@Mike McCall I did not suggest you need to send it to a lab. I was providing you information to help you better come up with a gameplan.
If your first step isn't to clone the drive, you are likely making more work for yourself and risking compounding the data loss.
To me, it seems like a lot of work for you to spend at least 2 days (time to clone the drive, scan the drive with a recovery program, the time to copy the recovered files to a destination drive and the time to sanitize your clone a couple weeks after the project is closed) for free if the data is not recoverable and for less than a $300 USD that they would pay a pro. Meanwhile, you are occupied from doing any other billable work. The only way I can make it work for my lab to charge as little as we do is based on volume, doing many recoveries at the same time.
Luke, it was not my intent to offend you or start an argument of any sort, and I was not taking you to task about your pricing. Rather, I was merely stating a fact about a majority of residential customers unwillingness to pay the cost of lab recovery. It costs what it costs, I get that. I can suggest all I want to the customer, but when they hear the minimum price of recovery they refuse. It's that simple.
If your intent was to provide me information on a game plan - "If your first step isn't to clone the drive, you are likely making more work for yourself and risking compounding the data loss" - why didn't you say that? Reminding me to clone the drive first isn't really the point though. Those of us who have been here for any length of time, and value your input (as I do) have read your articles and posts on these matters. If I've paid any attention to those things I'm going to clone the drive before anything else. Yet, the assumption is I either don't know it or haven't thought of it.
On the page you sent me to it lists 4 possible reasons why one might see a drive like this. Only one (Bad Sectors) might be recoverable by a repair shop (unless properly equipped). Failing heads either work well enough for cloning or they don't. No usable information which might change my options. Other sites listed above suggest different potential causes and possible solutions. Even if they're absolute crap it doesn't change my options. I can either make my best attempt, or I can tell the customer their data is lost. Neither will convince the customer to send the drive out. That seems to be the part you're missing in this.
I can easily see the process taking a couple of days as you suggest. I don't have to babysit the process once it's started. Keep an eye on it, yes. But in the end the process will either work or it won't. Don't know where you get the notion I would not be able to perform any other billable work. I have plenty of other things to do while trying to recover the drive.
All my data recovery/hard drive issue customers are told that I get a "window" where I have a chance of being able to help (depending on the particular issue), that things can go sideways at any point in the process putting all data at risk, and their best bet is to send it out. I, like many here are forced to deal with customers who won't send out drives for recovery, period. I can't help that. You don't seem to get that and I don't know how to make you understand.
You say it seems like a lot of work for free if recovery fails, or less than the $300 they would pay a pro. But it's not just a $300 bill to a pro, is it? If it turns out to be anything other than a "simple" recovery the costs can go up quickly and substantially. Not finding fault. It is what it is. However, for the residential customer it seems to start out at more than what they're willing to pay and go up from there.
Near the bottom of the page you sent me to is this:
"If you are experiencing this type of issue, please be very careful on how you and/or your technician deal with it. If you value your data, it is best to have your hard drive assessed by data recovery professionals, like the team at Recovery Force. In most cases, Recovery Force is able to recover the data from this type of issue at our minor recovery rate and it is usually completed within a couple business days."
"If you value your data..."
Perfect.
Be really funny if it was here. 
