Are you getting paid for your proposals? These smart contractors are…

At our RenoFocus meetings in late November (32 contractors from across the country, in round table sessions) we asked the popular question: Should you charge for quotes?

Here are some of the replies, word for word.  (Names withheld.)

Get them to write you a cheque

“Get them to write you a cheque! It weeds out the tire kickers. We charge a little bit more than $2,500 for ‘project development.’ And why not? If we get push back on that idea, we remind them, they will be your drawings – and you can do with them what you want.”

Helps to avoid the ‘price per square foot’ trap

“We have just started charging for proposals. We got tired of people phoning up and asking us for prices per square foot. So far us telling people we charge for proposals has got rid of a lot of people that we were never going to work with anyway.”

We need to be paid for everything we touch

“Yes we charge for proposals. Just like any business, we need to be paid for everything we touch if it’s a significant amount of work. And doing proposals surely is. Before we started charging for proposals, we were spending SO much time doing quotes. for people we were NEVER going to be hired by anyway! We have found that reassuring the prospective client that once the proposal/drawings are complete, they can use them elsewhere is a convincing argument as to their value.”