> services/booking-systems.dmg
Quote & Booking Systems
That Do The Admin For You
If you spend your evenings ringing people back with prices, your website isn't pulling its weight. I build websites that quote instantly, take bookings and deposits, and send the confirmations and reminders for you. Built around how your business actually prices and books. From £3,000.
> what.txt
What a Quote and Booking System Is
Most small business websites are a brochure with a contact form. Someone fills it in, you ring them back, ask twenty questions, work out a price and chase them for a week. Sometimes they've booked someone else by then.
A quote and booking system does that part for you. The customer answers the questions you'd ask on the phone, and the website works out the price using your rules. They pick a date you've genuinely got free and pay a deposit to hold it. Confirmations and reminders go out on their own, and you get a text to say there's a new job in the diary.
> features.txt
What It Can Do
Every business books differently, so you pick the parts you need. These are the ones I build most often.
Instant Online Quotes
A real price, worked out from your rules. Sizes, distances, extras, weekend rates, whatever your price actually depends on.
Live Availability
A calendar showing the slots you can genuinely take on, based on whatever limits you: staff, vans, rooms or equipment.
Bookings and Deposits
Customers pay a deposit by card to hold the date, through Stripe. The money goes into your account, not mine.
Confirmations and Reminders
Confirmations, day-before reminders and follow-ups by text and email, sent without anyone having to remember.
Customer Portal
A page where customers can check their booking, pay the balance or send you changes, instead of ringing to ask.
Your Back Office
Every quote and booking in one place. Take phone bookings through the same system, reschedule, and change your own prices.
> lw_removals.txt
One I Built: LW Removals
LW Removals is a removals firm in North Wales. Louis, the owner, first brought me in for his Google Ads, then asked me to build a self-service quote and booking website. Here's what it does.
- Customers list what they're moving, room by room, from a furniture catalogue, and say whether each address is a house or a flat, which floor, and whether there's a lift.
- The price comes from the size of the load and the real driving distance, and updates as they go.
- A calendar shows the dates with a van and crew free for a job that size. A date is only taken once the deposit's paid.
- Customers get a confirmation by text and email, a reminder the day before, and a text when the crew are on their way.
- Louis gets a text for every new quote and booking, with quiet hours so it doesn't wake him up.
- His back office covers leads, bookings, phone bookings and the calendar, and he sets his own prices, including weekend and bank holiday rates.
- The crew have an app on their phones with their jobs and a calendar that updates itself. It never shows prices.
- When a job's done, the customer gets a link to pay the balance online, then a text asking for a Google review.
> review.txt
What Louis Said
Louis left me a Google review while it was still being built. Word for word:
“Matt come on board a few months ago helping me with Google advertising.
Since then he has built an automated self‑service quoting and booking website for ourselves, can’t wait for it to go live.
I was abit reserved to begin with as I was asking for a very specific thing and as far as I was aware he didn’t do website but he has gone over and above my expectations and put things in place even I wouldn’t have thought of.
Overall he has a great person to have involved and I’m very grateful that I found him.”
The rest of my reviews are on the reviews page.
> off_the_shelf.csv
Off-the-Shelf or Custom-Built?
Plenty of businesses don't need a custom system. If your bookings fit the way the ready-made tools work, they're cheaper and quicker.
| Off-the-shelf (Calendly, booking plugins) | Custom-built | |
|---|---|---|
| Works best when | Every booking is a fixed slot at a fixed price: a haircut, a lesson, a consultation. | The price depends on several things, like size, distance, items or extras. |
| Availability | Based on one diary, or a few people's diaries. | Based on whatever really limits you: vans, crews, rooms, equipment. |
| Upfront cost | Little or nothing. | From £3,000. |
| Monthly cost | A subscription, which can go up as you add staff or features. | Hosting and running costs, plus an optional care plan. |
| Who owns it | The tool's company. You're renting it. | Agreed in writing up front. No lock-in. |
> which.txt
When Custom Makes Sense
If you sell fixed appointments at fixed prices, use Calendly, Acuity or a booking plugin. I'll tell you that on the first call, because spending £3,000 on something a subscription already does well would be daft.
Custom makes sense when a price takes more than a couple of questions to work out, when vans, staff or equipment limit your bookings rather than one diary, or when you're paying for several tools and still copying details between them by hand. Removals, cleaning, hire companies and trades who price by the job are the obvious examples.
> process.txt
How a Build Works
No 47-page proposals. Here's how it goes, start to finish.
Have a Chat
You tell me how you price, how you book and where it's eating your time. If an off-the-shelf tool would do, I'll say so.
Map It Out
I sit down with you and write out your pricing rules, what limits your diary and what should happen after someone books.
Fixed Quote
A written spec, a fixed price and a timescale. Anything new that comes up halfway through gets priced before I build it.
Build and Test
On a private test site. You and your staff try to break it, with test payments that don't take real money.
Go Live
Real payments and messages get switched on, and I keep a close eye on it for the first few weeks.
> pricing.txt
What It Costs
Quote and booking systems start from £3,000, fixed and agreed in writing before I start. What moves the price is how complicated your rules are. A simple quote form with a booking calendar sits at the lower end. Driving distances, balance payments, text messages and a staff app all add to it.
Running costs go to the companies providing them, not to me: hosting, Stripe's fee on each card payment, a few pence per text message, and map lookups if your prices depend on distance. I'll list them up front.
Then there's an optional monthly care plan, where I keep it updated, monitored and backed up, and make small changes. You can stop it any month.
Not sure your current website is up to the job? The free 15-minute review gets you a written list of the top three fixes.
> ownership.txt
Who Owns It
You're never locked in. Plenty of businesses come to me because they can't get their own website back from whoever built it. Not here.
- The payments account is in your name, so deposits and balances go straight to your bank.
- Your domain is registered to you, and your customer data is yours to export whenever you like.
- Who owns the code and the hosting accounts is agreed in writing before I start. If you move on, you get your data and help moving it.
- The care plan is month to month, with no exit fees.
> faq.txt
Questions People Ask
Can't I just use Calendly or a booking plugin?
Often, yes. If your bookings are fixed slots at fixed prices, an off-the-shelf tool is cheaper and quicker, and I'll tell you so. Custom is for when your pricing or your diary is too complicated for them.
Can you add a booking system to my existing website?
Sometimes. The quote and booking part can live on its own page, linked from your current site. If your site's old or awkward, rebuilding the lot can be simpler. I'll tell you which once I've had a look.
Can I change my prices myself?
Yes. Your prices and rules sit in your back office, so you can change them without ringing me.
What happens if something goes wrong once it's live?
On a care plan, you ring or text me and I fix it. The person who answers the phone is the person who built it.
> new_message.txt
Fed Up of Quoting by Hand?
Tell me how you price and book now, and what's eating your time. I'll tell you honestly whether you need a custom system or an off-the-shelf tool, and roughly what it would cost. No hard sell.
"Matt was really responsive throughout the whole process - no questions went unanswered and Matt was really engaged in the whole process."
Lizzie Hill · Abergele Golf Club