The job goes to whoever replies first.
A lot of people would rather type a plumbing problem than ring about it — at night, from work, in between other things — and they look for somewhere to do that before they look for a number. A page that takes the job and answers them in your name is that somewhere. When your listing has one and the next doesn't, that's often where the decision gets made. When it doesn't, they'll have to choose someone who has.
Some people would rather not ring.
It's not that they can't. Ringing a stranger about a problem you can't quite describe means explaining it on the spot, being asked things you don't know the answer to, and writing down whatever comes back. Typing it means saying it once, properly, with a photo, at whatever hour it suits. And typing is how the rest of their week already works — the taxi, the dinner, the groceries, all booked without talking to anyone. That's how things are now, and it isn't going back.
Plenty of them want to know a few things before they ring anyway: do you do gas, are you licensed, do you come out to their suburb, roughly when. A page that answers those and then takes the request means they never have to ring to ask.
It also covers the hours nobody's answering. Plumbing problems get noticed at night and on weekends, and calls come in while you're on a job and can't pick up. The page takes the request either way, tells them when they'll hear from you, and has it waiting in your email — name, suburb, what's broken, when to ring.
And it's visible. The map row shows your listing next to the others, and a book button that opens a real page is a difference a customer can see before they've chosen anyone. For the one who was looking for a way to book without ringing, that's the whole decision. For the rest, the reply that says you've got it is the reason they stop ringing down the list.
None of this replaces the phone. The job still gets sorted on a call — it's just the second contact now instead of the first, and a better one: you already know who, where and what's broken, and they already know you're coming.
Right now your number is the only way in. For the customer who'd rather not ring, that's no way in at all.
What happens when someone fills it in.
Set up once. After that, every request runs the same way, without you touching anything.
Any hour
They fill it in
On the page behind the book button on your Google listing and on Apple Maps, and linked from your website if you’ve got one. They tap the job, say how soon, and leave a name, a number and a suburb.
Straight away
It lands in your email
Name, suburb, what’s broken, when to ring — one email, on your phone, the moment they send it. Nothing to log into and nothing to check.
Straight away
They get a reply, in your name
It says you’ve got it and when they’ll hear from you. It can name the job they picked, like the one here, and it can do more if you want it to — a link to your calendar, a different reply for each kind of work. It starts as one honest email, and it never needs you to touch it.
A couple of days later
A check-in, to them
A short email in your name asking whether they got the call back, with your number in case they didn’t. It catches the one that slipped, and it needs nothing from you.
The page they fill in.
This is what the link opens: your page, with your name on it. They tap the job, say how soon, leave a number and a suburb, and send. It's built for a phone, because that's what they're holding.
The jobs are buttons
The work you do most — blocked drains, hot water, whatever yours are — is a row of buttons, so the first step is one tap and not a blank box. There’s a box for the details after it, and people usually add a line or two.
“I’ll call you back today”
That line is on the page and in the reply, and it’s written to your week: today, tomorrow morning, Monday if you don’t work weekends. The call is still yours to make — the page makes sure you know it’s waiting, and they know it’s coming.
Name, mobile, suburb — done
The required part is four fields. Photos, pets, gate codes all stay optional. Less to fill in means more people actually finish it.
Already got a form on your website? Keep it.
This isn't a new website, and it isn't a replacement for the one you've got. It's one page with one job: to take a booking from someone who'd rather not ring, and to answer them. The form is the smallest part of that. What does the work is what's behind it — the email that reaches you, the reply that reaches them, the check-in — and that's the part a contact form usually doesn't have. Building it into an existing site is often more work than giving the job its own page, so that's what we do: your website links to it, it links back to your website, and the same link sits behind the book button on your Google listing and on Apple Maps.
No two of these come out the same, because no two plumbers run the same. Before anything gets built we go through how you actually work — what you do most, what you won't touch, when you take calls, what you'd want to know before you ring someone back — and the page is built to that. It carries your name, your colours and your licence the way your van does. And if you'd like it to do more than take a request and answer it, it can, however far you want to take it.
It all sits in your accounts.
The page, the emails it sends and every request that's ever come through it are in your name, with any access we had handed back at the end. If you stop using us, nothing stops: the page keeps taking bookings, and the replies keep going out.
The questions we get, answered.
I use ServiceM8. Does this replace it?
No. The page sits alongside whatever you run jobs in — the request lands in your email either way, and if your software can take it from there, we set that up.
I don’t have a website. Where does the page live?
On its own address. That address goes behind the book button on your Google listing and the one on Apple Maps, which is where customers find you anyway. If you do have a website, the two link to each other.
What if something breaks?
There’s not much that can. It’s email end to end — no credits to run out, no number to keep alive, nothing that needs feeding. If a login ever changes, it’s a small fix: tell us, and it’s done.
What if I’m away, or don’t work weekends?
The call-back line is written to your week from the start — Monday if you don’t do weekends, tomorrow morning if you knock off at five. For a week away, or Christmas, tell us before you go and the page says so while you’re gone.
Can it do more than an email each way?
Yes. The reply can name the job they picked, link to your calendar, or say something different for each kind of work. It starts as one email each way, because that’s what runs with nothing to maintain, and it only grows if you want it to.
Replying first only happens if they found you in the first place — that's Get Found — and the enquiry you just won is worth more again if they hear from you next season — that's Get Remembered. One setup, three outcomes.