Phone estimates vs in person proposal

Different view point. A huge window with multiple panes running up a stairwell to the customer is one window. It is more like 3 or 4 to you and I or anyone doing the work of cleaning it. So lets let that rest.
I do free onsite quotes and am lucky enough to live in an area where I don’t have to drive too far to do it. Two onsite quotes this morning - one for $540, the other for $620. The first one is out of state for the next couple of weeks and will call when they get back, the other is scheduled for this Thursday. The windows on the 2nd one are difficult inside but easy outside with the WFP. Well worth the 30 minutes of drive time to set eyes on both. Solo operator as well.

I’m really surprised that nobody… at least I didn’t see anybody write that they ask for pictures of the house.

When someone reached out to me via text or phone cal… I ask if they are able to send me pictures of each side of the house. I can gather 98% of my questions from that. Number, size and usually the type of windows simply from the pictures. Then I’ll follow up with asking if they have any storm or French panes. I ask about tracks and screens. I certainly don’t claim to be perfect but most of my phone estimates have been pretty spot on.

The couple that were a little off… I’ll eat the 30min or hour cause in the long run with my quality of work, I’d like to think I’ve won a customer for the long term. I’ll think about raising those prices a tidge next year.

But overall, phone is the way to go. I’m a one man show and every lead I’m running in person is time taken away from another cleaning I could be doing.

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And occasionally it will work out. The majority of mine are phone and I’ve only had to adjust one… that had pella storms that I didn’t account for.

:sweat_smile: must be nice.

My earliest opening is tomorrow lol

Oh man, I had a large home with those Pella storms that I did every 6 months for a couple of years. Then the homeowner sold the place and the new owner hasn’t hired my services. That is actually okay. What a bear of a job it was.

My earliest opening was Thursday but I filled it. Prepping the house to be painted today.

potential to work well if they have the iphone with the .5 wide view lens setting and take good pictures that show you what you really need

I have people send some pretty terrible pictures that you cant figure out much from

but I suppose it could be illustrated on a website as well

i think many may have privacy/safety concerns along with effort issues for some

but yes it can work well, sometimes

I understand the value and speed of phone quotes, unfortunately for me all nuance is lost on the client. We prefer in person quotes, with or without the customer being home. My estimator is a retiree, tons of personal experience interacting with clients. He drives a lettered van. He also delivers equipment, chemicals, and worksheets to various crew members. We get many quote requests from potential clients that just “saw our van.” He is advertising while driving.

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+1 for me

I used to do in person estimates for residential all the time, and I DID find that my closing rate and dollar amount was extremely high.
I also found that when I stopped doing in person for residential, using zillow etc…if I was slammed with work and didn’t really care if I got the job? 9 times outta 10 I got the job.

When I was starving? Man, I couldn’t close a sale for half price.

I think its different for everyone really. Thats just how its always worked for me.
Commercial, I’ve bid using google maps etc…NOT THE WAY TO GO. I have SEVERELY underbid jobs, and ran into rookie issues that being on site you would know what you are dealing with such as: sure you can see water sources on street view or on maps, but do they freaken work? How old is the maps photo? It may not even be there.

Sometimes you can’t tell how deep some ledges are, sometimes its hard to see balconies or know if there’s a courtyard if you can’t see the building from google earth (new buildings).

Its hard to determine elevation and difficult terrain. Some “Historical” buildings are really hard to gauge elevation with, for me they’ve always seemed much smaller than in person and I’d end up not being able to reach with my poles.

Yeah, that don’t work for commercial stuff at all.

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My wife runs my phones for me. Perhaps that in and of itself is another convo. She also does all the estimates now after 12-18months of doing it. She has helped me up my prices and removed a lot of the stress of discussing money with the client. No more trying to explain the nuances as someone else mentioned. I might still bid the extreme jobs in person (something like an 8500sqft modern glass castle)

The clients seem more content accepting a larger range from her than they ever did from me. And accepting a higher price. When a single dude says $850 it seems like a lot, when she says $850 they don’t know what kind of a crew is involved etc. I think it’s the psychology of it, she isn’t the worker, she is going off the web info and a few questions, so they accept a range without quarrel, i arrive do the work and pick a price that fits the work from a 50-100$ range. We rarely miss and it’s helped up my prices.

It also helps when raising prices. I just charge what the boss tells me, the customers seem to get it!

I guess my point is, best of all, have an intermediary person do it for the best work/profit scenario. IMO.

For those of you who do phone estimates or quote remotely, what do you say when the potential customer asks something along the lines of “Can you come out in person?” or “Can you confirm the price in person” or “You don’t come out for estimates?”

Just let them know straight away you could “ PROBABLY “ get this done very quickly for you via Google earth , and maybe if you’re ok with a picture or two 98 % are ok with that . You’d like to find out quickly if you’re dealing with a mansion. Those are mandatory have to show up. Small houses are mandatory over the phone. Unless it’s 5-10 minutes away from you even then busy is busy . if you get off the phone, and Google earth to see that they have a mansion call back right away to let them know you have to show up.
Sone people are just difficult, or they just want you there to show you specific things that are of concern. Nothing you can do about that. You have two choices from there either let them know you jace no time this week to get there, see if they’re willing to wait, or just say sorry I’m not the right fit for you.my time schedule don’t fit your needs.

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A few good things to know on phone quotes - How old are the windows; when was the last time they were cleaned; any hard water spots, paint, stucco; screens; landscaping obstructions; oxidized frames.

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I usually just say “no” when they ask me to come out.
That’s if I even call them back, once the call center takes all info I’ll send a text letting them know they will receive the estimate via email and text message link…
Most estimates are done and sent out same day by 5pm.

I will go look at commercial work in person and all new storefront, that I’ve prospected, have already got a price when I drop off my marketing stuff so I’ll just reference the slip to that prospect.

My quotes have notes stating we don’t clean storm windows and that the price doesn’t reflect storm windows.

The less I can talk to people the better, but that’s just me.

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I only do in person estimates for very unique jobs and very high end.

I give all my estimates as a price range, regardless of big or little.

I might give a 180-220 for a small, minimum sized first time clean. I might charge 220 the first time and sell them on quarterly or semi annual at 180. (Considering getting my minimum to $250 for any new client but it’s a lot for some people in small homes). Or i might give 1200-1500 for a large custom home.

The latter example i might go see in person if I can’t find any photos, but even in person, I am still giving a range. This has helped me raise my prices in an honest way, I can get them higher on the first, more difficult clean, and drop it back down a little for the repeat quarterly clean. Either way, It helps me get my prices up and customers seem to understand it very well.

So most of my jobs are repeats so not all that much quoting I have to do, this week I had a few calls for quotes, I set them up for after work today…
3 in person quotes I spent about 45 mins driving to these locations and doing the quotes with some shopping in the middle, the 1st quote was a repeat customer in a new location wanting additional services than previous requested. booked that job, $340 for about 90 mins work, second quote was a larger window cleaning job, I quoted $450 for the job she mentioned she was getting three quotes…
and she was probably going to go with the first quote she got which was much less. Where I came out and say " I don’t claim to be the cheapest, I claim to do the best job. With 27 years of window cleaning experience blah blah blah. I showed her how to scan my card to get to my website and how I use “the magic water” as she called it and booked the job.
The third quote was for another $340 windows only, 2.5hrs max. have not yet booked that job.
end of the day I took an hour out of the end of my day to drive 14km( total from last job to home) to quote 3 jobs valued at $1130. 2 were booked upon quote, the other may or may not book 2/3 isn’t bad for the time spent for the acquisition, since I spend zero on marketing only the yearly website cost of about $250.

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I closed $2149 (ish give or take a dollar) using google earth and Zillow on two jobs…

I drove no where and did it while using the :toilet:

It’s been a little while since I’ve done an in person estimate.

Doing it remotely just has way too many pros.

Nothing irritates me more though, than me asking questions about the home or windows and some lead saying “you don’t come out for estimates?” In a condescending tone.

If most of my leads are able to answer my questions or send me pics of the home, why aren’t they able to.

Let’s see the zillows for the houses!