I try not to do free work anymore. Its no longer fun for me to pull the hoses off the van and scrub carpets for free. Maybe it's just my mood this week. My days are so packed with projects and family stuff its hard to find time to do free work. When I first started I was doing free jobs all the time just to show off my equipment. Now no more.
I was in a leads group with my current Farmers Insurance agent. I asked him why he never calls me to clean his office carpets. He said Service Master does his carpets for free...... Hmmmmm
After hearing this, I always thought it would be a great advertising campaign for a restoration company to expose the good-old-boy system that goes on with insurance and restoration. I would market services that represent the interests of the homeowner, not the insurance agents. Just a thought. I can tell you in my area many of the resto guys suck.