Why do contractors only send the estimate 10%-25% of the time?

[Bryan H.]

BP Community,

I live in the Denver Metro city of Centennial, Colorado.  It boggles my mind how many contractors come to do a site walkthrough, promise to provide an estimate within a few business days, and never send it! 

We had several home projects that we requested 3 different company estimates: hardwood floor refinishing, baseboard installation, enclosing a porch to insulate with electric to add square footage to house and have sunroom, sprinkler system, outside deck/porch installation, paving of driveway, move a fence, possible foundation repair, structural engineers to clear no structural damage, inside painting companies, and attic insulation among others. 

90% of all the estimates were never sent at all, or required 3+ calls to estimator and/or manager to have estimate finally sent. These were requests to fix up the house we live in that will be a rental soon. Maybe my project is not big enough, maybe they don't want to do the job for whatever reason, but why did they waste their time in the first place?!?

Is this your experience as well? Obviously once you find the right company you hold onto them and pay them well, but I am curious to hear others experiences of lack of response and why this is happening within the industry.

Bryan H.