Plumbers: how to schedule quote visits and job days
Quote visits are short and scattered; jobs take hours or days. How to give each its own slots, group visits by area and turn an accepted quote into a job.
6 min read
Quote visits and jobs need different slots. A quote visit is short and can happen almost anywhere in your area, so it suits a bookable service with short slots, grouped on specific half-days and areas. A job takes hours or days and depends on the quote, the parts and the customer's agreement, so you schedule it yourself once the quote is accepted. Keeping the two apart stops quote visits from breaking up your job days, and job days from pushing quote visits weeks away.
Why mixing them doesn't work
Imagine a day with a water heater replacement across town and two quote visits squeezed in between. Either you leave the job halfway to drive to the visits, or the customers waiting for a quote see you late. The reverse happens too: when every day is full of jobs, a customer who wants a quote for a new bathroom waits weeks for a visit, and asks another plumber.
Quote visits are how future work arrives. They deserve their own place in your week.
Make the quote visit a bookable service
On Book, each type of job is a service with its own price and optional description, and you open slots for each at the length it takes. Create a "Quote visit" service. The price is optional, so a free quote visit is possible; if you charge for it, show the price. Open slots of the length a visit takes you, including a few minutes to measure, take photos and talk it through.
In the description, say what the visit covers and what it doesn't: you look, measure and discuss, and send the quote afterwards. Say which areas you cover, and ask customers to use the optional booking note to describe the project and give their address.
| Item | Quote visit | Planned job |
|---|---|---|
| Who books | The customer, from your page | You, once the quote is accepted |
| Length | Short and predictable | Hours or several days |
| Where it sits | Set half-days, grouped by area | Full days or half-days |
| What's needed first | Address and a short description | Accepted quote, parts, access |
Group quote visits by day and area
Driving is the hidden cost of quote visits. Pick one or two half-days a week for them, and if you cover a wide area, dedicate each half-day to one part of it. One way to do this is a separate quote visit service per area, each opened on its own days, with the area named in the service name. Customers choose their area and see only the days you're there.
Repeat those slots by weekday until an end date, so your quote visit days stay the same from week to week and customers get used to them.
Prepare each visit
- Read the booking note before you go: the project, the address, access or parking details.
- Ask the customer to send photos of the current installation by message or email before the visit, if you find that helpful.
- Bring what you need to measure and note the details for the quote.
- Tell the customer on the spot when to expect the quote.
You receive an email for each new booking, and the customer receives a confirmation email. Book doesn't write quotes or invoices; you prepare the quote the way you usually do.
From accepted quote to job days
When the customer accepts, agree on the dates together, taking into account when you'll have the parts. Then put the job in your calendar: create a slot for each day of the work and book it yourself for that customer. Slots sit within a single day, so a job over three days is three slots. Once you've booked them, they don't appear on your page.
Leave some space in your job days for the unexpected. Old pipes, hidden leaks and parts that don't fit are part of the trade, and a job that overruns shouldn't cancel the next day's quote visits.
Emergencies stay on the phone
Burst pipes and floods need a call, not a booking. Keep your phone for emergencies and say so on your page. Quote visits and planned jobs going through your booking page means fewer calls for them, which makes it easier to pick up the ones that really can't wait.
If a quote visit has to move because of an emergency, reschedule or cancel it from your bookings list and contact the customer, since Book doesn't email them when you change a booking.