"John B." wrote

I just happened to run across a site that did exactly that "For
written estimate - 15 BP, refundable if work is accomplished."


--
John B.

In the 80's, in Las Vegas, the California trend of suing the original
contractor when someone bought a commercial property was in vogue. Due
diligence and construction defects, IIRC. I was getting calls for whole
property bids on carport repairs. Oh, boy, I thought. But no one took the
bid. Then I heard about the due diligence thing, and they were using me for
a free court document. I changed to $500 for a full property estimate
(about 4 hours work), or $85 an hour, eight hour minimum charge for any day
or portion thereof, for forensic expert testimony. The lawyers didn't
blink. It was easy money, and in over half of the cases, I never even had
to testify. Still got my $680, though.

Steve