PlumbingBossPro Blog — Quotes & Estimates

The Website Request Form: Getting Plumbing Quote Requests Into Form Responses

Not every plumbing customer wants to call. Some are at work and cannot talk. Some found you at midnight while water was dripping into a bucket. Some just prefer typing. If your website only offers a phone number, those people move on to the next company. A request form catches them, but only if the requests land somewhere your office will actually see.

Requests Need One Home

Sales tax, covered in Sales Tax on Plumbing Quotes: Keeping the Estimate and the Invoice in Agreement, is about the end of the quoting process. This article goes back to the very beginning: how a quote request gets to you in the first place.

Many plumbing websites have a contact form that sends an email to someone's inbox. That email gets buried, or goes to a person who is out in a van, or lands in spam. In PlumbingBossPro, the website request form flows into Form Responses, one place in the office side of the software where every request waits to be handled.

What to Ask on a Plumbing Request Form

A request form is a balance. Ask too little and you have to call back for everything. Ask too much and people give up before submitting. For most plumbing companies, a short form works best:

• Name, phone and email. So you can reach them the way they prefer.
• Service address. Where the work is, which might not be where they live.
• What is going on. A free-text box: “Water heater leaking from the bottom,” “Kitchen sink backs up when the dishwasher runs.”
• How urgent it is. Today, this week, or just getting a quote.

The description box is the most useful field. It tells you whether to send a tech, call first, or build a quote right away.

Responding Fast

A form request is a customer who reached out at a moment of need. The faster you respond, the more likely you are to get the job. A few habits help:

• Check Form Responses often. Make it part of the office routine, the same as checking voicemail.
• Reply in the way they asked. If they gave a phone number and said “text me,” text them. Two-way texting from the office lets you reply right from PlumbingBossPro.
• Send a quote when you can. Some requests, like a yearly water heater flush, can be quoted straight from the form using your service list.
• Book a visit when you cannot. Most repairs need a tech to look first. Book the service call and tell them the fee up front.

From Request to Estimate

When a request is clear enough to quote, build the estimate from your service list. Estimate templates make common requests fast. The customer approves online, and the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job.

When a request needs a visit first, the service call becomes the job, and any repair the tech finds gets its own estimate. For what can and cannot be quoted before a visit, see Quoting Over the Phone: What a Plumbing Company Should and Shouldn't Price Before the Visit.

Request Form Versus Sign-Up Form

PlumbingBossPro has two kinds of website forms, and both land in Form Responses:

• The request form is for someone who wants a quote or a visit. It is a conversation starter.
• The sign-up form is for someone ready to sign up for a service and price you have already published, like a yearly water heater flush plan. It captures their card.

The sign-up form is covered next, in The Online Sign-Up Form: Letting Plumbing Customers Sign Up for Service Plans With a Card.

Watch for Repeat Customers

Not every form request is from someone new. A customer you served last year might use the website instead of calling. Before you create anything, check whether they are already a client. If they are, build the estimate or book the visit on their existing record, where their house's equipment and past jobs are already saved. Two records for one customer splits their history and makes the next quote harder, not easier.

Making Your Form Easy to Find

The best form in the world does not help if people cannot find it. Put a clear “Request Service” or “Get a Quote” button near the top of your homepage and on every service page. On a phone, it should be reachable without scrolling far. Many plumbing customers are searching on their phone while standing next to the problem.

Near the form, it helps to say what happens next: “We reply to requests during business hours, usually by text.” Mentioning your service call fee there too saves a back-and-forth later.

A request form that feeds Form Responses turns your website into a second phone line that never goes to voicemail. For how website requests fit into the rest of the quoting process, see the plumbing estimate software page.