Holly and I were talking about various things we'd like to buy for our new house and the usual grumbles about Australian web sites came up. Searching for things like fitted wardrobes or kitchens brings up lots of paid search links, so there's clearly companies out there actively marketing online. The problem comes about when you want to get some kind of ballpark figure for the costs. It's no good them telling you all about the wonderful materials they use and their superior design skills if you need a Packer-sized fortune to pay for it.
Most of these sites' call-to-action is an email form or phone number, promising a quote at some undetermined point in the future. They expect the browser to go through the effort of specifying exactly what they want without any idea if they can even afford a doorknob from the supplier.
So we had an idea for this. Combine a "portfolio" section on the web site with pricing information. Show some recent jobs, preferably a range of designs, styles and budgets, and most importantly show how much you charged. You could get really creative with this kind of thing, including all sorts of details like the brief, comments from the customer, some rough size and material specifications.
Sure beats a mailto asking you to get in touch for a quote!
