i woke up thinking of my genuine, non-philosophising, answer to this thread this morning - which must prove how bad it is!
and it is a job.
writing up quotes. for a start i think any job where it's down to you to decide when to do it - and you've any number of days you could do it on - instantly becomes doubly worse because not only do you have to do it, but you have to think about it repeatedly throughout the week until you've got round to it AND then motivate yourself to do it once you decide it's late.
if you're booked in to turn up at a house at 8.30am there is no motivation necessary. you are absolved of the of responsibility of motivation. you can stop thinking about it. but writing up a quote is like excercise. nobody is actually forcing you to do it NOW. you could do it tomorrow morning instead. afterall you've been busy. or even tomorrow evening. but does that ability to put off exercise stop you thinking about it or worrying about it of feeling guilty about it or apparently in my case bloody well dreaming about it?
when you add up time taken to drive to a house, time taken to chat, time taken to look at job, make notes, measure up. time taken to drive somewhere else, time taken to cost and write up the quote - often involving bartering with yourself over final price, then to submit the quote, then to speak to them on the phone to discuss it and then to book it in....and with no guarantee at any point of getting paid for any of it!
add on top of that the frankly countless seconds of thought throughout the week where you realise you'll still haven't done it and it's still sliding up and down your to-do list - it's in the back of your mind, got to get it done.
it's probably the largest most comprehensive potential waste of time we experience. so yeah, quotes.