To receive a free estimate, you only have to agree to contact us (phone or email) within one month of receiving our bid.
1. Tell us if you decided to proceed with the project, put it off, or simply not do it and why.
2. Give us a bid tally: the price each contractor gave you.
3. Tell us why you chose D and S (or why not).
This feedback gives us valuable information to help with our future bids. If you fail to keep your promise, you agree to pay us for our time involved in your bid. That time and its value is noted below.
(We have one exception: speculative projects. If you are thinking of buying a home and making improvements or repairs, we do charge for such estimates. Also, if you are selling and wanting a price for your buyer on how much certain repairs will cost him, the estimate is not free.)
Free to you!
You've heard the saying that nothing is really free, but to our customers, our estimates have been free for 33 years.
Easy for us?
Some contractors will just give you a price immediately upon seeing the project and so you may think that's how everyone does it. Or maybe we just sit in the easy chair for a couple minutes, do a bit of figuring and "Shazam! "...we have your price. Maybe some guys do it that way, but nothing could be farther from the truth for D and S.
Expensive for us! The bid process.
To D and S, the estimate is never free.
1. Returning your call and setting up an appointment. The easiest thing we do, but try it for 5 or 6 people in one day. It takes some time to actually get hold of customers. You've heard of phone tag? (5 minutes, low - 60 minutes, high)
2. Going to meet you. We spend our gas, time, and effort to come out to your house or business to look at your project. This takes anywhere from 15 minutes round trip, to 90 minutes. But it doesn't end there. (15 minutes, if you live a block away - 90 minutes high)
3. Talking about your project. Typically, I spend an hour of my time with a customer as they tell me about their project and I help them with a solution. Many times I'll give them a design idea that they end up using, even if they don't hire us. On complex projects I can spend 2 hours. (Time: 20 minutes, low - 120 minutes, high)
4. Meeting with Steve to discuss your project. After seeing the project, Steve and I will get together to discuss it and come up with the labor time it will take to do it, and even the design for an addition project. This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the complexity of your project. (Time: 15 minutes each or 30 minutes both, low - 90 minutes each or 180 minutes both, high)
5. Material list and compiling the bid. Then I will spend time at my computer working on a material list and totaling up the bid price. On an addition project, this can be several hours. (Time: 15 minutes, you are replacing a door - 180 minutes, high)
6. Contacting the customer. Finally, I will call or email the customer with the estimate. That can take from ten minutes for a simple project, to an hour for a complex project. (Time: 10 minutes, low - 1 hour, high, some people like to talk about details)
7. Putting together a written proposal and references. If the customer requests a written proposal, I'll spend another half hour to three hours doing that and posting it on the web site on a private page and sending them an email with a link, or faxing it, or sending by mail. If they've requested references, I'll compile a list of three or four customers with related projects that we've done in the past. This can take 10 or 15 minutes. (Time: 20 minutes, low - 200 minutes, high)
Let's look at the total time and effort that is spent by D and S.
Small Job Large Job
Initial call: 5 min. 60 min.
Travel: 15 min. 90 min.
Talking: 20 min. 120 min.
Discuss: 30 min. 180 min.
Compile: 15 min. 180 min.
Contact: 10 min. 60 min.
Proposal: 20 min. 200 min.
Total time: 115 min. to 890 min. or 14 hours and 50 minutes
Gas: 13 cents (6 blks.) to $8 (30 miles one way)
Total
Dollar value:
$96 for a small job
to $750 for a large job
That's some free
estimate!