[johnkeegan]

Agla has it exactly right... no surprise there.

We do it to "thin the herd" because there are only so many hours in the day. But I admit I drop those charges if the call comes from an area I'm trying to penetrate or if it gets slow at certain times of the year.

[David C]

I hear ya agla, we've kind of gone off from my initial question. I don't charge an initial consult fee to come and see you, I'm too new and need to see as many potential clients as possible. My question was based off of a comment from this couple that thought that me charging $75 per hour to consult throughout the entire project was way too much money, and all I was asking was I charging too much?

DC

[agla]

Dave,

If you are keeping a full schedule, it is not too much. If you have time on your hands and are in charge of scheduling when the consultations will occur, it might be practical to do it for less.

I think it is more likely that it is a case of someone who does not value his/her project enough to want to pay you or anyone else $75 per hour and a lot less to do with whether you are worth that much to a client who puts more value on it.

Many DIYers are people who are generally interested in learning skills to get things done for personal enrichment and sense of accomplishment. Those people usually put as much into learning as in doing. They tend to feel that they are not getting that enrichment if they hire in someone to coach them, so you'll seldom hear from them.

Many others have saving money as the driving force behind their ambitions. They don't value things that other people do, they just want to get things for as little as possible. They are not dedicated enough to self educate and tend to need someone to manage them or show them what to do. They are only committed as laborers to save money. They also believe that the value in a job is the labor. That means that the rest of it should not cost much. They want to condense all of your skills into a very small amount of time and pay a small amount for that time.

I honestly believe that the only way this type of person will pay you is if you do it for next to nothing.

PS. I know that most of you disagree with me, but the first red flag I would have had is that they contacted him by email. Every time someone made their initial contact to me by email, it has been someone looking for something for nothing.

[kinnanscaping]

This is coming from Agla's comment in the Consultation Fee thread where he stated:
"I know that most of you disagree with me, but the first red flag I would have had is that they contacted him by email. Every time someone made their initial contact to me by email, it has been someone looking for something for nothing."

How many of you feel this way?

After reading that, I thought about it, and I agree. My prime example was a lady that contacted me about a Fall Clean-up. I actually posted that anecdote a few months ago. Anyone that has even sent ME an e-mail with a phone number for ME to call has been a wash, a complete waste of time and effort. Is it the whole "hide-behind-the-keyboard" mentality? Should we even follow up e-mail inquiries? Why do any of us with websites even have a CONTACT US page where they submit an electronic inquiry? If someone really wants the work done, aren't they going to be more proactive and call?

[Gensparkie]

I'd rather have the time-wasters email me than call! With email at least I don't get stuck on the phone talking about their daughter-in-law's rosebushes.

It is funny but I think AGLA is right on this. I haven't gotten many email inquiries but the few I have gotten have been a real waste. I can only think of one exception, and it wasn't a really profitable one, just not a total waste of time.

[Gensparkie]

I am actually quite happy to be paid for my consultation time and to "coach" someone through a DIY project or choosing plants. I like that there is practically no overhead, I can wear clean (ish) clothes, and that they are generally exceptionally appreciative of my knowledge and skills once they try to do a fine and gorgeous job on their own, which leads to enthusiastic referrals.

So for me, doing a paid consultation is quite nice. Nicer to do a design for them, but not everyone wants that. We have a depressed economy and a low cost of living here, so many DIY's want to do a fine job but just don't have the money for it. I find it satisfying to work with motivated working class people who appreciate a beautiful job.

That said, I agree with johnkeegan that if the call comes from an area I am trying to get more work in or if it sounds like a particularly juicy job, I won't bother asking for a consult fee. But I think a lot of people here are relieved to hear they can pay to pick my brains for two hours with no pressure to buy more.

[Stonehenge]

I agree that an email contact is a red flag; however, one red flag does not a bad client make. We get regular work from first contacts coming from email, and frankly, the better your local presence on the web the more likely email contact is.

For me, the trick is to immediately turn email contact into phone contact. If they don't provide a phone number in the email (which to me is a bigger red flag), reply that you'd love to discuss the project by phone. If they balk even a little at being called on the phone, that lead is dead wood and you should cut them loose as soon as possible.

[LandArts]

What Stone said...

We closed some nice email leads last year. I think the whole email thing is changing rapidly. Some of my smarter,busier customers are using email to communicate quickly and concisely regardless of business hours. Most provide a cell # in the initial email but they don't like playing phone tag anymore than I do.

[saslandscape]

Most of my clients come from my website (I really don't advertise) and through e-mail. Like Landarts said, they usually do it because they can't call during business hours, but can send e-mail. I absolutely love e-mail because I can quickly weed out clients that want "free designs." Many of the landscape companies I design for are trying to find ways to get more clients to communicate through e-mail from their website. I think it really depends on where you live if e-mail works or not.

[Mau]

Originally Posted by saslandscape

Most of my clients come from my website <snip>

Saslandscape, I don't want to derail this thread about consultation fees, but can I ask what you use to color your designs on This Page? Are you doing them with your design program, Photoshop, by hand, or...?

.

[saslandscape]

I draw them by hand and then color them using AD markers. I'm taking an AutoCAD night class right now to help me remember what I learned in college, so I will probably start working on some of the designs in CAD in the future-as soon as I buy a plotter ($$$).