flat rate works well in commerical and industrial HVAC.

charging for estimates is something I think you have to do. if you go out to a person home or bussiness and end up spending an hour or more there trying to sale the job you are losing money. I started charging a fee for HVAC installations and if I get the job I just deduct it from the bill. I had to do this since people are always price shopping and want you to explain **** over and over again plus they want equipment literature. So to cover my a I had to charge