Quote forms and price calculators for a trade website: get the job details before the phone call

This guide is for a tradesperson, installer or small manufacturer who wins most work through a quote: fencing, flooring, decorating, blinds, joinery, and the bigger plumbing and electrical jobs. It covers quote requests that arrive with the details you need, when an instant price calculator wins work and when it loses it, three formulas with the maths shown, what a written quote must say under UK consumer law, and how to measure it. Disclosure: we build Orbit Commerce, whose Form Builder and Calculator Builder add-ons appear below. Every legal point and third-party fact was read at its source on 9 November 2026 and is linked.

What should a quote form ask, and what should it leave out?

A request that says only “How much for a fence?”, with a first name and a mobile number, starts a call that should not have been needed: which fence, how long, what is there now, where and when. Design the quote request the way you would design a product page: ask for what changes the price or decides whether you want the job, and nothing you will not read.

Required: the job type as a dropdown; the postcode, so you know whether you cover it; when they want it done, as a month or “as soon as possible”; and a phone number with the best time to call. Optional: the measurements they can take safely, two or three photos, access and parking, and a budget band, asked “so we quote the right specification”. Leave out the full address, a date and time picker (an enquiry is not a booking), option lists the customer cannot answer, and anything about payment. Under the button, say what happens next: “We reply within one working day with a price or two questions.”

On Orbit, every plan has the built-in enquiry form: name, email, an optional phone number, a subject you can relabel “Which job?” and a message, delivered to your dashboard inbox and your email. For the form above, the Form Builder add-on from the plugin store adds your own fields, file uploads for photos, email notifications, an automatic reply, and a submission list with moderation. It goes on any page, or on a product page as a product enquiry form.

How fast should you reply, and how do you keep the promise?

Promise what you can keep on your busiest Friday, not your quietest Tuesday: “within one working day” kept every time beats “within the hour” missed once. Put it under the button and in the automatic reply, and answer every request, including the ones you turn down. Which? tells customers to get at least three quotes (Which?, read 9 November 2026), so the first useful reply sets the pace: confirm you cover the area and the job, say what happens next and give a date.

For people on the site right now, the Live Chat add-on puts a chat button on every page with your opening hours; outside them an away form takes the question and opens a ticket, and images up to 25MB go both ways. It has a free plan and paid plans, priced on its listing. Emergency work stays a phone number, with no response time promised.

When does an instant price calculator win work, and when does it lose it?

A calculator wins when a measurement the customer can take decides most of the price, and loses when the price depends on what you find. Our guide for plumbers and electricians covers the fixed-price jobs.

A calculator loses jobs with a number you cannot honour or a result with no assumptions under it. Under every result say what it includes, what it assumes and what would change it. Call it a price only when it is one; otherwise head it “Estimate”. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, anything you say or write about the service that the customer relies on becomes a term of the contract (section 50, read 9 November 2026), so “installed from £78 a metre” has to mean it.

Three calculator formulas you can copy

The figures are illustrations, in the Calculator Builder’s own terms: ceil rounds up to a whole number, a lookup table turns a choice into a price, and if(condition, then, else) adds a line when a box is ticked. The builder flags a broken formula before you can publish.

1. Area with waste: flooring in packs

A room 4.2 m by 3.6 m is 15.12 square metres. Add 10% for cuts: 15.12 × 1.1 = 16.63. A pack covers 2.2 square metres, so 16.63 ÷ 2.2 = 7.56, rounded up to 8 packs: packs = ceil(length × width × 1.1 ÷ 2.2). At £31.99 a pack that is £255.92.

2. Price per metre with a lookup: fencing

Offer the height as a dropdown with an installed price per metre in a lookup table: 1.2 m at £62, 1.5 m at £70 and 1.8 m at £78, including VAT. Add a tick box for removing the old fence at £150: total = length × lookup(height) + if(removal, 150, 0). For 18 metres at 1.8 m with removal, 18 × £78 = £1,404 plus £150 is £1,554. Head it “Estimate” and list what changes it: concrete posts, slopes.

3. Day rate plus materials: decorating

Ask how many rooms and work out the days: days = ceil(rooms × 1.5), so two rooms is three days. At £240 a day including VAT, labour is £720; materials at £95 a room add £190; the estimate is £910: total = ceil(rooms × 1.5) × 240 + rooms × 95. Say what moves it: ceilings, woodwork and the state of the walls.

How do you turn a calculator result into a lead or a sale?

A result that sits on the page is a missed lead. Into the basket: on the plugin’s paid plan a calculator on a product page adds that product in the quantity it worked out, rounded up and never below one, at the normal price. Emailed to the customer, and to you: on the plugin’s paid plan, Email results lets the customer send themselves the breakdown from your store’s verified sender. Each submission is stored with their name and email, can be emailed to you, and has a Reply button, so the lead arrives with the measurements in it.

Once the price is agreed, taking the money is ordinary order handling. Build the order by hand in the dashboard with a custom line for the job and save it as a draft until they confirm. Then copy a payment link that works for 7 days, email a payment-due invoice, or mark it paid when the bank transfer lands. A deposit you agree by hand is its own draft order with a custom line sent as a payment link, with the balance as a second order later, while anything bought at checkout is paid in full there (orders). Orbit’s Enterprise plan also carries quotes for trade customers with company accounts (add to quote, a priced PDF, accept and pay); a homeowner’s quote request is an enquiry handled as above.

What must a written quote say under UK consumer law?

This is general information, not legal advice; for your own terms, ask a solicitor or your trade body. The position is as at 9 November 2026.

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 set information duties and a cancellation right. An off-premises contract is agreed with you and the customer together away from your premises, such as their kitchen; a distance contract is made under an organised scheme using only email, phone or the website (regulation 5). Business Companion, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute’s guidance, says a quote left for the customer to accept later is generally an on-premises contract unless they agree immediately after you leave (off-premises sales guide, February 2025, read 9 November 2026). So give the information and the form with every quote, whichever rule applies.

Before the contract, give the Schedule 2 information and the cancellation form. For a job agreed in their home, give them on paper or another durable medium they agree to (regulation 10). For one agreed at a distance, give them in a clear way that suits the medium (regulation 13). Afterwards, confirm the contract on paper or a durable medium before work starts (regulations 12 and 16). Either way the customer can cancel without a reason for 14 days after the day the contract is made (regulations 29 and 30), and if you miss the cancellation information the 14 days become up to 12 months (regulation 31).

From the Schedule 2 list, a quote needs:

• The main characteristics of the work.
• Your identity, address and contact details.
• The total price inclusive of taxes, or how it is calculated.
• Additional charges.
• When and how you will be paid and do the work.
• How to cancel.
• The costs of cancelling after an early start.
• The cases with no right to cancel (Schedule 2).

There is no right to cancel goods made to the customer’s specifications, such as made-to-measure blinds, or a visit they specifically requested for urgent repairs, though extras beyond replacement parts stay cancellable (regulation 28).

Do not start inside the 14 days without their express request, in writing for a job agreed in their home. If they then cancel they pay in proportion for the work done. Once the job is fully performed at their request, and they have acknowledged they would lose the right to cancel, that right is gone. With no cancellation information given they owe nothing (regulation 36). One line on the acceptance does it: “I ask you to start before the 14-day cancellation period ends and understand that if I cancel I will pay for the work done.”

The Schedule 2 price is “inclusive of taxes”, and the advertising code says website prices must include non-optional taxes and charges that apply to all or most buyers. VAT-exclusive prices are allowed only where everyone addressed pays no VAT or can recover it, with the rate or amount stated prominently (CAP Code rule 3.18, read 9 November 2026). A homeowner page therefore shows prices including VAT.

The Which? Trusted Traders Code of Conduct (a voluntary scheme standard) asks for quotations in a durable format setting out the work, the total price inclusive of VAT and other known charges, a breakdown and any deposits or staged payments. It also asks for a revised quote before extra work and written confirmation of the contract (Code of Conduct, read 9 November 2026). Add a valid-until date.

How do you follow up, and how do you measure whether it works?

Send the quote when you said you would. Follow up once after three or four working days and once more when the valid-until date is a week away, then stop.

Then count five numbers a month: visits to the quote page, requests, requests answered inside the promise, quotes sent, and jobs won with their value. The shop’s own analytics count visits, page views, basket adds, checkouts started and purchases without a tag manager; the Form Builder keeps the submission list; and each calculator shows how often it has been seen and how many submissions it has taken. High visits and few requests means the form asks too much or promises too little; many requests and few quotes means you are slow; many quotes and few wins means the price or the quote document needs work.

Where Orbit fits

Everything above except the add-ons is in every Orbit plan, from Solo at £25 a month (£19 a month billed yearly, ex VAT), with a 14-day free trial and no card. That covers the built-in enquiry form, the page builder, draft orders with payment links, bookable services for fixed-price jobs, products and analytics. The Form Builder and Live Chat are add-ons in the plugin store, each with a free plan and paid plans. The Calculator Builder has a free plan for one calculator with results on the page, built from templates such as a coverage or installation quote; the plugin’s paid plan adds more calculators, emailed results and add to basket.

If your pricing needs rules a formula cannot express, our in-house team builds page builder elements as custom development. The team replies with a scope, a timeline and a fixed price in writing, and gives a straight answer first if the Calculator Builder would do the job (see what custom development should cost). For the fixed-price jobs beside your quotes read how to sell services online; showrooms that quote after a design visit have their own guide. Themes for services businesses are filtered in the theme store.

Read next: Checkatrade or your own website, live chat for a one-person shop and taking phone orders and deposits with a payment link.

Questions people ask about quote forms and price calculators

Should a trade website show prices or ask people to request a quote?

Both, by job. Show a price where a measurement decides it or the job is the same every time, and take a quote request with photos where the price depends on what you find.

What should a quote request form ask for?

The job type from a dropdown, the postcode, the month they want it done and a phone number, plus optional measurements, two or three photos, access and a budget band. Leave out the full address, a date picker and anything about payment.

Do instant price calculators put customers off?

Not when the number is one you can honour and its assumptions are shown. Which? tells customers to get at least three quotes, so a clear price is a head start; a low estimate you raise at the visit loses the job.

What must a written quote include under UK consumer law?

The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 set the list for a job agreed in the customer’s home or at a distance. It covers the work’s main characteristics, your identity and address, the total price inclusive of taxes, when you will do the work, how to cancel with the model form, and the cases with no right to cancel. All of it is given before the contract and confirmed on a durable medium.

Can a customer cancel a job after accepting a quote?

Yes, without a reason, for 14 days after the day a contract was made in their home or at a distance, and for up to 12 months if you did not give the cancellation information. If they expressly asked you to start sooner they pay for the work done in proportion. Made-to-measure goods and urgent repairs they requested have no cancellation right.

Orbit’s 14-day free trial, no card required, is long enough to build the form, publish a calculator and send your first payment link.