frustrating, but dont abandon free estimates if they’ve been getting you business thus far. this is likely one of those outlying cases where you end up getting taken advantage of, but think big picture – if free estimates help you land more bids that you accept than ghostings, keep going.

by the way – if this DIYer decides he can’t do it, or if he does it and realizes it would have just been cheaper and faster to hire someone with experience, youre the one hes gonna call