Why does quoting cost you more than you realise?
Every quote you do that does not convert costs you real money. There is the phone call, the research, the drive to site, the walk-through, the time back at the office, and the quote itself. If you go out to four jobs and win one, you are wearing the cost of three lost visits. That non-billable time adds up fast, and at scale it becomes a serious drain on the business.
The answer is not to charge for quotes in most cases. It is to build a system that converts a much higher proportion of the quotes you do, so the cost of the unsuccessful ones is absorbed by the wins.
How do you convert jobs over the phone without going to site?
A shopping list pricing system lets you estimate most jobs on the phone, skipping the site visit entirely. The process starts in the first three seconds of the call. Answer with energy, smile while you talk, and match the tone of the customer: excited for a renovation, empathetic for a safety issue or emergency.
From there, ask genuine questions. Not a rapid-fire checklist, but real curiosity about what they are trying to achieve. Once you have the information you need, list out each item and its price clearly, then go straight to booking without pausing.
"It is this much for this, this much for this, this much for this. We have ten o'clock Thursday or nine o'clock Friday, which works better for you?"
That move is deliberate. Pausing after price signals uncertainty. Jumping to the schedule signals confidence. The customer shifts from thinking about price to thinking about which day suits them.
If a booking fee is part of your process, collect it on the phone at this point. It covers your costs if the job falls over on site, and it filters out the customers who will haggle, complain, and push for discounts.
What do you do when the job is too complex to quote over the phone?
Some jobs need a site visit because they are too complicated, too custom, or above a dollar threshold where it is worth investing the time to go and build the relationship in person.
The same principles apply on site. Show up well, introduce yourself positively, and ask a lot of questions. Understand what the customer is trying to achieve before you start talking about price. Then present good, better, and best options using your shopping list pricing system, which you have already thought through before you arrived.
Once the options are on the table, go straight to the schedule again. Do not sit on the price. Offer two times and let them choose.
How should a desktop proposal be structured?
When you cannot quote on the phone or close on site, you send a desktop proposal. A vague quote with a single number at the bottom creates questions and erodes trust. A clear, detailed proposal eliminates surprises and removes the excuses customers use to push back or dispute the final bill.
The structure that works:
- Present options clearly, labelled as options from the top of the document so no one reads just the bottom line and panics.
- List inclusions and exclusions explicitly. Cover every common question you have ever been asked, because answering it in the quote means you are not defending yourself later.
- For compliance or safety items, explain what the issue is, why it matters, and reference the relevant regulation. Linking to a government website builds trust because it shows you are quoting fact, not just upselling.
- For project quotes, reference the drawing numbers and plan revision you are quoting from. Plans change between the time you receive them and the time you finish quoting, so be specific about what you are pricing.
The quality of your proposal reflects the quality of your work in the field. A quote with no capital letters, poor grammar, and no structure tells the customer exactly how much care you are going to bring to the job.
What happens after you send the quote?
This is where most tradies lose the job. They send the quote and hope for the best.
Call the customer as soon as the proposal goes out. Walk them through how you arrived at the price, what is included, and which option you recommend. If they are experiencing quote shock, you can address it in the conversation rather than leaving them alone with a number that frightens them.
If you cannot reach them directly, a short video recorded with a tool like Loom and attached to the quote lets you talk through the proposal in your own voice. When everyone else sends a document with numbers, a video of you explaining your thinking is a very different experience. It also solves the problem of one person in a household watching it and having to relay it to the decision maker, because everyone can watch and re-watch the same thing.
After the initial follow-up, keep going. Call again the next day, then three days later, then a week, then a fortnight, then a month. Do not assume silence means no. People get busy, forget, and still need the work done. Follow up until they tell you they have gone with someone else, then remove them from your list and move on.
What are the three biggest reasons tradies lose quotes?
According to Greg, the main reasons are:
- No trust. If the experience from the first call through to the proposal was not seamless and professional, price becomes the deciding factor by default.
- Vague or missing detail. An unclear quote creates confusion, and confused customers go with whoever they trust more, even if that is not you.
- Too slow. The tradie who provides an estimate on the same call, or gets to site the same day, or sends the proposal first, wins more often. Speed signals confidence and capability.
