This is something that has never crossed my mind. ( And those of you that read this column regularly know that my mind has been crossed extensively! )

Under normal conditions, when a customer calls, we will ask the specifics, like address, type of animal, hours they wish us to arrive, etc. We will then give them a reasonably solid price over the phone.

Big Bob says that he never quotes a price until he has done an on-site examination. To be perfectly honest, this whole idea somehow intrigues me.

I am not saying that we have never got shafted, but then the easy jobs usually make all of the jobs a wash.

What I would really love to know is how many of you use Big Bob's approach?

We use a base price for each town we service. That includes driving to and from as well as 1/2 hour labor, setting traps, picking up animals, etc. More than 1/2 hr is an extra charge depending on how long the job takes. The customer is told that over the phone. Works for us.

Perhaps, he does the free inspection approach...

If they push I may give them a range of prices over the phone but half the time the customer doesn't even know what kind of animal they have. If they are hearing something in the attic they will say they have squirrels but about 80% of the time they are wrong. I just can't quote a definite price until I do the inspection.

Reminds me...my county asked me to submit a bid to trap beavers for the county. Wanted me to give them a price to do "a beaver job". This would have been an annual contract to do all of the county's beaver work. About like saying...give me a price to build a bridge without knowing if it is a foot bridge or the Golden Gate.

Pricing has always been a mystery to me. It seems like the well-to-do folks are the ones who balk at the price, while regular folks are more pragmatic and are willing to pay what you tell them it costs. I don't quote any price what-so-ever. The true value of my service is ME. How can I expect a customer to be willing to pay my price before they have a chance to meet me?

Paul like you, we ask a lot of questions on the phone, and gain as much info at that point. Also like your self, we have been working the same areas for over 30 years and have a pretty good idea of what each area has as far as home size, the way they was built, area average home up keep, and the type of critter problems that are in that area. So based on the phone call information, we can quote a ball park price of a low and high, but we add, this quote is based on the information they gave us and subject to change if different from the inspection. I have had a few that told us there was only one small hole that they knew about, and the one hole was 20 feet of soffit gone LOL so we learned to ask how big is the hole that they know about and that we will check the whole building over.

I'm like Wink and Jonesie; been doing this long enuf to know how to direct the interview. It gets to the point that I'm 99% sure of the target species with the answers the customer is able to provide... all this over the phone, while the customer has no clue!
As any one with experience will tell you, the inspection starts on the phone.

REBUTTAL: Maybe my inexperience in dealing with the public has something to do with it (Not a big time ADC guy). As noted, too many times we will find the customer has no clue as to what we're dealing with, and what it's gonna take to alleviate the problem. An old lady hears noises. Check it out and I grab the lopping shears and trim a branch off a tree that's rubbing on the gutter. "No charge Ma'am, "Your quite welcome". "Tell your friends". OR: It looks like a moto cross trail up the side of the house and you know it's gonna take a Hi-Lift and a week of work to get at it. No way to tell that over the phone.
If I have to drive TOO far, I require a gas fee up front, not negotiable, and you can weed out the brain pickers this way. You know, the ones that want to know how you'd go about it, then try to take care of it themselves.

No need for a rebuttal, Big Bob. Seems like there are others with your same approach. I found the whole idea quite interesting. I thought this would be a good ADC topic and it appears I might have been right for a change.

That was a tounge in cheek rebuttal. No offense taken.