing to think of is 3 quotes is a good amount to get. Don't jump on the cheapest quote if its way differant to the others as normally it would mean they have missed something and it's gonna hurt when you find out they did, and also be courteous and call the tradesmen to let them know whether they have either won or lost the quote.

Faz out