"The problem we have is often falling into the trap of giving
>away the information and not getting the job. This is a constant conflict
as
>to allocation of resources, like, how much time to spend with a customer
that
>does not seem to be going anywhere. Whenever we have asked for money for
the
>consulting aspect we either don't get any further with the customer, and
>therefore losing out on the potential of good contracting profits. Or we
get
>the consulting work, and then get bogged down because we really do not have
>the infrastructure in place to do things like write neat looking reports
with
>nice pictures.
 We realize this is not our primary business, reduces our
>effectiveness in core competentcies, and increasingly we will refer a
>potential customer to a design professional. "

Ken,

1)  Professionals should be paid for their services.
2)  Contractors are not objective as to scope of work nor their clients
overall needs.  As you say you give them free advice because you want to do
what you do best.  For a roofer this means a new roof, etc..  You bring up
the issue of "pretty pictures".  Reports should be about hard work and good
forensic analysis, not a marketing tool for contractors.
3)  The "ethical" contractor has a problem:  Ethical to whom? the client,
his employees, his stock holders or his family.  Ethics is to do with right
and wrong and to make this simpler it is good to have rules or standards.
Rule number One is:  Nothing is for free.  If we could get everyone to
believe this then individuals and professionals would stop asking for
something for nothing.  Can you see the day when every mason or contractor
(to name a couple) says:  "I'd be glad to come out and look at your project.
If I get the project I will incorporate the cost into my overhead and if not
my cost to you is "x" dollars an hour."  I don't think so, however this is
the professional thing to do.  I agree with John that we do a disservice to
our industry every time we make a free call.  We dilute the perceived value
of our work and in fact we hang a carrot out to every profit motivated
(good) business person.  Lawyers, doctors and real estate agents got it
down - we don't.
4)   Confusing the public:  How is the public to know if your opinion is
worth anything? ( I have often thought it would be interesting to rank and
rate architectural, construction and consulting companies based on the
dollar volume of business they do.  With information such as "a typical 30
million dollar construction company spends x% on marketing, y% on
consulting, charges z for a carpenter, has an average mark up of K% or
multiplier,etc." and do a chart.  Has anyone read "A Contractor's Guide to
Change Orders" Civitello?)

Bye,
Leland