Quote-Ready Enquiries: A Practical Template for Trade Businesses

A quote request template for trades should produce a quote-ready enquiry, not an automatic quote: a structured packet of job details that lets the estimator choose between a fixed price, a range, a review or a site visit. The chatbot's role is to collect the inputs and pick the right path, using one of four pricing states, never to improvise a number.

Quote-ready is not auto-quoted#

The first round of phone tag on a quote is usually the same: what is the job, where is it, how big is it, when do you need it, and can we get access? A quote-ready enquiry answers those questions before the first call, so the estimator's first contact with the customer can be about the quote itself.

Our earlier guide to get-a-quote chatbots covers deciding what can be priced safely, with worked examples. This article adds the template: a packet design and four pricing states you can apply to any service.

Start from the estimating decision#

Work backwards. What does the estimator need in order to choose between:

• a fixed price,
• a range,
• a site visit, or
• "not enough information"?

Whatever drives that choice belongs in the packet. Anything that does not can wait.

The packet#

A useful packet may include:

• Service requested, in the business's own categories.
• Suburb, for travel and service-area rules.
• Property type: house, unit, commercial.
• Dimensions or quantities, such as number of downlights, square metres or metres of fencing.
• Access conditions: stairs, roof height, a locked site.
• Preferred timing.
• Residential or commercial.
• Contact preference.

Only ask what is relevant to the service. A tap replacement does not need square metres. For high-variation work, collect the context and book an assessment rather than pushing the assistant toward a number.

The four pricing states#

Every service should sit in one of four states, and the chatbot should know which:

1. Published fixed price. Repeat the current approved price and its inclusions and exclusions. Nothing else.
2. Approved range. Show the range, the assumptions behind it and the factors that can move it.
3. Estimator required. Collect the required inputs and promise only that a person will review them.
4. Site visit required. Explain why, and offer the approved booking path.

The point of the states is that the assistant never calculates from an unstated rule. Callout fees, formulas and inclusions should be stored as structured rules, tested at their boundaries, and replaced, not duplicated, when they change.

Wording that sets the right expectation#

Customer-facing language matters:

• "Based on what you've told me, this usually falls within…" sets an expectation.
• "Your quote is…" may create one the business did not intend.

Depending on the context, a quote can carry obligations, so have your own wording reviewed for your circumstances. Add a short disclaimer to any range, and say clearly when a person will confirm the final price.

Template#

Service: ____________
Pricing state: Fixed / Range / Estimator review / Site visit
Required inputs: ____________
Optional inputs: ____________
Approved wording for the price: ____________
Inclusions / exclusions: ____________
What the customer is told happens next: ____________
Owner and review date: ____________

Fill one in for each service that generates regular enquiries. The template doubles as a brief for staff answering the phone.

Test the boundaries#

Before going live, test each priced service with:

• An enquiry that sits exactly on a boundary, such as the largest size in a range.
• An enquiry just outside it.
• A request for a discount.
• An old price the customer saw somewhere else.
• A job that sounds simple but needs inspection.

The assistant should either apply the approved rule or route to review. It should never split the difference.

Setting it up in Pivra#

Pivra's Pricing & Quotes feature (Starter and above) supports both pricing rules, for fixed, minimum or maximum prices with inclusions and exclusions, and estimator tools, which have a base price or range, input fields the chatbot gathers, adjustments and an optional disclaimer. For services you have defined there, the chatbot uses only those rules; for anything else it can suggest contacting you for a quote or capture the details. See service pricing and quotes.

Quote capture adds your own quote fields, and the enquiries appear under Leads, filtered as quote requests. With the ServiceM8 integration, the quote details are written into the job description of a new enquiry job. The quote request chatbot page and the industry pages for plumbers and HVAC businesses show which details are worth capturing.

Our electrician guide applies the same principle to electrical work: collect quote information, don't fabricate a price.

Next step: build one quote-ready packet for the service that causes the most phone tag, and decide which of the four pricing states it belongs in.