ESTIMATING JOBS

[Courtneyezra]

After years of running around estimating jobs I really had enough!

Not only was it a waste of my working day but as you know you get a lot of customers who think we will work for next to nothing.

Then I had a great idea - “VIDEO ESTIMATES”

So from then on I refused to visit to estimate and would ask all customers to kindly send over a video which they happily agreed.

This would not only save my time but there’s too!


So from then on I would ask every customer if they used WhatsApp, explain how to video record, exchange numbers and so on…

As much as this solved a problem, I thought let’s take it one step further as we are basically saying the same thing to every customer over and over…

So I created a system which automatically sent the customer a link to upload if they called and for the website they could directly record the video from there smartphone and upload.

This was after they had watched a short snappy explainer video showing them how to record the video.

THIS HAS BEEN A GAME CHANGER

We are estimating jobs in a fraction of the time and the customer is receiving a estimate via sms/email the same day as there enquiry.

Have any of you guys had similar issues with estimating and do you think we should charge to visit to estimate jobs?

[etaf]

as a customer, i have done this in the past , a couple of times, sending a whatsapp video , another just pictures , and getting a quote and then used the guys
however, i would not be happy if charged to come out
I would also expect if something that was picked up and changed the price - would have been seen on a site visit - YOUR ISSUE not mine ...,...

[Courtneyezra]

as a customer, i have done this in the past , a couple of times, sending a whatsapp video , another just pictures , and getting a quote and then used the guys
however, i would not be happy if charged to come out
I would also expect if something that was picked up and changed the price - would have been seen on a site visit - YOUR ISSUE not mine ...,...

We have the technology available for the use case so why not embrace it.

With the cost of fuel and the busy lifestyle most of us live it’s a no brainer for me.


I had made the explainer video quite informative which 9/10 the video the customer uploads if actually good enough for an ‘estimate’.

We do always mention on or estimates that upon visit if anything is found on the initial visual inspection we would discuss with the customer and amend the estimate if needed.

To be honest a good majority of our customers have been let down by a previous handyman not turning up to even quote.

This is probably due to the effort involved after a already long day on the tools.