Pro’s & Con’s of Giving Onsite vs Over the Phone Estimates
Onsite vs over the phone estimates can be a heated topic on the pressure washing forums. While your individual circumstances dictate how you want to handle giving out estimates, I will lay out for you some considerations for when you should give an onsite estimate or an over-the-phone estimate. Please note that this article is only meant to analyze estimates for residential customers.
An onsite estimate is when you physically go to the property, assess the property and give the property owner an estimate.
An over-the-phone estimate is when a person calls you and you use Google Street View or a real estate listing of their house and get them a price over the phone without visiting the property.
When You Should Consider An Over the Phone Estimate
They Need an Estimate Fast
Anybody who has been in the pressure washing industry knows the frantic realtor or homeowner call. They might be selling the house and need it clean in order to get real estate photos by next Tuesday. Or the homeowner is having a BBQ in 2 days and just realized that they need the house washed before then. Being able to price out a house washing for someone the very first time they call helps them make a decision fast.
On the phone, if you can:
sound confident,
can explain how the cleaning process works, and
can explain the process you used to get the estimate
Then they will likely book the job with you right there on the spot.
You Want To Get the Lead to Book With You And Not the Competition
It is very common for a homeowner to decide they need a house washing and to google “pressure washing near me” and start calling multiple companies. By the time they call you (unless you’re first in the map pack), they have already spoken with other companies and they are likely going to keep calling other companies after they get off the phone with you. If you have been power washing long enough, you can normally tell when this is the case by the way the homeowner talks. They will sometimes even mention they just got off the phone with another power washing company.
You need to give them what they want and ideally, you need to give them a price before calling other companies. They might be a price shopper or they might just be looking for someone they trust to work on their house. Either way, if you are able to explain the cleaning process effectively then you might just get another customer before one of your competitors can swoop in a take them.
You Don’t Want to Drive Around All Day
This will vary from company to company depending on where you are located, traffic patterns, and how spread out your customers are. Unless you have a dedicated salesperson on your crew to give estimates, you may find yourself driving around unproductively all day long. Even if you have a full-time salesperson on staff, is it really worth their time to drive 40 minutes out of the way to give an estimate for a 1000 sq ft one story vinyl siding house with little probability of an upsell, where the lady calling said she wants the estimate ‘just to hold onto’. In this example, it is clearly not worth it to drive all the way out there for one small estimate. You are much better off giving them an estimate over the phone.
Another factor you need to consider is the vehicle you using to go from estimate to estimate. If you are towing a trailer, then you are also adding mileage to the trailer and wear and tear to the tires, axle, leaf springs etc…aside from the obvious gas money being wasted.
I fully understand the importance of an upsell and selling bundle packages, but I also place a value on my time, my field salesman’s time and wasting drive time on tire kickers. When you have answered enough inbound calls, you can start to identify these people and relegate them to phone estimates unless the job meets specific criteria.
When You Should Do An Onsite Estimate
Upselling
When the person calls to get a quote for a house washing and then mentions offhandedly that a few other things are dirty that is your cue to do an onsite estimate.
Onsite estimates give you leadway to point out other dirty things on the homeowners property that you can clean. The front walkway might need a cleaning, or the homeowner mentions the gutter downspouts are clogged. I might notice a section of roof that is dirty with moss growing on it. This opportunity to upsell is golden. Utilize it. Upselling can seem more difficult over the phone…but in person when onsite, the homeowner will often be more receptive to other cleaning services. Honestly, many homeowners don’t even realize other things on their property are dirty and can use a cleaning until you point it out.
When onsite you can take the time to elaborate on the cleaning process for any upsells. This is the main reason why my company does onsite estimates because we can often turn a $350 job into an $800 job and all it takes is a 20-minute drive and a 10 minute walk through with the homeowner.
Customers Are Old Fashioned
Some customers want to look you in the eye and shake your hand before doing business and nothing is wrong with that. I noticed this trend is more common amongst older customers. Sometimes they want to see the person they are doing business with and gauge their professionalism. These people are normally vocal about getting you to come out to give the estimate and will often, unprompted, ask to set up a time for you to come out to their property. If you know how to go through an onsite estimate that converts then you should be expecting a booked appointment.
Roof Cleaning and Gutter Cleaning
Anyone who has done roof cleaning knows that this is an onsite estimate type of situation. There are too many factors that can go unaccounted for if you are just quoting based on internet pictures which only show the front of the house. The roof can be in worse shape than anticipated, the gutters could be detached. There could be too many overhanging tree branches. The list is endless. Similarly with gutter cleaning, if you are only able to see the front of the house or can only measure the gutter line via Google Maps, you don’t know if there is landscaping in the way to access the gutters or if they have a walkout basement so the back gutters are actually 3 stories high. ALWAYS do onsite quotes for roof cleaning and gutter cleaning so you don’t underbid yourself. It is a mistake you will only make once for a roof cleaning job.
Job is Complex
If the person wants you to clean a bunch of different things then you need to make this an onsite estimate. If they have specific stains such as efflorescence or stucco oxidation then you should also go see these stains in person if you offer specialized stain removal services.
You Can Batch Together Multiple Nearby Estimates
If multiple estimates are all nearby then you should go onsite for each. As mentioned above, you will have a better chance of upselling and a better chance of closing the sale in person. In addition, you can spot obstacles that will affect the amount of time it takes you to pressure wash.
Final Thoughts
Both types of estimates should have a place and time within your company. With more experience, you will be able to best determine how to handle leads, and what type of estimate they should be assigned. Before I was able to hire a dedicated salesperson, I saved myself a lot of time and driving by doing over-the-phone estimates. Maybe I lost some sales and upsells but the tradeoff was worth it in my mind as I was better able to focus on completing jobs and growing the company. There is no one size fits all to this question. It is your job as a business owner to find the balance that works best for your pressure-washing business.