That first estimate

Once you have everything set up it’s time to go out into the real world and try to make some money.  When you get that first call you end up spitting out your elevator pitch as fast as you can.  Talk about trying to sell yourself.  I never considered myself a salesman.  I don’t even like sales.  I swore I would never work in sales.  But guess what?  You better be a damn good salesperson.  That is exactly what you are doing.  Selling yourself, your service, your business.  You are competing with all of the other contractors out there so you need to make sure they pick you.

However, let me say this, don’t just be a salesperson.  Back yourself up.  Be a person of integrity.  Have character.  Most of all, be honest.  Customers are counting on you.  They are trusting you.  Don’t let them down.  Follow through on your pitch.  A customer’s residence is extremely personal so make darn sure you are servicing their best interest.

Set expectations too.  In many cases, you will be pressed for a number before you walk out the door.  If you don’t set expectations, they will ask you for the estimate before you even get home via text or phone call.  It’s best to send the estimate from a CRM with contract language instead of providing the customer with a verbal number.  An estimate with contractual language will protect both you and the customer.  An electronic CRM will provide that all important audit trail. 

Make sure you take good notes, good pictures, and good measurements.  I can’t stress this enough.  Take pictures of the area that you will be working in.  In other words, you could be blamed for breaking tile, or scratching a wall, or who knows what.  That is where your original pictures can back you up and protect you from false claims.  This will happen at some point.  You may only write 100 estimates or 2,000 estimates but it will happen one day.  So, cover yourself.

Estimates need to be extremely detailed.  They should include what the scope of work is and what isn’t included. A good example is painting.  A customer may ask to have their house painted.  It’s important to list everything that is being painted such as window sills, baseboards, doors, door trim, crown molding, walls, and or ceilings.  In addition, you really need to specify all of the damages such as holes in the walls, no matter how big or how small.  You should follow up with a statement in the estimate that reads something like: if not specified in this estimate, it’s not included.  Make sure you don’t guarantee paint matching services or texture matching services when completing small repairs.  This could erode your profit margin very quickly.  You could end up spending countless hours attempting to achieve a perfect match.

The more language you have in your contract, the better off you will be. If you need money down to complete a job, make sure you specify the terms in the estimate.  If you intend to charge a percentage markup for materials purchased, make sure you add this language and terms in the estimate. 

Of course you can develop your estimate anyway you see fit.  Based on the thousands of estimates that I have written over the years, I find that customer prefer a breakdown by labor and materials listed separately.  I also provide the receipts for the materials purchased.  Transparency goes a long way to establishing trust with the customer. 

I always discuss the scope of work with my employees before providing my customer with an estimate.  I have my own take on how long it will take to complete the work.  There are plenty of estimating tools our there as well.  However, it’s the guys that are performing the work that give me the best indication of how much time is needed to complete the work in order to give the customer an accurate estimate.  The last thing you want to do is underbid.   You also don’t want to over bid either.  Telling a customer, you need five days to complete the work and then finishing in three days and expecting five days of labor can cause a serious conflict with the customer.  They feel like they have been snowed, or taken advantage of.  The price of labor for five days seemed like a fair proposition.  Now you’re asking for five days of pay for three days of work.  Well, that price point no longer makes sense to the customer.  Just try to be as accurate and as fair as you can when it comes to writing estimates.  Customers will appreciate you and will offer you additional work and tell their friends, families, and neighbors about you.