Ask a builder, plumber or electrician how they get most of their work and you'll hear the same answer: the phone. A customer with a leak, a broken boiler or a job that needs quoting picks up their phone and starts calling. The problem is simple — when you're up a ladder, under a sink or driving between jobs, you can't answer. And a customer who doesn't get an answer doesn't leave a voicemail. They call the next name on the list.
Let's put a number on it
Say you miss just five calls a week. That's modest — most busy trades miss more. Over a year that's around 260 missed calls. Not every one is a job, but plenty are. If even one in ten would have booked, and an average job is worth £500, that's:
For bigger jobs — a bathroom, a rewire, an extension — the number climbs fast. One missed extension enquiry can be worth more than a month of small jobs.
Voicemail isn't the safety net you think
Most people won't leave a voicemail for a trade they've never used. Research on missed calls consistently shows the majority of first-time callers simply hang up and dial the next result. Your voicemail greeting is often talking to nobody. The customer has already moved on before it finishes playing.
The fix isn't hiring — it's not missing them in the first place
The obvious answer is "hire someone to answer the phone." But a part-time receptionist is expensive, only covers office hours, and still can't answer at 8pm when a worried homeowner is Googling "emergency plumber near me."
The better answer is to make sure every customer who calls or messages gets an instant response and an easy way to book — day or night, without you touching your phone. That's exactly what we build: a website that works like an extra pair of hands, catching the enquiries you'd otherwise lose and turning them into booked jobs.
You stay on the tools. The work stops walking to your competitors. And you get a straight answer to a question most trades never measure: how much am I losing, and how do I stop it?