Contractor Response Time Standards
When a new opportunity lands, we need an answer the same day. Yes and no are both good answers. Silence is the only wrong one.
Response times
When an opportunity lands, we need an answer the same day. Yes and no are both good answers.
The standard is short enough to fit on a van door. Reply to a new opportunity the same day, ideally within about two hours. If we have not heard from you after twenty-four hours, an automated reminder asks you to accept, decline or reschedule.
Declining is completely fine. Silence is not.
This page explains what counts as a response, why the window is what it is, what happens if you miss it, and why established contractors are treated with more latitude than new ones. It is one of the standards set out on our contractor network overview, and it is the one that shapes almost everything else.
The definition
What counts as a response
A response is a decision, not a quote and not a site visit. When we send you a new opportunity, we are asking one question: can you take this one?
There are three good answers. Accept, and we book you in for the site visit with the customer. Decline, and we offer it to another contractor straight away. Reschedule, if the job suits you but the proposed timing does not, and we work out a time that fits you and the customer.
That is all the response window asks for. You do not need to have looked at the property, priced anything or spoken to the customer. We have already qualified the enquiry and we handle the conversation with the customer. What we need from you is a clear answer so that everybody knows where they stand.
The quote comes later and has its own standard, covered in quote turnaround expectations.
The timeline
What happens after an opportunity is sent
The opportunity arrives
A qualified enquiry in your area and trade, with the details you need to decide whether it suits you. It has been sent to you and nobody else.
Ideally within about two hours: you reply
Accept, decline or ask to reschedule. A quick answer lets us confirm the visit with the customer while they are still expecting to hear from us.
The same day at the latest
If you are on a roof all morning, a reply at lunch or at the end of the day still meets the standard. Same day is the expectation. Two hours is what good looks like.
After twenty-four hours: an automated reminder
If we have heard nothing, you get a reminder with the same three options. It is not a warning. It is a prompt, because messages get missed and phones get left in vans.
Repeated non-response
A contractor who repeatedly ignores opportunities is assumed to be no longer interested and is taken out of the active network. That is not a punishment. It simply stops opportunities going to someone who is not picking them up.
Why it matters
What a same-day reply protects
With one contractor appointed per enquiry, response time is not about beating other trades. It is about the customer, the plan and your own record.
The customer's confidence
The customer has already spoken to us and been told what happens next. Every hour without a booked visit is an hour in which they wonder whether anyone is coming.
Our ability to plan
Until you answer, we cannot book the visit, tell the customer who is coming, or offer the job elsewhere if you cannot take it. A slow no costs more than a quick one.
Your track record
Responsiveness is one of the things allocation is based on. Contractors who reply quickly and clearly see more opportunities over time. See how opportunities are allocated.
The most important rule
Declining is fine. Silence isn't.
There are plenty of good reasons to turn an opportunity down. Your diary is full. The job is outside the area you want to cover. It is not the kind of work you do, or it is bigger or smaller than suits your firm. All of these are fine, and saying so carries no penalty.
Silence is different. It leaves a customer waiting for a visit that has not been booked, and it stops us passing the job to a contractor who could take it. From our side, an unanswered opportunity is the one situation where we genuinely cannot do anything useful.
So if the answer is no, a one-line reply is perfect. It helps the customer, it helps us, and it counts in your favour. More on choosing your work in can I choose which jobs I take.
Being realistic
Why two hours is the ideal and not the rule
We know where you are during the working day. You are on a roof, in a loft, or halfway through fitting something that cannot be left. Nobody expects you to stop work to answer a message within minutes.
That is partly why the network exists. Contractors on the tools cannot answer the phone, so we answer it. We handle the customer's calls, questions and updates, and we keep communicating with them while you are on site. The detail is in who talks to the customer.
What we ask for in return is small: a decision on each new opportunity, the same day. Most contractors manage it by checking messages at a break or at lunch. The ones who do it within a couple of hours make life easier for everyone and tend to be the ones we turn to first.
Who handles what
What we take on so your reply can be short
We handle
- Taking the enquiry and qualifying the customer
- Explaining to the customer what happens next
- Booking the site visit around both diaries
- Telling the customer who is coming
- Keeping the customer informed while you are working
- Offering the job elsewhere if you decline
You handle
- A same-day decision on each new opportunity
- Accept, decline or reschedule, clearly
- Telling us early if your plans change
- Keeping your contact details current with us
- Attending the visits you accept
- Responding to us during the job when we need an answer
Making it easy
Practical ways to meet the standard every time
Most contractors who struggle with response times are not ignoring anything. The message simply arrived while they were busy and got buried under everything else. A few small habits deal with that almost entirely.
Check at fixed points. A look at your messages at mid-morning, lunch and the end of the day is enough to meet the same-day standard comfortably, and usually the two-hour ideal as well.
Answer no quickly. If you can tell at a glance that an opportunity is not for you, reply straight away. It is the fastest decision you will make all day and it helps the customer most.
Tell us when you are away. Holidays, a long job out of area, a week off sick. If we know you will not be picking up messages, we know not to wait on you, and nobody is left hanging.
Keep your details current. A new phone number or email address that we do not know about is an easy way for an opportunity to go unanswered. It is also the easiest thing to fix.
A contractor with a long record of prompt, clear communication who misses a response window now and then is not treated the same as a new contractor who goes silent on their first few opportunities. Trust builds over time and it earns latitude. The strictness is aimed at the early jobs, when a reply is the main evidence we have.
Beyond the first reply
The same principle runs through the whole job
The response standard is about new opportunities, but the idea behind it applies all the way through. If something changes, tell us early.
If you cannot make a site visit you have accepted, reschedule it and let us know. That is not an issue. The rule that matters is this one: a contractor who misses their first site visit without good reason or communication is removed. The detail is in site visit expectations and, for the quick version, what if I can't attend a site visit.
If a quote on a larger job is going to take longer, tell us, and we will tell the customer. If a start date needs to move, tell us, and we will organise it with the customer. In every case, the information reaching us is what lets us keep the customer informed, and a customer who is kept informed is a customer who stays with the job.
The full list of what we ask of contractors is in what we need from contractors. For the other half of the arrangement, see what Mortaro handles for contractors.
The reminder
Why the 24-hour reminder is automated
The reminder at twenty-four hours is sent automatically rather than by a person ringing round. That is deliberate. It is consistent, it goes to everyone on the same terms, and it treats a missed message as what it usually is: a missed message.
It also keeps the options simple. The reminder asks for the same thing the original opportunity did: accept, decline or reschedule. There is no penalty attached to it and no explanation required.
Where the reminder matters is in the pattern. One missed message is life. A string of opportunities ignored with no reply is how we learn that a contractor is no longer interested, and at that point the fair thing for everyone is to stop sending them. How that fits with the wider arrangement is covered in how contractor networks work.
Straight answers
Response time questions
Does the response window mean I have to quote the same day?
No. A response is a decision on whether you can take the opportunity: accept, decline or reschedule. The quote comes after the site visit and has its own standard.
What happens if I miss the 24-hour mark?
You receive an automated reminder asking you to accept, decline or reschedule. It is a prompt, not a penalty. A contractor who repeatedly ignores opportunities is treated as no longer interested and taken out of the active network.
Will declining count against me?
No. Declining is completely fine and carries no penalty. Silence is the problem, because it leaves the customer waiting and stops us offering the job to someone else.
Do I need to call the customer when I accept?
No. We handle the customer conversation and book the site visit. Your reply goes to us, and we tell the customer who is coming and when.
Why does speed matter if the enquiry isn't shared?
Because the customer is waiting and we cannot book anything until you answer. With one contractor appointed per enquiry, you are not racing other trades, but a slow reply still costs the customer time. See is the work exclusive.
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.