How do most abstractors bill orders.

For example, current owner searches?

The reason I ask is this -- my first clients, four years ago, were straight forward, do a current owner and gather a copy of a deed. Most of my clients were this way.

So I extended the same pricing to all of them.

Now, the requests are much more varied and the time and effort requirements are different. Sometimes the requests don't prove to matter as far as my time and effort expenditure but sometimes they change things significantly, requiring much more time and effort.

So, is it acceptable or out of line to bill differently, from a current owner with just a deed request and a current owner with a 12-month chain or a 24-month chain or a PMM? One county I cover does not have index books. You have to leave the register of deeds, hit the clerk, find the subdivision or metes and bounds book to look in, do so and then find a transfer date, then return to the register of deeds, pull another book, then go to film and look for your document. As you know, sometimes a longer chain of title opens up a Pandora's box of grief -- a divorce, more than one divorce, probates, and other "kinks."

I equate extra requests to both a restaurant and buying a car. You visit a restaurant, order a meal, then ask for extra sour cream, a beer and dessert. The owner can't "give" that to you for free and justify it. You also can't buy a new car and say, "hey, can I get that with leather seats, a GPS, a 12-disc CD player, tinted windows" and then add "for free."

Opinions, on both sides of the fence?

Yes, the market is volatile now but curious. Feel I'm either overcharging the companies that don't ask for all the freebies or giving away "product" to those who expect freebies.

Thanks
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