Why electrician quotes don't convert after the site visit

If saying yes means ringing you, some won't

The third death is quiet. The quote ends with "let me know". To say yes, the customer has to ring you. You're in a loft. It goes to voicemail. They meant to try again.

The same ServiceTrade analysis found that quotes the customer viewed online were approved more often. Commercial customers again, so take the direction and not the size. Housecall Pro's report says it in a line: "Friction is what stalls the close."

So give them a button, a date and a next step. If your quoting software has an approve button, switch it on. Offer two dates in the quote itself. Say what happens after yes: the deposit, the day, the power. If you've got no software, end with a question they can answer by text in one word: "Shall I book you in for the 21st?"

Read the last line of your current quote. If it says "let me know", change it today.

The driveway rule: the quote leaves before the van does

One routine fixes all three. It has three parts and a clock.

Once, at your desk: build the templates. List the five jobs you quote most. A panel upgrade or consumer unit change. An EV charger. Extra circuits for a kitchen. Yours will differ. For each one, save the line items, your price, the included and not-included lines, and the deposit. You probably own the tool already. Jobber has quote templates on all plans, up to 30 of them, and they work in the app once you've created them on the web. Housecall Pro keeps estimate templates in the price book. ServiceTitan's mobile app has estimate templates "for common jobs", provided the office has put them in a proposal template. In the UK, Tradify says you can save templates, price lists and kits. No software, or a one-van outfit? Five saved documents on your phone do the same job.

At the visit: collect what the template needs. Take five photos: the panel, the meter, the cable route, where the new kit goes, and anything that will cost extra. ServiceTrade's data put the best number of photos and videos on a quote at about five, which is easy to remember. Get your measurements. Ask two questions: "Is there a date you need this done by?" and "Who else needs to see the quote?"

In the van: 20 minutes, then send. Do it before you turn the key. Open the template. Change the quantities. Write the three lines about their house while you can still see it. Attach the photos. Send. Then text them that it's in their inbox. That text is day 0 of the 0-3-7-12 follow-up, and the rest of the sequence runs from there.

The 20 minutes is my target, not a measurement. Five to fill the template. Ten for the lines about their house and the photos. Five to read it once and send. If your first few take 35, fine. They used to take until Thursday.

If it won't price in 20 minutes, send a date. A rewire. A three-phase supply. Anything waiting on a supplier price. Don't guess. Text before you drive off: "I need a price from the wholesaler. You'll have the quote by Thursday at 5." Then hit Thursday. A promised date beats silence.

What one more yes a month is worth

Start with your win rate. I couldn't find an independent benchmark for electricians. The nearest thing is a vendor figure. Gas Engineer Software, a UK job-management tool for gas engineers, says its users win about 47% of their quotes, and it expects that's above the industry average. So count your own: quotes won divided by quotes sent, over your last 20.

Now the sum. Say you send six quotes a week and win two. Suppose the driveway rule wins you one extra job a month. Not one a week. One a month. If your average quoted job is $1,800 (about £1,400), that's 12 jobs and $21,600 a year, from visits you already drove to. The price is one evening on templates and 20 minutes after each visit. Six visits is two hours a week, and you were going to spend those at the kitchen table anyway.

That's an example, not a promise. Run it with your own average. If your leak is earlier, calls that never became site visits, the calculator does that sum.

What the driveway rule won't fix

It won't fix the price. If you're well above the other two and the quote doesn't say why, fast only gets you a no sooner.

It isn't a licence to push. Fast means the quote arrives. It doesn't mean they sign at the table. In the UK, a contract agreed at the customer's home is an off-premises contract, and the customer can cancel for 14 days after agreeing it. You must not start inside those 14 days unless they've expressly asked you to, on paper or by email. Start without that request and they can cancel owing nothing for the work you've done. Urgent repairs they called you out for are an exception.

In the US, the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule covers sales of $25 or more made at the buyer's home, including ones that follow the buyer's own invitation. The buyer has until midnight of the third business day to cancel. The rule has exceptions, and state law may differ. I'm a plumber, not a lawyer. Check with your own advisor.

It won't price the hard jobs. A full rewire or a commercial board needs a proper survey and a phone call. Send the date, do the survey, then quote.

And there's no AI in it. I wouldn't let AI price an electrical job. It can't see the panel, it can't test anything, and it can't sign the certificate. A template and a clock do this work. What I build with AI sits one step earlier. It catches the call while your hands are full, finds out the job, the address and the urgency, and hands it to you. That's on the electricians page. If nobody answers that call, there's no visit to quote.

Do this this week

1. Pull your last ten quotes. Note the days from visit to send, and how many you won.
2. Pick the five jobs you quote most. Build one template each, with the included and not-included lines.
3. On your next visit, take the five photos and ask the two questions.
4. Send that quote before you turn the key. Time it.
5. Text them it's sent, then run the 0-3-7-12.

If you want a second pair of eyes on where your quotes go quiet, book a growth call. Thirty minutes, free. If the answer is five templates and a timer, I'll say so.