Take that “free quotes” sticker off the side of your van!!
Ok so we totally get the free quote thing.
We would generally be a bit peeved if we went to get new curtains or a lounge suite or anything else along those lines and someone said to us it would cost us money for them to provide us with that price.
However, considering that pricing for a house project is a heck of a lot more involved than that surely, they are not the same thing nor should they be treated as though they are?
You’re adding value
It has been proven time and time again, that people do not value things that they get for free.
So, in the instance of you not charging a fee for pricing someone’s plans, why should they value all the work you put into that if you are just giving it away?
How would your family feel about that considering they are often the ones missing out while you are slaving away in the wee hours working on a quote?
This fella might be familiar
We once met a guy at a seminar we gave a while back, he looked tired, and he asked me how best to handle a situation where he had spent three weeks of his time pricing up a job for a lady who had come to him.
He presented the price to her, and her first reaction was, "oh, that’s way too expensive, I can’t afford that."
She then went on to ask him what could be done to reduce the cost significantly, and then expected him to work through the changes with her designer to make it happen.
He dutifully did as he was asked, wasting more precious time prior to him being paid a cent.
Even after the changes were made, it was still outside of her budget as her situation had changed, and she asked for more cost-cutting ideas.
Change is afoot
Our opinion was that the pricing exercise should have been outsourced at a cost, or completed in-house at a cost right from the get-go.
The conversation also should have been had that budgetary exercises could have been completed at the early stages to ensure the house could be completed near her budget prior to the design being completed, and the client wasting too much of hers or the builders time.
It is slow, but it is happening!
Guys are starting to remove that ‘Free Quote’ sticker off the side of their vans and are utilising some of the awesome professional services contracts, available via building associations to officially engage clients.
This is enabling the conversation toward being able to charge clients for pricing alongside design prior to signing off on the building contract.
So don’t let that be a segue into feeling like those who offer pricing for free are more competitive.