Whatever happened to……….

‘no obligation free estimates’?
Twice within the last week my son has gotten what was supposed to be a ‘bid’ on bathroom remodeling in his house. Both ‘salesman’ that showed gave the presentation on what their company offers, but the kicker is, ‘sign today, and get $XXXX.00 of the price’. Whatever happed to the old fashioned ‘estimate’ that is good for ___ number of days?

I usually have at least 2 weeks of work lined up before the phone rings in the morning. I stopped giving free estimates the last couple years. When work is backed up I need to work and make money. I can't stop what I am doing to go give prices for work that I do not have time to do. I am in high demand and most of my customers trust me. Guy the other day couldn't believe that I wouldn't drive 20 miles out of my way to give him a price so he knows that another contractor wasn't taking advantage of him . People don't want to work anymore and the people that are willing to work are getting covered up . Prices are going up and policies are changing

Yeah the mechanic stuff is crazy- get it in there- oh yeah while its there, been burned twice - F that

When I was in the Septic Design and Install business I used to give itemized estimates or bids on work . I listed each item needed to meet code both County and State .
 Then only to lose work to the cut rate guy who could do it for less by removing items from my bids or forgetting items that later came as additional charges . 
 So being honest in business , means those who are not will undercut you by a nickel to $500 but do inferior work and the homeowner thinks they got a deal .
 As I also had Inspector credentials and Certifications going to some of these jobs to inspect later , every shortfall ended up on the list of why system fail CODE .
 One thing I stopped doing was giving the breakdown of my pricing and just listed end price . Even there the underbidding and exclusions of what was needed did not stop from losing work to the unscrupulous competitors . 

I get it, if one is too busy to do estimates or bids.
But those that do give an estimate, don’t get get all huffy, bent out of shape if the potential customer is just wanting prices. In my son’s case, both salesman left his house all pissed off, because he didn’t sign while they were there. To me, it seemed with both, they figured they should have the job, before they even showed up?