OpSpot Blog

Most builders lose work in the gap between "can you give us a price?" and "when can you start?". The enquiry lands in an inbox, the site visit goes in someone's diary, the quote sits in a folder, and nobody follows up until the client has signed with someone else.

In OpSpot a lead and a project are the same record. It starts as an enquiry, moves through the stages you define, and becomes the live job, with the client, address, documents and history already in place.

At a glance

1. Add a lead with the client, site address, budget and lead source.
2. Move it through stages and statuses that match how your business works.
3. Add actions (follow-ups) with an owner and a due date, so nothing is forgotten.
4. Get reminders and daily digests of the actions that are due.
5. When the job is won, keep going on the same record: scope, quote, bookings and payments.

Step 1: Set up your stages and statuses

A stage is a phase of the job and a status is a step within it. Builders who choose "Building and Construction" when they set up OpSpot start with stages like these:

Rename, add or remove them to suit you. A commercial fit-out business might use Enquiry, Tender, Awarded, Fit-out and Defects. A kitchen renovator might use Enquiry, Measure, Design, Deposit and Install.

Step 2: Add a lead

Choose Add Lead and fill in what you know:

• client company and contacts
• site address
• budget
• lead source (where the enquiry came from)
• received by / office
• lead managers, estimators and operations people
• zone and the expected site start date
• current status

Attach plans, photos and the client's brief to the lead as lead documents, so the estimator has everything for the site visit.

Step 3: Work the pipeline

The Leads page lists every lead and job with its job number, client, address, budget, lead source, status and site start date.

• Filter by stage and status, by estimator, or use quick search.
• Open a lead to see its details, documents, comments and actions in one place.
• Change the status as the job moves forward. There's nothing to convert or copy: a won lead is already the project.

Step 4: Follow up with actions

An action is a follow-up on a lead or project, for example "Call to confirm the site visit" or "Chase the signed contract". Each action has:

• an action type (your own list, for example call, site visit or send quote)
• a description
• the employee responsible
• a date: due on a date, or by a date
• a status: To Do, In Progress, On Hold or Done
• a completion note, so everyone can see what happened

Tick "Notify me once this Action is completed" to hear back when the job's done.

Actions show on the calendar, with due and overdue ones flagged, so a follow-up never hides in someone's inbox.

Step 5: Reminders and daily digests

Set up action notifications in company settings, and OpSpot emails people about the actions assigned to them. A digest rule sends each person one email at a set time, for example 7 am, listing their open actions due in the next few days. Each person gets one digest per rule per day.

Step 6: From won lead to running job

When the client says yes, keep working on the same record:

• build the scope of works and quote (see Scope of works and quotes)
• assign a project manager and create bookings for your crew and subcontractors (see Scheduling crews with the calendar, planner and Gantt)
• issue work orders and track subcontractor payments (see Work orders and subcontractor payments)

Running more than one business?

If you work across more than one company in OpSpot, for example a design studio and a building company, you can hand a lead over to the other company. OpSpot carries the client, contacts and details across, matches people by email, and gives the lead a job number in the new company. It needs the "hand over leads" permission and membership of both companies.

Example: commercial office fit-out

A facilities manager emails asking for a price on a 400 m² office refurbishment.

• The lead goes in with the lead source "Referral" and a budget of $350,000.
• An action, "Site walk with facilities manager", is set by Friday and assigned to the estimator.
• After the walk, the status moves to Tender. A follow-up action, "Chase tender result", is set two weeks later.
• When the tender is won, the status moves to Awarded and the project manager builds the schedule. The address, contacts and drawings are already there.

Example: residential kitchen renovation

A homeowner fills in the enquiry form on the builder's website.

• The office adds the lead with the lead source "Website" and attaches the photos they sent.
• The estimator's 7 am digest lists "Call to book measure" for today.
• After the measure, the status moves to Design, then Deposit once the quote is accepted.
• On the same record, the crew is booked and the checklist loaded. Nothing is retyped.

FAQ

Is a lead a separate record from the project? No. It's one record that moves through your stages, so the history stays together.

Can I see where my best leads come from? Record a lead source on every lead. It shows as a column in the leads list, so you can see which sources your work is coming from.

Can I change the stages later? Yes. Stages and statuses are yours to rename, add or remove at any time.

Who sees which leads? That depends on each person's role and permissions in your company.

Related guides

• Scope of works and quotes
• Scheduling crews with the calendar, planner and Gantt
• Documents and file permissions