Your Free Estimates Are Training Customers to Waste Your Time

Controversial take: Free estimates are killing your business.

Not the concept. The execution.

Here's what's happening

Customer calls five contractors. Gets five free estimates. Spends zero dollars. Takes your ideas to the cheapest guy.

You just worked for free. Again.

But what if you did this instead

You'll get a professional mockup of your yard showing exactly what your project will look like. We'll review 2-3 design options, discuss materials, and I'll provide a detailed quote.

If you move forward with the project, that $99 is credited toward your total.

If not, you keep the mockup to use however you'd like."

What just happened?

• You filtered out tire-kickers
• You positioned yourself as a designer, not a bidder
• You got paid for your time
• You created something valuable they can't get from your competitors
• You're not competing on price anymore

"But won't customers just go to someone offering free estimates?"

Some will. The cheap ones. The ones you don't want anyway.

The serious buyers—the ones with real budgets who value expertise—will happily pay $99 for clarity.

And here's the kicker:

Your close rate on paid consultations will be 3-4x higher than free estimates.

Why? Because they're invested. Literally.

How to make this work

You need to create those mockups FAST. That's where YardPal comes in.

Take a photo during the consultation. Design 2-3 options in YardPal (takes about 5 minutes total). Show them on your laptop right there.

Close rate? 60-70%.

The math

Old way: 10 free estimates per week = 3 closes (30% rate) = $45K in sales

New way: 6 paid consultations per week = 4 closes (67% rate) = $60K in sales

Plus: $2,400/month in consultation fees (even from non-buyers)

You're making more money while doing LESS estimates.

YardPal makes this possible: $497/year for unlimited professional mockups.

[Try it free → YardPal.net]

Stop racing to the bottom. Start selling on value.