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

Art Kowalczyk
been seeing a lot of talk about this lately. in my experience charging for estimates is a whole thing.

we started doing diagnostic fees about 3 years ago. $89 to show up and figure out what's wrong. if they hire us, it rolls into the job. if they don't, we're not eating the cost of the truck roll and my guys' time.

problem is FieldPulse doesn't really have a clean way to handle this. we been creating a "job" for the estimate then converting it if they bite. but that clutters up the schedule and my dispatchers hate it.

anyone figured out something better? or you just not charging for estimates at all and dealing with the tire kickers?
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  • 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.
  • in reply to Gwen Albright
    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.
  • in reply to Art Kowalczyk
    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.
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