Enquiry log for builders: every lead recorded and answered

Enquiries arrive by text, email and the website form, and the ones that land while you're on site get written on the back of a receipt. If you get 20 a month and logging and acknowledging each takes 5 minutes, that's 100 minutes, and the slow replies are the ones that go elsewhere.

A Google Form on your website collects the enquiry and saves each response to a Google Sheet, so every lead is in one list. A one-step Zapier automation watches for each new form response and sends a short acknowledgement from Gmail saying you've got it and when you'll ring.

A three-person building firm in Chester gets about 20 enquiries a month for extensions and refurbishments. They put a Google Form on their site with its responses saved to a sheet, and a Zap sends the acknowledgement. The owner rings the new ones each evening.

About 1.7 hours a month saved (20 enquiries at 5 minutes), worth around £83 if your time is worth £50 an hour, plus faster first replies.

1. 1Create a Google Form with the questions you need: name, phone, address area, type of work and rough budget.
2. 2Save the form's responses to a Google Sheet and add the form to your website.
3. 3In Zapier, create an automation that starts when a new form response arrives.
4. 4Add one action: send a short acknowledgement from your Gmail account to the address in the response.
5. 5Submit a test enquiry from your phone and check the row and the email.

• Zapier's Free plan allows only two-step Zaps (a trigger and one action), and each action step counts as a task against the 100 a month. Adding more steps, such as logging the row through Zapier, needs Pro: $19.99 (about £15) a month billed annually, or $29.99 (about £22) monthly.
• Enquiries that don't come through the form, such as calls and texts, still need adding by hand.
• An automatic reply must be accurate. Don't promise a call time you can't keep.
• Enquiry details are personal data. Keep the sheet private and delete old rows under UK GDPR.