e57, good point. I got a call from a homeowner the other day that wanted a written free estimate ( with a really cheap price ) so that he could use it to sell his house. There may be someone dumb enough to do this for the guy but it's not going to be me. If I think that the work sounds good and there is a profit to be made I will go and estimate the work. If not, I just give a high estimate over the phone, many times the customer say's that they were not going to pay half of that ( all I need to know ). I have found that if they are expecting a high price and you can come down a couple of hundred it's better than when they expect something cheap and you have to go up five hundred. You are more likely to get a referral when you are honest up-front.