Okay, so I said I’d clarify.

The first clarification being that the “estimate” with which I was presented the other day wasn’t actually an estimate it was a coupon from one of those “Val-Pac” things that come in the mail.

Yes, sadly, more than one of my local colleagues feels it appropriate to issue coupons for his services. One of the reasons, actually, that I stopped working for VCA. VCA is a big coupon organization and it is my personal feeling, although maybe I’m a special kind of rarified snob, that if you are a professional and you are sending out coupons for your services you’re actually saying to the world that your skill and education are of less value to some people than they are to others. A position with which I disagree heartily. There’s been a fair deal of effort, blood, sweat, and tears to get me to my current skill level and what I charge for my time reflects that. If people want to disagree with what I charge for my experience and skill they’re welcome, but I’m not going to purposely market myself as less valuable to some people and more valuable to others.
I digress…

Needless to say the estimate for my dental cleaning was considerably more, even a year out of date, than the “estimate” for the dental cleaning my client had received in the mail.
In answer to her question — why my estimate was far higher than his — I gave my client the stock answer. “I know what it costs for us to provide the services that we provide as part of a dental cleaning for your dog. I don’t know what XYZ does differently than we do, but I know that what we do can’t be done for less than what we charge.”
A nice, professional way to say “Dude, I don’t know what he’s leaving out when he cleans your dog’s teeth, but DAMN…….”

And it brings me to another poll.

When you are provided with very disparate estimates for seemingly identical services, do you question what the difference is?

A few more answers please, and I’ll come up with further clarification.