You drove 45 minutes to a house on the other side of town. Spent 30 minutes measuring. Drove 45 minutes back. Spent an hour writing the estimate. The homeowner texted "thanks, we will think about it" and hired someone cheaper. Four hours gone. If this happens twice a week, that is 400+ hours a year wasted on people who were never going to hire you.
What does an unqualified site visit actually cost?
Each estimate visit costs 2-3 hours including drive time, measurement, and write-up. With close rates typically in the 20-30% range for residential contractors (per NAHB and Remodeling Magazine data), you are doing 3-5 visits to close one job. At an effective hourly rate of $75-$150, the cost per won estimate is $450-$2,250 in time alone. For a contractor doing 6-8 estimates per week at a 25% close rate, the time spent on losing estimates adds up to hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars per year.
How can contractors tell serious buyers from tire-kickers?
The signals that separate serious buyers from price shoppers over text:
- Specificity. "I want a 16x20 composite deck with cable railing" is serious. "How much is a deck?" is browsing.
- Timeline. "We want to start before summer" is urgent. "Just exploring" is not.
- Budget awareness. A customer who knows composite decks cost $30-50K is ready. One who expects $5K is not.
- Engagement depth. Four messages with detailed answers means investment. A single "how much?" is window shopping.
- Location. A 50-mile drive for a $10K job has different math than a 10-minute drive for a $45K job.
What is lead scoring and how does it work for contractors?
Lead scoring assigns a value (0-100) to each lead based on likelihood of becoming a paying customer. DeskForeman scores across six dimensions:
| Dimension | Points | What It Measures |
|---|---|---|
| Location | +20 / -20 | In your service area or outside it |
| Project Type | +15 | Core service vs adjacent vs outside scope |
| Budget | +15 | Realistic expectations vs unrealistic |
| Timeline | +20 | Under 6 months vs 12+ months out |
| Specificity | +15 | Detailed dimensions and materials vs vague inquiry |
| Engagement | +15 | 4+ conversational turns vs single message |
A lead scoring 75+ is worth the drive. Below 30 is likely a tire-kicker. The system is biased toward qualification: a false positive costs a conversation, but a false negative costs a $45,000 job.
Should contractors charge for estimates?
Charging $50-$150 for estimates removes the least serious inquiries, but it also creates friction that scares off legitimate buyers in competitive markets. The better approach: pre-qualify for free, then invest your time in qualified leads. DeskForeman shares a ballpark estimate via text before the site visit. A customer who sees "$35,000-$42,000" and still wants to schedule is serious. One hoping for $8,000 will self-select out. The ballpark costs you nothing since it is generated automatically from formulas calibrated to your pricing.
How can you pre-qualify leads before driving anywhere?
The most effective pre-qualification stack combines three layers:
- Automated lead scoring as the conversation happens, so you know quality before you look at it.
- Remote property intelligence. DeskForeman pulls satellite and street view imagery of the customer's address. Before you visit, you can see terrain, access conditions, existing structures, and lot size.
- Ballpark before visit. Sharing a formula-based range before scheduling means the customer who accepts a $35K ballpark is 3-4x more likely to close.
Every hour you do not spend on a tire-kicker is an hour you can spend building.
Stop driving to dead ends
See how DeskForeman scores leads and pre-qualifies before you leave the job site.