How to stop time-wasting enquiries without being rude

Give people the answers they'd get at the survey before they ask for one. Most enquiries that go nowhere fail on price, on area or on the size of the job, and all three can be settled on your website or in one message. A guide price range for their own wall, the postcodes you cover and two or three questions before you book a visit will cut a lot of them. Nobody gets told no. They just find out sooner.

What makes an enquiry a waste of time?

Usually, missing information. Someone who has priced flat-pack wardrobes online and assumes fitted is a bit dearer. Someone two counties away who didn't see where you work. Someone who wants one shelf put up. Hardly any of them set out to waste your afternoon.

That matters for the tone. You aren't catching anybody out. You're telling them what they'd have found out anyway, earlier, when it costs neither of you anything.

Why does price do the most damage?

Because it comes up last. The drive, an hour measuring up and talking through doors and finishes, then an evening at the table pricing it. The job falls through when the number arrives, and by then you've paid for all of it. The survey isn't free. You're just the one paying for it.

Area and job size usually come out on the first call. Price tends to wait for the quote, which is why it's worth moving.

How do you give a ballpark without being held to it?

Make it a range, work it out from the customer's own sizes, and put "subject to survey" in the same place as the number. On GuidePrice's example rates, a 2.4 m wide set of hinged fitted wardrobes in MFC comes out at £2,050 – £2,550, fitted, subject to survey. Those are example rates, not any firm's prices. You can try other widths and finishes in the fitted wardrobe cost calculator.

Someone who sees that and still gets in touch has a rough idea of the figure. The ones it puts off would have found out in their front room instead. I'm not a solicitor, so I can't tell you what a customer could hold you to. What you can control is what they were shown: a range, never one figure, with the survey line next to it.

What should your website say before anyone gets in touch?

The things you'd otherwise say on the phone:

• Where you work. Town names or postcode areas, not "and surrounding areas".
• What you make, and what you don't. If you don't do kitchens, say so.
• Roughly how far ahead you're booked.
• A price, as a range for their wall, if you're willing to show one.

None of that is rude. It's the same information you'd give on the phone, written down once.

What do you ask before booking the survey?

A few questions that take the customer a minute and save you a trip:

• The postcode, so you know it's in your area.
• A rough width, even if it's paced out.
• A couple of photos of the space.

Asking someone their budget straight out can feel blunt. Telling them your ballpark and asking whether it's roughly what they expected does the same job more gently. "For that width in a painted finish I'd expect somewhere in this range, subject to the survey. Is that about where you thought?" If the answer is no, you've both saved an afternoon.

I'm not on the tools, so I'd like to know what you ask. Which question saves you the most wasted trips?

How do you turn a job down politely?

Say why, briefly, and leave the door open. For a job outside your area: "That's further than I usually travel, so the travel would end up on your price. Someone closer will probably do it for less." For a job too small for you: "I'm probably not the best fit for a job that size, but if you ever want the rest of the room done, I'd be glad to price it."

Both are true, and neither tells anyone their budget is wrong. People talk to their neighbours, so it pays to sound like someone they'd ask back.

Where does GuidePrice come in?

It's the estimator I'm building for your website. The customer picks what they want built and puts in their width, finish and extras, and they see a range worked out from your own rates, with your subject-to-survey line beside it. You set the postcode areas you cover, and anyone outside them is told politely that you don't cover their area. Their enquiry isn't kept. You can set a minimum job value, so a small job is priced at your minimum rather than below it. And you can choose to ask for a name, email and postcode before the price shows.

The enquiry reaches you with the sizes, the choices, any photos and the price they saw. It won't stop every survey that goes nowhere, and I won't pretend it will. It moves the price conversation to before the drive. Free accounts open on Tue 24 Nov.