For anyone who prices work after hours
You typed it on your phone at eleven at night. It looked like it.
The price was right. The document wasn't. Somewhere between the text message and the PDF that never opened, the job went to the outfit whose paperwork looked like a business.
Free. Nothing to install, no card, and yours whether or not you go further.
“How long between the visit and the price?”
Every day it sits is a day they're collecting other numbers. The quote that arrives first is read carefully; the third one gets skimmed for the total.
“Does it look like the same business they met?”
A tidy van and a text message with a number in it are two different companies as far as the customer is concerned, and only one of them looks like it will still exist in a year.
“Can they say yes without finding a printer?”
Every extra step between wanting it and agreeing to it is a place the job goes cold. Signing should take a thumb, not an office.
“Do you price the same job the same way twice?”
If the rates live in your head, they move. Two customers get two prices for the same work and neither of them was wrong on purpose.