I'm going to have to start charging for the [small], bigger jobs I run into. I've had a recent run of "I'm redoing/finishing this part of my house and I need TV and sound, and I have no budget left. Can you help me?"

I'm going to have to go at least the $199 proposal with maybe a credit on the back end, when installed (basements/remodels etc).

I'm going to copy and paste an email from a friend who went with "the builders guy". This is word for word, have some laughs, and no, I wouldn't normally reply this way to any prospect......

"Tom,
Thanks again for pulling together the bids for me. I ended up going with a guy who my builder uses quite a bit. I do appreciate the effort and I thought you did a good job on the bids. I am in the process of changing jobs (new job in a few weeks) and timing got away from me a bit.

Hope all is well and would love to get out for a beer sometime.

My response....

"So and so,

Because you’re an old friend and a distant cousin-in-law (my mother’s maiden name is Blank), I’m going to be a jerk now. In my best Joe Maurer tone, that’s frustrating. I’m afraid to even ask what “the other guy” is providing, based on all the conversations we had. I guarantee you will not get the quality or service, today and down the road. Good luck on the project… beers, yeah, you owe me a few…"