Client intake process for trade businesses: one page of process, one page of form.
The five steps from enquiry to booking with a clock on each, what every new client is told in writing before booking, and a one-page intake form for the first call. For electricians, plumbers, painters and any trade that quotes before it books. Free, no email required.
What is a good client intake process for a trade business?
Five steps, each with a named owner and a clock: enquiry logged the same day; qualified within one working day (job, address, urgency, access, budget, photos); site visit or video call within three; quote within two working days of the visit with scope, exclusions and validity; then booking confirmed in writing with a reminder the day before. Before booking, every client is told the call-out fee, the hourly rate, when the clock starts, when the invoice comes and what happens when something unexpected is found. Across 20,286 publicly posted reviews of NZ electricians, plumbers and painters, responsiveness is praised in 20.4 to 38.0% of positive reviews and quote accuracy in only 6.7 to 11.1%. Both are decided in the first call.
The job this document is doing.
- —The web form enquiry sits unread for four days and the job goes to whoever rang back first
- —The site visit happens and nobody wrote down what the client actually asked for
- —The hourly rate and call-out fee are explained for the first time on the invoice
- —The house was built in 1978 and nobody asked about asbestos before quoting the ceiling
Open it and use it today.
- 01Five-step process table: what happens, who does it, and the clock on each
- 02What every new client is told in writing before booking
- 03Intake form: contact, the job in the client’s words, urgency, access and hazards, next step
- 04Asbestos, switchboard, parking and animals on the form so the site visit is not the first time they come up
Free to use and adapt for your own business. Not legal advice: check contract terms against your own terms of trade and, where it matters, with a lawyer.
Why this document, and not another one.
| Trade | Responsiveness praised | Quote accuracy praised | Clear explanation praised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbers | 38.0% | 6.7% | 35.5% |
| Electricians | 34.5% | 6.8% | 34.9% |
| Painters | 20.4% | 11.1% | 36.2% |
Share of positive reviews (80 or more out of 100) mentioning each trait, from 20,286 publicly posted reviews of 369 NZ electricians, plumbers and painters, collected August 2026. Full corpus, method and thresholds: the trades methodology page. Full findings: the trades research study.
Use it alongside
Overdue invoice reminder templates
Day 1, day 7, day 14 with a phone script, and a 30-day final notice, written in plain NZ English with the brackets to replace.
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