Most Australian tradies lose jobs in how they quote — not on price. Here are the five changes to response time, detail and follow-up that actually win more work.
You quoted three jobs last week. Two went cold. One went to a bloke whose work you wouldn't trust on a dog kennel.
You assume it's price. It's almost never price.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: most Australian tradies lose jobs in how they quote — not on what they charge. The tradie quote you send, how fast it arrives, what's in it, what it leaves out, does more to win or lose work than your dollar figure ever will. This post is about the quoting habits quietly costing you work — and the five changes that actually move the needle.
(Dropping your prices is not one of them.)
The first thing customers judge is your response time
Speed isn't nice to have. It's the single biggest factor in whether you win the job.
A landmark study from Dr James Oldroyd published in Harvard Business Review found that businesses contacting a new lead within five minutes are 21 times more likely to qualify that lead than businesses that wait just 30 minutes. Wait an hour, and you're starting from behind every other tradie who got in first.
Most tradies take a day. Sometimes two. That gives whoever quoted in the first hour an enormous head start. By the time your quote lands in Sarah's inbox on Wednesday morning, she's already booked the bloke who rang back from his ute on Monday afternoon.
You don't need to send the full quote in 10 minutes. You need to make contact. A single text — "Got your enquiry, I'll have a quote across by Wednesday" — keeps you in the race while everyone else is still catching up. If you're not picking up calls on site, enable text messaging on your Google Business Profile so leads can SMS you direct.
What a winning tradie quote actually includes
This is where most tradies drop the ball. They write the dollar figure on a half-page invoice, attach a PDF, and hit send.
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A bare number tells the customer one thing: how much. It doesn't tell them what they're paying for, why you're the safer choice, or that you actually listened to what they asked for.
A quote that wins jobs includes:
- →A short intro that proves you were listening. Reference something specific they told you. "Hi Sarah, great to chat about the laundry leak in Coorparoo on Tuesday. Here's what I think we should do."
- →Scope of work in plain English. What you'll do. What you won't do. No surprises later.
- →Materials and brands listed by name. Not "supply taps", but "supply and install Methven Aurajet tapware".
- →Inclusions and exclusions. Be specific about what's not in the price. Painting the patch. Disposing of the old hot water unit. Whatever it is — name it.
- →Trust markers. Your ABN, licence number, insurance, and a line about recent reviews.
- →A clear expiry date and payment terms. Thirty days is standard. Materials costs are still moving around enough that anything longer is a risk.
A customer comparing two quotes — one with a number on a single line, one with a clear breakdown and an intro that shows you understood the job — does not pick the cheaper one. They pick the one that feels safer.
The detail that flips price comparisons in your favour
When you're more expensive than the bloke down the road, your quote needs to explain why.
Not in a defensive way. In a useful way.
If you're using better materials, name them. If you're including more in the scope, list it. If your warranty is longer, say so. If you're licensed and insured and the cheaper quote is coming from a sole trader with no public liability, the customer needs to know that before they decide.
Most people, given the choice between "$2,200" and "$2,600 with a five-year workmanship warranty, materials from Reece, and full job photos sent on completion", will pick the second one nine times out of ten. They just need the second option to be visible. If you don't put it on the page, you don't get the credit for it.
Following up is the bit nobody does
Here's a fair bet about your business: you've sent quotes in the last 90 days that you never followed up on.
The quote goes out. The customer goes quiet. You assume they went with someone else. Sometimes they did. Just as often, they got busy, the quote got buried in their inbox, and they meant to reply.
A single follow-up message 3 to 5 days after sending the quote is one of the highest-return things you can do in your business. It takes 90 seconds per quote. It doesn't feel like selling. And it brings back jobs you'd already written off.
Try this:
Hi Sarah, just checking in on the quote I sent through Tuesday. Happy to answer anything if it'd help. Either way, no stress.
That's it. No pressure. No script. No sleaze. Just a reminder you exist.
Four quoting habits to drop today
If you do nothing else, stop doing these:
- →Stop quoting from memory. Write everything down on the call. Dimensions, brands they want, deadlines, parking access, pets. Memory will let you down and your quote will be vague.
- →Stop using a generic template you've never updated. If your quotes still say "subject to inspection on the day" for jobs you've already inspected — fix it.
- →Stop dropping the price to win the job. Customers who choose you on price will leave you on price too. Compete on detail, trust, and speed.
- →Stop assuming silence means no. It usually means "I forgot".
What to do this week
One change, today: set up a saved text on your phone you can fire off within 10 minutes of any new enquiry, even if you can't write the full quote yet.
One change, this week: take your last three quotes that didn't convert and send each customer a one-line follow-up. Just see what happens.
Do those two things and nothing else, and you'll win more work next month than you did last month. The quote isn't a number. It's a sales document — and most tradies are still treating it like a price tag.
