How Builders Can Charge for Quotes and Avoid Working for Free

Sponsored Content
Published

The problem that many builders face when they quote jobs for free is that they’re actually spending their own money. A builder’s time is valuable, so even if they don’t end up paying an estimator there is still a cost associated with every quote that is produced.

Builders who charge for quotes are eight times more likely to win a job as opposed to those who do not. So while the easy option may appear to be ‘just do it’ or ‘quote and hope,’ the reality is that they’re probably wasting their time.

An Estimate is Not a Quote

An estimate is exactly that, an estimation of what a job might cost. It’s an indication based on a builder’s experience. The accuracy will depend on the systems the builder uses and their experience. But builders shouldn’t spend hours providing estimates and they shouldn’t waste their time looking at plans unless they have qualified their prospect beforehand.

When builders do have a qualified prospect and have looked at their plans to give a ball-park estimate, then it is time to move forward in the sale — and charge for a quote. If a prospect doesn’t want to pay for a builder’s services, it simply means they either do not see value in what they are offering, or they are a price-checker who has no intention of building with that builder. So the best thing to do is disqualify the prospect and move onto someone who will value the builder’s time.

Identify the Best Prospects

When a builder is presented with 10 prospects who all want a free quote, they have two options.

Option 1: Attempt to provide all of the prospects with free quotes, only to find that with the limited amount of time available, communication becomes delayed, quoting is rushed and items get missed, meaning that margins suffer and it is unlikely any of these opportunities would progress into a contract.

Option 2: A builder qualifies each prospect before volunteering their time for free. And for those prospects that qualify, builders know to set their expectations about what will be done as part of an estimate and what happens next as part of the quoting process.

Builders should be clear with their prospects and explain that if they are going to invest their time estimating the job, the customer should be prepared to spend money getting their job professionally quoted in order for the builder to produce a fixed-price contract.

When the customer agrees, the builder knows they have buy-in and the job is worth quoting.

If builders struggle to charge for quotes then they are probably attracting the wrong audience or not demonstrating value. The best way to convey value is to have a unique selling proposition.

Builders cannot deal with everyone that asks for a free estimate, so they should identify the hottest prospects. Because when builders follow this process, they will end up signing contracts at much higher margins.

This is just a small part of the sales process for builders. Download the complete process.

Subscribe to NAHBNow

Log in or create account to subscribe to notifications of new posts.

Log in to subscribe

Latest from NAHBNow

Workforce Development

Sep 10, 2025

NAHB Scores Job Corps Victories Amid House Funding Cuts

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted yesterday to cut fiscal year 2026 funding for Job Corps to $880 million from the current $1.7 billion. Amendments offer opportunities to keep centers open and assurances for additional negotiation.

Advocacy

Sep 09, 2025

NAHB Calls on Congress to Protect Energy Choice

NAHB today called on Congress to help ease the housing affordability crisis by supporting policies that preserve energy choice, ensure access to a full range of appliances and maintain flexibility in building energy codes that are critical to keep housing affordable and attainable for America’s families.

View all

Latest Economic News

Economics

Sep 10, 2025

Year-over-Year Building Material Price Growth Advances

Price growth for residential building materials rose for the fourth straight month in August, reaching its highest level since January 2023. Across domestic inputs goods and services into residential construction, service prices decreased in August while goods prices slightly advanced.

Economics

Sep 09, 2025

Share of New Homes with Patios Edges Down for First Time in Fifteen Years

For the first time in 15 years, the share of new homes with patios finally declined in 2024, according to NAHB tabulation of data from the Survey of Construction (conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau with partial funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development).

Economics

Sep 09, 2025

Who Are NAHB Remodelers?

Twenty-one percent of NAHB builder members listed residential remodeling as their primary business activity, according to the 2024 Member Census. These remodelers tend to be relatively small companies, with a median of five employees, $1.7 million in median revenue, and 15 remodeling jobs completed over $10,000.