Set the visit up so the estimator arrives with the right job context

This workflow usually sits with the estimator, owner, sales admin or operations coordinator. The lead record is the starting point because it carries the customer contact details, the site address, the enquiry notes, the current status and any earlier communication your team already has.

Before the visit is booked, review the lead and tighten the basics:

• client name, phone and email
• site address and suburb as they are currently known
• the broad fence type or material the customer is asking about
• the original message or initial notes from the enquiry
• any early warning signs such as access concerns, existing fence removal, timing pressure or neighbour involvement

Fencify works best when every later step keeps pointing back to the same lead. The lead becomes the anchor for the visit booking, the survey notes, duplicate checks, the first quote, any visual planning, and the later quote-to-project journey. That is why a tidy lead before the site visit matters so much.

Book the appointment and keep the lead status aligned with the calendar

Once the customer is ready for an inspection, save the visit date and time on the lead itself. Fencify uses that visit field to place the job on Calendar as a site visit event, which gives the office and estimator a shared operational view of upcoming appointments.

1. Open the relevant lead and confirm the contact details and address.
2. Set the visit date and time in the scheduling field on the lead.
3. Move the lead status to Site Visit Scheduled when the appointment is locked in.
4. Check Calendar to make sure the visit now appears in the live schedule.

Calendar combines lead site visits with project installation dates, so the estimator can see quoting work and delivery work in one weekly planning area. Lead events show as visit entries and can be rescheduled from Calendar when plans move. When the date is dragged to a new slot, Fencify writes the change back to the lead, which helps the page and the calendar stay consistent.

A simple operational habit helps here: treat the lead page as the job record and Calendar as the planning view. The two stay most useful when the team updates the lead status and visit time as soon as the customer confirms or changes the booking.

Use address lookup to improve the site record before you inspect

Address quality has a practical effect on the rest of the workflow. Clean site details make it easier to recognise duplicate enquiries, search the job later, and keep the estimator, office and installer talking about the same property.

Where address lookup is available on your account, use the suggested address instead of relying on loose free typing. This is especially useful when a customer gives a partial street entry, a property with unit details, or a street name that is easy to misspell. Using the suggested address early reduces cleanup later when quotes, calendars and project records need to line up.

If the customer gives more than one possible site address, resolve that before the visit goes into quoting. A clean lead record is worth the extra minute because duplicate scans use the address as one of their confidence signals, and the site address is carried forward when the quote is created from the lead.

Capture survey details that materially change labour, scope and delivery

The survey tab on the lead is where the estimator turns a broad enquiry into pricing-ready field information. This is where the site visit becomes commercially useful.

During or straight after the visit, record the site facts that will change how the work is priced or delivered:

• the existing fence type
• the approximate existing fence height
• whether removal and disposal are required
• ground conditions such as Standard, Clay or Rock
• slope conditions such as Level, Mild Slope or Steep Slope
• site access conditions such as Standard, Tight, Through House or Stairs
• any extra labour surcharges your business has set up for special site conditions
• estimator notes that explain what the team saw on site

These details are more than a memory aid. Fencify stores them with the lead so the quote can open with the same site context the estimator saw. That matters when another team member needs to review or finish the quote later.

Use the notes area for the practical details that will help the next handoff. Good survey notes often include gate positions, awkward corners, retaining walls, services nearby, odd set-out requirements, removal complications, or the reason a standard panel approach will need to change. If the customer changes direction on site, also update the main lead fields such as material type or general message so the overall enquiry story stays current.

Connect survey conditions to labour rates before pricing starts

Survey completeness directly affects quote accuracy because Quote Builder reads the lead survey when the draft quote is priced. Fencify can apply labour surcharge lines based on the stored survey conditions and the labour rates configured for your account.

Several survey conditions already map neatly into labour keys that many fencing businesses use:

• Removal & disposal required can apply the removal_required rate.
• Clay ground can apply the ground_clay rate.
• Rock ground can apply the ground_rock rate.
• Tight access can apply the access_tight rate.
• Stairs access can apply the access_stairs rate.

Any additional surcharge items your business has configured can also be selected on the survey when they are relevant to that job. The important point is operational discipline: choose only the conditions that genuinely apply on site, because those choices can flow through to labour lines in the quote.

Quote Builder also shows a site condition warning when the survey carries non-standard ground or slope information. That is a useful pause point for the estimator. It is a prompt to review the labour setup, the run design, and the expected install method before the quote is sent forward.

Run a duplicate check while the lead is now rich enough to compare properly

Duplicate checking is most valuable after the contact details, address and survey context are reasonably complete. At that stage, Fencify has enough information to compare the lead against likely matches by email, phone, address, name and suburb.

Use the duplicate scan before the quote is opened if there is any chance the enquiry already exists in the pipeline. This happens often with fencing work when a customer submits a website form, then follows up by phone, or when different staff members each create a new record from separate conversations.

Review the confidence score and matched fields carefully. If a duplicate is real, merge it into the lead that should remain your main record. Fencify keeps the target lead as the continuing job record and moves attached quote-related history into one trail. That gives the estimator and office one clear source of truth before pricing and follow-up continue.

Finish with a quote-ready review before you open Quote Builder

The site visit workflow finishes when the lead is ready to become a draft quote, not just when the estimator leaves the property. Before creating the quote, run a short review on the lead:

1. Confirm the lead status reflects the real stage of work.
2. Check the visit date and time still match what happened or what is booked next.
3. Make sure the address and contact details are clean enough for quoting and follow-up.
4. Review the survey entries for fence type, height, removal, ground, slope and access.
5. Check that any selected surcharges match the actual site conditions.
6. Read the estimator notes as if another team member had to build the quote from them.
7. Clear any duplicate issue before creating the draft quote.

Once those checks are complete, create the quote from the lead and move into Quote Builder. The quote is created in draft status and pulls through the lead connection, customer name, address and survey context. From there the estimator can add fence runs, choose fence models, set lengths and heights, add gates, review totals and continue into the client-facing proposal stage.

Practical fencing example: from booked visit to pricing-ready lead

Imagine a homeowner asks for a new Colorbond boundary fence and pedestrian gate. The office logs the lead, confirms the phone number, updates the address using the available suggestion, and books a Thursday afternoon site visit. The status moves to Site Visit Scheduled and the appointment appears on Calendar for the estimator.

At site, the estimator finds an ageing timber fence that needs removal, mild fall across the boundary, tight side access, and one rocky corner where post holes will take longer. Back in Fencify, the estimator records the existing fence type, height, removal requirement, Rock ground condition, Tight access and site notes about the gate opening and the stepped panel approach needed along the slope. A duplicate scan then shows an earlier phone enquiry from the same client at the same address, so the office merges the older lead into the current record.

By the time the quote is created, the lead tells a complete story: who the customer is, where the job is, when the visit happened, what the estimator found, and which site conditions will affect labour. That is the standard you want before pricing begins. It gives the estimator a stronger starting point in Quote Builder and gives the delivery team cleaner information if the job later converts into a project.

Your next step inside Fencify is to build the commercial scope in Quote Builder, review the labour response against the survey conditions, and prepare the draft quote for internal review or client sending once the runs and totals are complete.