Charging For Quotes

phillter

We are a small general contracting company in Boston - family business. Our GC is my father, he takes care of sales, quotes and runs the job sites.

We do not charge for quotes, however, we were recently asked by a prospect if there would be a charge. That got me wondering if there are contractors who do charge for quotes.

I'm guessing charging for quotes, it's unlikely, and putting all the effort into quoting a large project is just part of the business. However, quite a bit of time can go into, say, an addition quote -many hours, site visits, etc.

Does anyone in this forum charge for quotes, or even ask for a deposit which would be returned if the company that quoted was hired for the job?

Curious what other think about this topic. Did some searching of the forum and didn't find anything; hence this post.

Nathan

It can be discussed here but just so you see what has been discussed before... view the following threads:

Why Not Charge for Estimates?

Estimates: Free or charge?

Poll: Do you give free estimates?

Charge for estimating?

Charge for an estimate?

Charging for estimates - agree or disagree

__________________
Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

phillter

Hey, thanks for the quick reply, maybe I would have been more successful locating old post had I used "estimate" instead of "quote" as my search terms - I'll look those over.

Phil

HUDSONVALLEYEXT

Most people would call the guy with a free estimate.

Nathan

yea, that's what I figured. That's what I wanted to give you the links.

__________________
Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot