Are you charging for estimates? How do you handle it in FieldPulse?

We've been charging diagnostic fees for five years now and **you absolutely need to do this** if you're not already. Here's how we handle it in FieldPulse:

1. Create a dedicated service type called "Diagnostic/Estimate" with a flat fee
2. Set it as a non-convertible job type so it doesn't confuse your pipeline
3. If they convert, we create a new work order and reference the diagnostic job in the notes
4. Use a custom field to track "estimate accepted" so we can report on conversion rates

The key is training your CSRs to set expectations on the phone. "We charge $X to diagnose, which applies to the work if you move forward." Makes the whole thing smoother.

Also worth mentioning—we saw our no-show rate drop by 60% when we started charging. People value what they pay for.

60% no-show drop is interesting. hadn't thought about that angle.

the service type thing might work. we tried custom fields but half my guys don't fill them out consistently.

The team had the same issue with custom fields not getting filled. We ended up making them required on certain job types—solved it pretty much overnight. Might be worth a try if you go the service type route, Art.

so we actually do it a little different and basically what i did was set up a separate "estimate" status in the workflow so it's not mixed in with actual jobs but still trackable and the way it works is we start with that status and then move it to scheduled if they book and my dispatcher can filter them out when she's looking at real workload if that makes sense?

been working pretty good for us anyway. customers seem to get it when you explain it's basically paying for our expertise to figure out what they actually need

status trick is clever. stealing that...

we've just been eating it and i hate it. tired of driving an hour to give someone a $2,000 quote they got three others for.

Pro tip: If you're doing any commercial work, you can often skip the diagnostic fee and just build it into your proposal. Residential is where this gets messy because homeowners are price-shopping.

We charge $125 for residential diagnostics, waived if they book within 30 days. FieldPulse handles it fine—we just create it as a standard job and use the invoicing workflow. The "convert to work order" feature is clunky but it works.

What I actually came here to say: make sure you're capturing credit card info when they book the diagnostic. We hold it as a soft charge. Cuts down on the "oh I forgot my wallet" nonsense significantly.

tried this. lost half our inbound leads. turned it off after 6 weeks.

maybe works in some markets. not mine.

Mike, what market are you in if you don't mind? Curious if this is a regional thing. We had the opposite experience—leads stayed flat but quality went way up. Another way to think about it: you're not losing leads, you're filtering out the people who were never going to buy anyway.

But I get it. If you're starving for volume, this feels risky.

rural market. one competitor for 40 miles. people here expect to call and get someone out.

not saying it can't work. just didn't for us.

Hi everyone! Great discussion here and we love seeing you share what's working in the field.

I wanted to flag that we do have a feature in beta that might help with this workflow—it's essentially a native "estimate" job type with built-in conversion tracking. If anyone wants to test it out, shoot me a message and we'll get you added. Your feedback would be invaluable as we shape this for general release.

We want to make sure you're set up for success here, so don't hesitate to reach out!