A moving company website that turns a move date into a quote
Everyone planning a move asks the same two things first: are you free on my date, and roughly how much. A moving company website that answers with a structured quote form (rooms, distance, date, access) and a ballpark figure gets far better enquiries than a blank message box, and it can book the home survey that turns the ballpark into a firm price.
Why a blank contact form loses moves
"Hi, how much to move a three-bed?" can't be answered without six follow-up questions, and by the time you've asked them the customer has booked someone who replied faster. Ask for the facts that drive the price in the first form, and the quote you send back can be specific on the first reply.
The fields that decide a quote
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Move date, and whether it's fixed | Completion days and month-ends are busy; flexible dates can be cheaper. |
| Collection and delivery postcodes | Distance, travel time, and whether it's local or long distance. |
| Property size | Number of bedrooms, or a room-by-room count for larger or fuller homes. |
| Access at each end | Floor, lift, stairs, parking for a large vehicle, long carries. |
| Large or awkward items | Pianos, American fridge freezers, gym equipment, garden furniture. |
| Extras | Packing service, materials, dismantling and reassembly, storage, cleaning. |
| Contact details | Name, phone, email, best time to call. |
Anticode's standard contact form has fixed fields (name, email and a message), so a quote form like this is either a custom form tied to a site function (up to 30 plain-text fields) or an app build, which Anticode writes as an interactive page. Either way, submissions reach you through the same form pipeline as any other site form. There are no file uploads, so customers can't attach photos or video of their rooms; offer a video survey instead if you do them.
A ballpark price, honestly labelled
An instant figure keeps visitors on the page and filters out mismatched budgets. Two ways to do it with Anticode:
- In the visitor's browser
- The app-built quote form can calculate a range as people fill it in, from your rates per room, per mile and for extras. Nothing leaves their browser until they submit.
- On the server, from the submission
- A site function can run a small formula over a custom form's fields (arithmetic such as rooms multiplied by a rate, plus miles multiplied by another), worked out on Anticode's server when the form is sent, and show the range on the thank-you page. Formulas read numbers only, so they can't work from postcodes; ask for the rough distance in miles.
Whichever you use, call it an estimate and say what it excludes: access problems, items not listed, storage, parking permits, and dates that turn out to be busy. A firm price follows the survey. Our quote calculator app page covers the build in more detail.
Booking the home survey
For larger moves, a survey in person or by video gives the firm quote. Anticode's booking calendar fits: set up "Home survey" and "Video survey" as services, each slot taking one booking. The form asks for the service, day, time, name, phone and email, and refuses dates in the past or more than 120 days ahead. It offers six fixed times a day (Mondays skipped), doesn't plan survey routes and doesn't sync with your diary, so if one surveyor covers a wide area, treat each booking as a request and confirm a time that fits your route. The move itself shouldn't be booked on the calendar: vehicles, crews and job length vary too much.
Insurance, terms and trust
Customers are handing over everything they own, so the trust details matter more than the slogan. State the goods-in-transit and liability cover you carry and what it covers, how claims work, membership of a trade association with a link to its directory, your terms and conditions (deposits, cancellation, delays to completion, waiting time), and a real photo of your vehicles and crew. If you're happy to share them, name the areas you're based in and the routes you run regularly for long-distance moves.
Packing, storage and the area you cover
Give packing and storage their own sections: full or fragile-only packing, boxes and materials to buy, containerised or self-storage, minimum terms and access. List the area you cover for local moves, and whether you take long-distance or international work. Send each quote request to the office through a form connector to Slack, Telegram or a Google Sheet to keep a pipeline; each submission is sent once without retries and is also kept in the dashboard.
To start, describe the firm: "a family removals company in Bristol, local and long-distance moves, packing and storage, home surveys". Technical (IBM Plex Sans) or Swiss (Inter Tight) suit the trade, with a blue or orange action colour on the Get a quote button. Related trades: cleaning services and handymen.
Limits
- No job scheduling for crews and vehicles, and no inventory system.
- No file or video uploads on quote forms.
- No deposit taken with the quote request; a payment link from your provider can be sent afterwards.
- Quote forms with their own fields need a custom form or an app build, not the standard contact form.
Questions people ask
Can a removals website give an instant quote?
Yes, as an estimate. An app-built quote form can calculate a range from your rates as the visitor fills it in, with a firm price after a survey.
Can customers book a home survey online?
Yes, on Anticode's booking calendar, one booking per slot. The move itself is better confirmed by you after the quote.
Can customers upload photos of their rooms?
No. Anticode forms don't take uploads. Offer a video survey or ask them to email photos when you reply.