From my personal experience, you can ask for quotation without needing to handover money, but be warned that the quotation may not be accurate if your property is yet to be VPed and not available for site visit yet.

Plenty of IDs can provide quotes for free/only ask for a small fee with site visit, or even with just a floor plan. But again accuracy of price is debatable because depending on your preferences and request, can easily overshoot cost.

Most IDs these days ask for early booking fees because of higher costs and customer fickleness, because it's an increasingly competitive market.

If you just want a bunch of "free" quotations to just get a feel for average market prices, can submit to tender/matching sites like Qanvast, Atap, Rekatone etc. I do know Qanvast regularly runs "meet & greet IDs" events that allow you to visit up to 5 IDs (usually smaller or budget oriented firms) to get a feel and quotes, from experience most of the firms at such meet n greet aren't for people who demand heavy personalized customisation or want "luxury" turnkey projects. I've gotten a number of free quotes this way, but ultimately I went with an ID I directly contacted instead of thru tender/matching because of certain specific requirements of my project and needs.

This post has been edited by DragonReine: Jun 14 2023, 10:29 AM