Contractor site visit fees – what's "normal"?

[Laura Chevalier]

I'm preparing to do a full renovation of my tiny (<40 sqft) kitchen and have reached out to a few General Contractors who were referred to me. One of them already came on site and separately had an electrician come on site to scope the renovation we discussed – both without fees. A different GC is telling me that they charge a $200 fee for a site visit to discuss options and start planning the renovation. 

What's normal when it comes to GC site visit fees? Does it just depend on the GC and the project size, or is it a red flag for a contractor to ask for a site visit fee (or to not...)?

[Bruce Woodruff]

I never charged a fee. If a job was good enough for me to go and look at it was good enough to do for free. I just felt it was rude and looked greedy, and that was not my style.

It doesn't mean that a GC is bad because he asks for a consult fee, I definitely got tired of doing 'free estimates' for lookie loos, but fortunately I got about 80% of the jobs I looked at.

Just go with your gut feel.....