A practical estimator guide
Help more homeowners finish your price estimator.
Ask for the details that shape a useful starting price. Make every question easy for a homeowner to answer.
Redline Heat Pumps
Auckland homes
Which area would you like to keep warm?
Choose the closest match. We use this to work out a suitable starting option for your home.
Living area
Open-plan or main lounge
One bedroom
A single room
Several rooms
More than one area
The aim
Make each answer do a job.
A shorter estimator is not automatically a better one. Keep the questions that affect the starting estimate or help your team understand the enquiry. Make the rest conditional or leave it out.
The home
Ask for details the owner can see or know.
The need
Start with the room or result they want.
The timing
Let them say if they are still researching.
The area
Ask for a suburb when that is enough.
This heat pump path is an example, not a standard template. Your estimator needs the inputs that make sense for your prices, service area and way of quoting.
Need photos for a firm quote?
Ask for optional photos after sharing the starting estimate, when they can see why the extra detail would help.
Start with the homeowner
Ask about their home, not trade jargon.
Homeowners can tell you what they want to heat and what sort of home they live in. They may not know the technical specification that fits it. Use their answers to work out a suitable starting point.
Check that every question connects to a price input, a useful follow-up, or a clear fit decision.
Hard to answer
What kW output do you need?
Ask what they know
Which area would you like to keep warm?
The homeowner knows the room. Your pricing rules should handle the technical choice.
Hard to answer
What is the exact floor area?
Ask what they know
Which best describes the space?
Use simple answer choices if an exact measurement is not needed for a starting estimate.
A heat pump example
When are you thinking about installing?
A clear research option gives people room to answer honestly. It also tells your team what sort of follow-up fits.
Qualify without pressure
Give people an honest answer for “not yet”.
Timing can be a useful sign of intent, but not everyone is ready to book an install. Include a clear option for people who are comparing prices or researching. That gives you a more truthful signal and helps the team choose an appropriate follow-up.
Set the answer choices around how your business works. Avoid a vague “Other” or “I’m not sure” option when a short explanation can help someone choose accurately.
Make choices easy to understand
Use hints to help people choose well.
A short note can explain what an answer means or why you need it. That helps a homeowner choose without having to guess at a technical term.
Keep the help text close to the question. If it takes a paragraph to explain, try rewriting the question first.
Property type
What type of home is it?
Choose the closest match. This helps us allow for the home layout.
Single-storey
Main rooms on one level
Two-storey or more
Bedrooms or living areas upstairs
Check the evidence
Find the question that needs work.
Look at how many people view, start and submit the estimator. Then review the question-by-question drop-off to see where visitors stop. Compare like with like, because traffic sources and job types can behave differently.
Change one thing at a time. Check whether more people finish and whether the answers still give your team enough detail to act.
What to compare
Find the point where interest drops.
Estimator views
01Can people find it and understand what they will get?
Estimator starts
02Does the first question feel easy and relevant?
Estimator submissions
03Which step gives people a reason to stop?
The bars show the steps to compare, not a benchmark. Use your own results and check that lead quality holds up as completion improves.
Before you publish
A quick question check.
Read the estimator as if you were a homeowner seeing the business for the first time.
- 01Can a homeowner answer each question without trade knowledge?
- 02Does every answer affect the price, fit or next conversation?
- 03Have you explained unfamiliar terms with a short hint?
- 04Can someone say they are researching without pretending to be ready now?
- 05Have you checked where people stop, then reviewed lead quality after a change?
Put it into practice
First, make sure people can find it.
A clear estimator works best when visitors can reach it from the pages where they are deciding what to do next.