Deck Estimate instant estimate — Overview

What visitors see

1. Start screen. The business name, a headline and a button. Unless you change them, the headline is “Get a free instant estimate” and the button is “Get started”.
2. Services. Under the heading “What deck work do you need?”, the visitor taps one or more of the 9 services listed below, then Next.
3. Questions. One question per screen, with the service name above it and a step count at the top. Questions that allow several answers say “(Select any that apply)”. Back and Start over are on every question.
4. Contact details. The visitor fills in Name, Email, Zip and Phone. Name, Email and Zip are required; Phone is optional. Zip must be 5 digits. The visitor taps See your estimate.
5. Estimate. A total range, one line per service picked, a collapsed “How this was figured” section and a note that the number is not a final quote. Below it are Book a free on-site quote and Change my answers.

No price is shown before the contact step. The estimate appears as soon as the visitor taps See your estimate.

Services and questions

This tool has 9 services. Each service asks its own questions, in this order.

After the service questions, every visitor gets one more question: “When would you like this done?”

How the price is worked out

Each service starts at $0. Its questions are applied in the order above. Each answer does one of two things:

• adds a dollar range (a low and a high amount), or
• raises or lowers the running total for that service by a percent.

A percent applies to everything added before it in that service. A dollar amount added after a percent is not changed by that percent. When a question allows several answers, each one picked is applied, in the order the answers are listed.

Questions that allow several answers can be left with none picked.

Some services ask for a size or a count first. The answer to the next question is a price per unit, and the tool multiplies it by that number. When the visitor leaves the box, a number outside the allowed range is moved to the nearest end of the range.

Most questions include an answer labelled “I'm not sure — use the average”. It has its own price or percent, which you can edit like any other answer.

The timing question (“how soon” or “when”) does not change the price in this tool. It is passed on with the lead.

Then the tool puts the services together:

1. Some services have their own minimum. A service that comes out lower is raised to it: New Composite Deck $3,000; New Wood Deck $3,000.
2. The services picked are added together.
3. The total is not widened. You can widen it with How wide your range shows.
4. A total under $250 is raised to $250, the tool minimum.
5. The total is rounded to the nearest $10.

The line for each service on the estimate screen shows that service on its own, in whole dollars. It is not widened or rounded to $10, so the lines may not add up exactly to the total.

Worked example

This uses the tool’s default prices. A visitor picks New Composite Deck and answers:

1. “About how many square feet is your new deck?” — 300 sq ft. This sets the size; it adds nothing by itself.
2. “What composite grade would you like?” — Standard grade: $40–$55 per sq ft × 300 = $12,000–$16,500 added. Running total $12,000–$16,500.
3. “How high off the ground is the deck?” — Elevated (needs stairs and framing): adds 15%. Running total $13,800–$18,975.
4. “Add any extras?” — Lighting package: adds $400–$900. Running total $14,200–$19,875.
5. “When would you like this done?” — As soon as possible: no change.

The total is rounded to the nearest $10. The visitor sees $14,200 – $19,880. The New Composite Deck line shows $14,200 – $19,875.

Your prices

In the Price tool card, open Your prices. The panel starts from the tool’s default prices. It has these parts:

• Your business: Subline, Button label, Logo URL and Booking URL. The business name, headline and color come from the card’s Business name, Headline visitors see and Your color fields.
• One group per service. Each starts with Minimum for this service, then one row per answer, labelled with the question and the answer. A row is either a low and high dollar amount or a percent. Size and count questions also have a “default” row, which sets the number the question starts at.
• General questions: the rows for “When would you like this done?”.
• Your minimum job: the tool minimum.
• How wide your range shows: a percent from 0 to 50 that widens the total on each side.

Reset to defaults puts every row back. Click Save to keep your changes. A tool that is turned on shows the new prices the next time a visitor opens it.

If you switch Which price tool to a different trade, your price changes for the old trade are not kept. The business name, headline and color are kept.

With a Client pricing link, the business owner can edit these same prices without signing in. See the price tools overview.

Leads

A lead is saved when the visitor taps See your estimate. It holds the name, email, zip, phone (if given), every answer, the estimate shown and, when the browser reports it, the page the tool was on. Nothing is saved before that step.

Each lead goes to the addresses in Email new leads to, and to you as well when Send me a copy too is ticked. The email carries your agency’s name. When Text new leads is ticked, an Owner’s mobile is set and The business owner agreed to receive lead texts at this number is ticked, the owner also gets a text with the visitor’s name, phone and estimate.

The visitor is emailed a copy of their estimate under the business name. A reply goes to the first address in Email new leads to.

If the visitor taps Book a free on-site quote and you set a Booking URL, it opens that page. With no booking URL, the owner gets a second alert marked “Visit requested”, and the visitor sees “Request sent. [business name] will contact you.” When the site has a phone number, a Call button with that number appears under it.

Leads are listed in the card under Leads from your price tool, with the date, name, zip, contact, estimate shown and which alert went out.

Limits

The contact step can be sent 12 times per hour from one internet address. After that, the visitor still sees the estimate, but the details are not sent and the visitor sees “We couldn’t send your details just now — please call the business directly.” The same message appears if the details fail to send for any other reason.

Questions

Is the estimate a quote?

No. The estimate screen and the visitor’s email both say it is a ballpark range, not a final price.

Does a visitor have to give a phone number?

No. Name, email and zip are required. Phone is optional.

Can a visitor pick more than one service?

Yes. Each service gets its own questions and its own line on the estimate, and the total adds them together.

Can a visitor change an answer after seeing the price?

Yes. Change my answers goes back to the services screen.

What happens when I turn the tool off?

The tool stops loading. Anyone who opens it sees “This price tool isn’t turned on yet.” Your prices and leads are kept.

Is a visitor’s information sold?

No. See the privacy policy.