Electrical estimate request intake
Most calls to an electrical contractor are not emergencies. They are someone wanting a price, and what happens on that call decides whether you spend the following week driving to surveys that were never going to convert.
Why quoting on the phone does not work
Because the price depends on things the caller cannot see and often does not know: the state of the existing installation, what the board can take, whether there is capacity on the supply, how far the cable run is, and what is in the way.
A number given blind on a call becomes an argument later, and the customer is right to be annoyed — you told them a figure. So the honest answer is a survey. The problem is that surveys cost you a half-day, and a diary full of the wrong ones is its own kind of loss.
What a good intake call captures
Enough to make the survey productive and enough to decide whether it should happen at all.
The job itself, in the caller’s words. The property type and rough age, because a 1960s house and a new build are different jobs. Whether there is existing provision — an outside socket, a spare way in the board, an existing circuit. Access and parking, which decides how long the visit takes. And whether there is a deadline, because a certificate needed for a sale next month is a different conversation from a vague someday.
None of that requires an electrician. All of it makes the electrician’s visit shorter and the quote more accurate.
| Enquiry | What to capture on the call | Why it changes the quote |
|---|---|---|
| EV charger | Parking position, board location, supply type | Cable run and supply capacity dominate the price |
| Consumer unit replacement | Property age, current board, known faults | Old wiring can turn a swap into a rewire |
| Extra sockets | Room, how many, existing circuit nearby | Chasing walls is most of the labour |
| Outdoor lighting | Run length, power source, surface type | Route and fixing method set the time |
| Inspection or certificate | Reason, deadline, property size | A sale deadline changes the priority |
Qualifying without being rude about it
Not every enquiry deserves a survey, and the ones that do not are usually identifiable on the call. A caller collecting a fifth quote, a job outside your area, work you do not take, or a budget that is nowhere near the job — each of those is a half-day you can decline politely and keep.
Handled well this is not off-putting. Telling someone plainly that a job of that shape usually lands in a particular range, before either of you spends a morning on it, is a service. Most people would rather hear it than have their time wasted too.
The rules are yours: your area, your minimum job size, the work you do not take. The AI applies them consistently, including on the enquiry that arrives at 9pm.
The one thing intake must never do
Guess about safety. If a caller mentions burning, scorching, a hot panel or sparking, the call stops being an estimate enquiry and becomes something urgent, whatever they originally rang about.
That reclassification has to be automatic rather than dependent on whoever answered noticing. Where your rules say a caller should be told to isolate a circuit or leave the property and contact the network operator, that instruction comes before any booking conversation.
What lands on the board
A survey appointment with the groundwork attached: the job description, property details, existing provision, access notes and any deadline. The electrician arrives knowing what they are looking at instead of starting from a name and an address.
What should I read next?
The electrical overview covers why the trade loses calls. The receptionist page covers what the AI says when it answers and how it handles a possible hazard.
Electrical overview · what the AI says and books · electrical answering service.