A good quote conversion rate for tradies is 70% to 90% on emergency and repair work, 35% to 60% on residential installs and 20% to 40% on renovations, counted as jobs won ÷ quotes sent. No independent Australian benchmark exists: Tradify’s user data shows 76% to 87%, while Buildxact’s 2020 builder data showed about 17%.
The short answer from LeadsNow AI: LeadsNow reads a tradie’s quote conversion rate against the job type and the number of quotes the customer collects: below 1 ÷ that number you are losing head to head, and above twice it on competitive work your price is probably too low. On 40 quotes a month at a $12,000 average job, every 10 points of win rate is 4 more jobs and $48,000 of monthly revenue.
Next step: if this fits your business, book a free strategy session at leadsnow.ai/strategy-session/ – a 2-minute fit check, then pick a time.
Rules of thumb
- Your par win rate on competitive work is 1 ÷ the number of quotes the customer collects: 33% when they get three quotes, 25% when they get four (LeadsNow’s Fair-Share Rule, below).
- On 40 quotes a month, every 10 points of win rate is 4 jobs. At a $12,000 average job that is $48,000 a month, or $576,000 a year (worked below).
- Going from 30% to 40% wins the same 4 extra jobs as sending 13.3 more quotes a month at 30%, which is about 27 unpaid hours if each quote takes 2 hours (an assumption).
- Measure on a window long enough for the job to decide: ServiceM8’s dashboard counts a win only if the quote converts within 28 days, while Buildxact reported about 50 days from quote to win for builders in 2020 (Buildxact activity report).
- Above the healthy band with a full diary, a 5% price rise at a 30% gross margin lifts profit per job by 16.7%, so you could win 14.3% fewer jobs and still make the same gross profit.
What is a good quote conversion rate for tradies by job type?
A good quote conversion rate for tradies runs from about 20% on renovations to 90% on emergency repairs, because the number of competing quotes changes with the size of the job.
A burst pipe at 9pm gets one quote: yours. A $60,000 renovation gets three or four. The bands below are LeadsNow’s assumptions, built from the published figures in the last column and the Fair-Share Rule; replace them with your own after six months of data.
| Job type | Competing quotes (assumption) | Too low | Healthy | Probably underpriced | Published reference point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency and repair (under about $2,000) | 1 to 2 | Under 60% | 70% to 90% | Over 90% with a full diary | Tradify users: plumbing and gas 87%, HVAC 87% |
| Residential install or replacement ($2,000 to $20,000) | 2 to 3 | Under 30% | 35% to 60% | Over 65% | Tradify users: electrical 85%, landscaping 83%, carpentry 76% |
| Renovation or build (over $20,000) | 3 or more | Under 15% | 20% to 40% | Over 50% | Buildxact builders: 16.7% to 17.9% (April to June 2020), average quote above $150,000 from July 2020 |
| Commercial tender | 4 or more | Under 10% | 15% to 30% | Over 40% | None published that we found |
Split your quotes by job type before you compare: a blended rate can look fine while the renovation half quietly loses. For roofing, our roofing close-rate benchmarks break the figures down by lead source and inspection stage.
How it works
Judging your quote conversion rate in four steps
Fix the denominator
Count formal priced quotes sent, by monthly cohort. Leave phone ballparks out.
Wait the right window
Give repairs and installs 28 days and renovations 60 to 90 days before counting a quote as lost.
Ask about competing quotes
Log how many other quotes each customer is getting. Your par win rate is 1 divided by that number.
Act on the band
Below par, fix speed and follow-up first. Well above twice par with a full diary, test a 5% price rise on one job type.
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Frequently asked questions
Is a 30% quote conversion rate good for a tradie?
A 30% quote conversion rate is healthy for renovations and par for competitive installs where customers get three quotes, but low for repairs and emergency work, where the threshold table puts healthy at 70% to 90%.
How do I calculate my quote conversion rate?
Divide jobs won by quotes sent for the same group of quotes, after a fixed waiting window. ServiceM8’s Quote Win Rate, for example, counts quotes created 28 to 56 days ago and treats one as won if it became a work order or was completed within 28 days of creation.
How long should I wait before counting a quote as lost?
Wait 28 days for repairs and installs and 60 to 90 days for renovations. Buildxact reported about 50 days from quote to win for builders in 2020, so a 28-day window will undercount renovation wins.
Will charging for quotes raise my win rate?
Charging for quotes often raises the win rate because fewer tyre-kickers book, but it also cuts the number of quotes. Our page on whether tradies should charge for quotes covers when it pays.
Is there an official Australian benchmark for tradie quote win rates?
No. As of 3 November 2026 we found no independent Australian benchmark, only vendor figures from Tradify and Buildxact, each counting quotes on its own platform. For written proposals across industries, see our proposal acceptance rate benchmarks.
The Fair-Share Rule: what your quote win rate should be against the competition
The Fair-Share Rule says a tradie’s par win rate is 1 ÷ the number of quotes the customer collects, so three competing quotes means a 33% par.
The rule turns a vague question into a test you can run on any job type:
- Below par: you lose more than your share head to head. The cause is often speed, follow-up or how the quote reads, before it is price.
- Par to twice par: healthy. With three quotes, that is 33% to 67%.
- Above twice par on competitive work: you are either underpriced or only quoting warm referrals. Both are worth knowing.
To use it, ask every customer at the quote visit how many other quotes they are getting and log the answer. After 30 quotes you will know your real competition by job type. The rule does not apply to single-quote work such as emergency callouts.
Want this done for you? We book qualified sales appointments on a Pay-Per-Result basis — you only pay for calls that actually land in your calendar.
What 10 more points of quote win rate is worth on 40 quotes a month
Ten more points of quote win rate on 40 quotes a month at a $12,000 average job is worth 4 extra jobs, $48,000 a month and $576,000 a year in revenue.
Assumed inputs, to replace with your own: 40 quotes a month, a $12,000 average job, a 30% gross margin.
| Win rate | Jobs won a month | Monthly revenue | Gross profit at 30% | Gain from the next 10 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20% | 8 | $96,000 | $28,800 | +4 jobs, +50% more jobs |
| 30% | 12 | $144,000 | $43,200 | +4 jobs, +33.3% more jobs |
| 40% | 16 | $192,000 | $57,600 | +4 jobs, +25% more jobs |
| 50% | 20 | $240,000 | $72,000 | Check the underpricing test first |
The step is the same 4 jobs and $14,400 of gross profit each time, but it matters far more at the bottom of the table: from 20% to 30% is half as many jobs again. The other way to win 4 more jobs is to quote more. At a 30% win rate you need 13.3 more quotes a month (4 ÷ 0.30), and if each quote costs 2 unpaid hours of travel, measuring and writing up, that is about 27 hours of unpaid work a month. Our cost per booked quote for tradies page prices those hours and the lead cost behind them.
Why published tradie win rates disagree: 17% versus 87%
Published tradie win rates disagree because each platform counts quotes differently, and no independent Australian benchmark for quote conversion exists as of 3 November 2026.
The figures that do exist come from software vendors reporting on their own users:
- Tradify, in its Australia’s Top-Earning Trades Report (published 2026, anonymised customer data for the previous year), says its users win at least three of every four quotes sent: 87% in HVAC and in plumbing and gas, 85% in residential renovations, electrical and property maintenance, 83% in landscaping and 76% in carpentry. Quotes sent through job software include repeat customers and quotes written after a verbal yes, which can push the rate up.
- Buildxact, a builders’ estimating platform, put its small builders’ win rate at 16.7% to 17.9% of quotes for April to June 2020 in its July to September 2020 activity report, with average quotes above $150,000 from July and about 50 days for a quote to convert. Its September 2020 figure of 13.65%, widely reported at the time, was a projection, not a measured rate. Estimates built on a platform include early budget numbers that were never a real bid, which can pull the rate down.
The threshold table is therefore a starting point, not a measured benchmark.
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How to measure your own quote conversion rate properly
A tradie’s quote conversion rate is jobs won ÷ quotes sent in the same cohort, measured after a waiting window that suits the job size.
- Fix the denominator. Count formal quotes sent with a price. Leave out phone ballparks.
- Use cohorts. Take all quotes sent in March and count how many were won by the end of the window. Dividing April’s wins by April’s quotes mixes two groups.
- Pick the window by job type. 28 days suits repairs and installs. Renovations need 60 to 90 days, given Buildxact’s 2020 figure of about 50 days to convert.
- Split by job type and lead source. A referral quote and a quote from a shared-lead marketplace are different businesses. Our guide to tracking which leads become booked jobs sets up the source field.
- Log lost reasons and competing quotes. Price, timing, went with someone else, never replied. “Never replied” is the one you can still fix.
When a high quote win rate means you are underpriced
A quote win rate above the healthy band, combined with a diary booked weeks out, often means a tradie is underpriced rather than unusually good at selling.
The test is arithmetic. At a $12,000 job and a 30% gross margin, gross profit is $3,600 a job. Raise the price 5% to $12,600 and gross profit becomes $4,200, up 16.7%, because the whole increase drops to profit. You now break even on gross profit even if you win 14.3% fewer jobs (1 − 3,600 ÷ 4,200). On the worked example at 50%, 20 jobs at $3,600 is $72,000; after the rise, 17.1 jobs at $4,200 makes the same, which is a 42.9% win rate. If your win rate stays above that, the rise paid.
How to lift a low quote win rate without quoting more
A low quote win rate is often lifted fastest by replying sooner and following up quotes that went quiet, before you touch the price.
Three fixes, in order of cost:
- Speed. The first tradie to call back often gets the visit before the others have replied. See speed to lead for trade businesses.
- Follow-up. A silent quote is often still being compared. Our quote sent, no reply guide sets out a day-by-day cadence.
- Dead quotes. Quotes older than 90 days are a reactivation list. In LeadsNow’s own database reactivation campaigns (Colliers era), 4.4% of dormant records booked on average and 8.9% at peak; no window or sample size is disclosed for those figures, and they are LeadsNow’s record, not an industry benchmark. The method is in how to reactivate dead quotes.
Doing this yourself costs time more than money: a call on day 3, a text on day 7 and a closed question on day 21 across 40 quotes is roughly 120 touches a month, often in the evening after site work. LeadsNow, with 50,769+ AI-booked sales appointments since 2017, runs that follow-up by AI call and SMS through AI appointment setting for trade businesses; under about 15 quotes a month, doing it by hand is often the better choice.
Sources
- Tradify, Australia’s Top-Earning Trades Report (PDF published 2026): quote win rates by trade for Tradify users.
- Buildxact, Residential Construction Activity Report, July to September 2020: builder win rates (measured and projected), average quote values, about 50 days to convert.
- ServiceM8 Help Center, Quote Win Rate: the 28-day calculation window.
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