A quote request page

A quote is not an estimate

In most trades a quote is a fixed price for defined work, and accepting it forms an agreement. An estimate is an approximate figure that may move once the work is seen. Using the words interchangeably causes real disputes.

Say which one you are providing, on the page and in whatever you send. Our page on estimate requests covers the other side of that distinction.

Be specific about what the figure covers and what would change it. The most common dispute is not about the number but about what somebody believed was included in it.

Ask for less than you want

Every field costs completions. A form asking twelve questions collects fewer enquiries than one asking four, and the enquiries it loses are not evenly distributed across the good and the bad.

Ask for what you cannot quote without, and get the rest in the conversation. For most trades that is the job, the location, the timing and a way to reach them.

Photographs are the exception worth asking for. One picture removes more back-and-forth than any number of questions, and people are usually willing to send one.

Let people describe the job in their own words rather than forcing a category. A free text box produces better information than a dropdown, because customers rarely classify their own problem the way a trade does.

Say what happens next

How long before they hear back, what form the reply takes, whether a visit is needed and whether anything is chargeable. Uncertainty here is the biggest cause of people also contacting three competitors, whatever a search engine or an answer engine sent them to you for.

Then meet the timescale you stated. Somebody told they will hear within a day and who hears nothing for three has already called somebody else by the time you reply.

Confirm receipt immediately and automatically. A silent form is indistinguishable from a broken one, and people assume the worst within about an hour.

What the form should ask

The list below is what most trades genuinely need in order to quote. Anything beyond it should be justified by the work rather than by what would be convenient to know.

• What the job is, in their own words
• Where it is
• When they need it
• A photograph, if the work is visible
• How to reach them and when
• Anything that would stop you quoting at all
• Nothing that is only useful for marketing

Qualifying without being rude

Say on the page what you do not do, what your minimum job size is, and which areas you cover. That filters out enquiries you would decline anyway, before either side spends time.

This is more respectful than a form that accepts everything and a reply declining it. People appreciate finding out in ten seconds rather than in three days.

It also improves the enquiries you do get. A page that is clear about scope produces requests that fit, which is worth more than a higher raw count.

What you are committing to

A quote given in writing is usually binding once accepted, which is why the scope has to be precise. Subject to inspection, valid for thirty days and excluding conditions found on site are ordinary and sensible.

Keep the wording consistent between the page, the form confirmation and the quote itself. Contradictions between them are what disputes are built from.

Our page on pricing claims covers the general rules. Nothing here is legal advice, and the wording that binds you differs by trade and by state.

After the quote

Follow up once, politely, after a reasonable interval. Most businesses never do, and a single follow-up converts a meaningful share of quotes that would otherwise go nowhere.

Ask the ones who declined why. The answer is usually price, timing or somebody who replied faster, and only one of those three is expensive to fix.

Keep a record of what you quoted and why. Over a year that record tells you more about your own pricing than any amount of thinking about it in the abstract.

Keep the quote at a stable reference you can point back to. Disputes months later are settled far faster when both sides are looking at the same document rather than at two recollections of it.