Can I Choose Which Jobs I Take?
Yes. Every opportunity is an offer you can accept or decline. Declining is fine; silence is the only thing that causes a problem.
The short answer
Yes. You decide which jobs to accept, and turning one down costs you nothing.
Every opportunity we send is an offer, not an instruction. If it is outside your trade, too far away, too big, too small or simply badly timed, decline it. There is no fee, no penalty and no mark against you. The one thing we ask is that you tell us, the same day where possible.
Declining is fine. Silence isn't. That single distinction is what the rest of this page is about.
Why it matters
A quick no is as useful as a yes
When an enquiry comes in, a customer is waiting to hear who will visit. If you decline straight away, we can offer it to another contractor in the network and the customer barely notices the gap. If you say nothing, the enquiry sits with you, the customer waits, and we cannot plan anything around it.
That is why response time matters far more to us than how many jobs you take. A contractor who turns down half of what they are offered, quickly and clearly, is easier to work with than one who accepts everything and then goes quiet.
Because we appoint one contractor to each enquiry rather than sending it to several at once, your reply decides where the job goes next. Is the work exclusive? explains that side of it.
Fair reasons
Good reasons to turn a job down
It isn't your trade
If the work sits outside what you do well, say so. Appointing the right contractor is better for everyone, the customer included.
You're fully booked
Accepting work you can't start in reasonable time only moves the problem along. Tell us you're busy. We would rather know than overload you.
The job doesn't suit you
Access, scale, travel or anything else. You don't need to justify it at length. A one-line reply is enough.
How it works
Accepting or declining an opportunity
We send you the opportunity
You see the outline of the job and where it is.
You reply the same day
Ideally within about two hours. Accept, decline, or ask a question first if you need to.
If we haven't heard in 24 hours
An automated reminder goes out asking you to accept, decline or reschedule.
If you accept
We book the site visit around your availability and the customer's, and the process runs from there.
Allocation
How declining fits with the work you are sent
Declining doesn't count against you. Allocation is based on track record: how quickly you respond, how well you communicate, how professionally you deal with customers and how your completed work goes. The number of jobs you accept isn't on that list. How are jobs allocated? gives the short version and how opportunities are allocated gives the full one.
What does count is repeated non-response. A contractor who stops answering is, after a while, assumed to be no longer interested and taken out of the active network. That isn't a punishment. It is the only sensible reading of silence.
Once you accept a job, the usual standards apply: attend the site visit, price it, keep us told. Contractor response time standards and what if I can't attend a site visit? cover that side.
In practice
What a good reply looks like
It doesn't need to be long. 'Yes, I can do Tuesday or Thursday morning' gives us what we need to book the visit. 'No thanks, too far out for me this month' lets us offer the job elsewhere straight away. Either is a good reply, because either lets the customer move forward.
If you are on a roof when the opportunity comes through, reply when you're down. The same-day aim exists because customers expect to hear back within a day, not because we expect you to answer mid-job. What we want to avoid is an opportunity sitting unanswered overnight while the customer wonders whether anybody is coming.
And if a pattern builds up, such as a type of job you never take or a stretch of weeks when you're fully committed, tell us. It saves you declining the same kind of work repeatedly, and it helps us offer you the jobs you actually want.
Tell us as early as you can. Plans change, and a contractor who communicates is treated very differently from one who simply doesn't turn up. A contractor who misses their first site visit without good reason or communication is removed. That rule exists because communication is the whole job.
Straight answers
Choosing your work
Do I have to accept a minimum number of jobs?
No. Turning work down carries no penalty, and allocation follows track record rather than how many jobs you accept.
Can I ask questions before I decide?
Yes. Asking a question is a reply, and it is far better than silence while you think it over.
Do I pay anything for jobs I accept?
No. There is nothing upfront and no charge per job. Our fee is added on top of your trade rate in the customer's quotation. See do you charge for leads? and the Work with Mortaro overview.
For contractors
Tell us about your business
Your trade, the areas you cover and the size of work you take on. A person reads every enquiry, and if it looks like a fit we will send you the full application.