Diagnostic Visit
A diagnostic visit is a paid visit to find out what is wrong. The fee covers the search for the fault. It is due whether or not repair work follows.
What it means
A diagnostic visit is not a quote in disguise. The client pays you to answer a question: "what is actually wrong with this". They are not asking you to price a job you both already understand. That answer has value on its own, even if the client decides not to go ahead with the fix.
Price it as its own line, separate from the repair. State the fee before you travel. Say plainly whether it credits against the work if the client goes ahead. Some trades credit it. Some treat it as a separate charge for the finding. Either is fair if you say which one up front.
A client reports an intermittent fault with no obvious cause. You charge a $90 diagnostic visit to find it. You credit that $90 against the repair if they book it. You spend forty minutes tracing the fault. The client decides to live with it for now. The $90 still covers your time.
Calling a diagnosis a "free look" because it sounds like a quote visit. You then absorb an hour of real troubleshooting for nothing when the client decides not to book the fix.
See also
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