Morello Web · Prepared for Nortons Built
Sixty quotes.
The wrong sixty.
A plan to change who's asking you for a price, and what happens after you send it.
Prepared for Ash · October 2026
What you told me
"I've been operating for myself for three years and this has been by far the slowest."
"The first two years I was fully booked out, at least a month in advance. Now I'm nothing. I've been working two days a week."
"There would be over 60 quotes we've done. Probably in a month, three weeks."
"I haven't put my price up for the whole three years I've been in business."
Have I got that right?
You're not short of enquiries. You're short of the right ones.
60+quotes out in 3 to 4 weeks
~halfof them come from HiPages
under 10%converting, against your usual 30-35%
HiPages sells the same job to five fencers at once. By the time it reaches you, the only thing that customer can compare is price. That is not a you problem, it is how the platform is built.
So there are two things to fix: who is asking you for a price, and what you send them when they do.
Does that line up with the sort of enquiries you're getting?
Remember the hundred metre blade fence?
"Just for the material alone, it was 100 grand. We put like 25 grand on it to install it."
"I even passed on the discounts, my discounts from the supplier as well. I didn't put 10% markup or 15% markup, there was nothing, I gave them that cost price."
"And they were like, no, we're going with someone else. I tried to get some feedback from them, but I didn't get any."
You gave them cost price and still lost it.
So it was never really about the price, was it?
What that turns into
Every number here is either yours or one I've just shown you. Change any of them if you think I'm wrong.
That's0extra jobs a month, or $0 a month in turnover
After materials, roughly $0 a month in your pocket
against $1,800 going out$0
against $1,800 going out$0
Why you don't come up on Google
You told me on Monday: "if you put in fencing, I don't come up on Google." You're right, and here's why.
You haven't got a Google listing at allI searched Google Maps for Nortons Built. There's a Norton Builders in Black Rock, a Norton Gates in Hastings, a winery and a music venue. There is nothing for you. It isn't that your ranking is poor. There is nothing there to rank.
Which means it's fixable, and it's free.
Nobody has claimed this market yet
| Fencing, Drouin and Warragul | Google reviews | Website visits a month from Google |
|---|---|---|
| Ridge Fencing (sits at number one) | 19 | No website. A Facebook page. |
| ProTier Fencing & Landscaping | 14 | 21 |
| Be Fenced | 3 | 9 |
| Gippsland Gate & Fence | 6 | 2 |
| T.K Decks & Fencing | 25 | 0 |
| JTM Fencing | 6 | 0 |
| Nortons Built | No listing | 0 |
The whole market pulls about 30 visits a month off Google between them, and the bloke at number one hasn't got a website. There is nobody here you'd have to outspend or outlast.
Planting your name on Google properly takes months though. So we do it in the right order: ads first to get money in now, then reinvest into owning the top spot for good.
What the ad spend would buy you here
$19-24what a fencing lead is costing on the accounts I run
20-25enquiries a month, based on our spend
30%+closing at the rate you used to
6-8jobs a month
Those aren't industry averages or a brochure number. That's what I'm paying per lead on fencing campaigns I'm running right now, in Adelaide and in Western Sydney.
And that's on top of your referrals, your supplier work and the Facebook groups. None of that stops.
Why these aren't HiPages leads
| A HiPages lead | Someone who found you on Google | |
|---|---|---|
| How it reached you | They posted a job, HiPages sold it on | They searched for a fencer and clicked your ad |
| Who else got it | Four or five other fencers | Nobody. It's yours. |
| What they can compare | Price. It's all they can see | Your work, your reviews, your fences |
| What arrives with the lead | A name and a number | Photos, rough sizes and what they actually want |
| Who chases who | You chase them | They rang you |
| What it costs | $252 a month in credits either way | Only when someone clicks, and you set the tap |
| Quotes to get a job | 60 for bugger all | Ten to fifteen for three to five |
A fifth of the quoting. Same jobs or better.
What this looks like for other fencers
You asked me on Monday what sort of results other people get. Here it is.
A fencer in AdelaideGoogle Ads leads at under $19 each. Every one arrives with photos, rough measurements and a description of the job. Across two months they're converting at about 42%.
A fencer in Western Sydney$24 a lead, three weeks in. Already running above 27%, and fencing takes longer to convert than most trades, so that number should keep climbing.
Your clicks in Gippsland cost less than either of them. Less competition out here.
What we fix first
In this order, and the order is the whole point.
1
The quote itselfA branded presentation quote instead of a number in an email. Shows your work, explains why you're not the cheapest, and texts you the second they open it. You'll even know when they've forwarded it to the wife or the neighbour.
2
The follow-upA list each morning telling you which quotes are due a nudge. No more remembering, no more a month later.
3
Then better enquiriesGoogle Ads, so you're in front of someone searching for a fencer in Gippsland instead of five fencers bidding on the same HiPages job.
Does that order make sense to you?
This is the quote they'd get
NORTONS BUILT
Quote 1042 · 2 Oct 2026
Viewed 3×
14 Sutton St, Drouin
ScopeFinishWhy usPrice
Hi Sarah, thanks for your time on site Tuesday. Here's the quote for your rear and side boundary.
42mCOLORBOND® steel fencing, 1.8m high
11.2m wide pedestrian gate, matching
YesExisting paling fence removed and taken away
14Posts, concreted, 2.4m centres
Based on the measurements we took on site. If anything changes once the old fence is out, we'll ring you before we do anything about it.
2 daysOn site, weather permitting
OctEarliest start, week of the 20th
MonumentYour selection. Dark charcoal, most popular in new estates.
Woodland GreySofter, sits better against established gardens.
DuneLighter, shows less heat.
All three are the same price. Happy to drop samples round if you want to see them against the house.
1.8mStandard height. 2.1m available, adds $9/m
SteelPosts, not timber. Won't rot or move.
3 yrson our own
Warrantyon workmanship
Insuredfully
How we build it
✓
Every post concretedDug and concreted, not dry-packed or rammed into dirt. Slower, costs us more, and it's why ours are still straight in ten years.
✓
Posts at 2.4m, not 3mWider spacing saves a contractor two or three posts on a job this size. You'll see it in the sag by year three.
✓
Steel posts, three railsNo timber posts behind a steel fence. They rot at ground level where you can't see it.
✓
Old fence gone the same dayRemoved and tipped, in the price. Not stacked in your driveway for a fortnight.
! Worth checking on any quote
Does it say how deep the posts go?If it doesn't say, assume it's shallow. That's the single biggest difference between a fence that lasts five years and one that lasts twenty.
Who pays the tip fees?Plenty of quotes leave removal out, then it's your problem and your ute.
Is the contractor insured?Ask for the certificate. If something goes through a pipe or a cable, you want it to be their problem.
Is it on the title boundary?We check before we dig. Fences built on the wrong line get pulled out at someone's expense.
Has the neighbour been notified?Boundary fences in Victoria have a notice process. We'll talk you through it so there's no argument later.
We're not the cheapest quote you'll get. We've never tried to be. We'd rather do it once.
Supply and install, 42m COLORBOND®$4,620
Pedestrian gate, supplied and hung$540
Removal of existing fence and tip fees$300
Total inc GST$5,460
Valid 30 days. 20% deposit to lock in a start date, balance on completion.
Accept quoteAsk a question
1
Their address and an aerial of the propertyPulled in automatically. Costs you nothing to do.
2
Sections, not a wall of textTap through them. They skim to whatever they care about.
3
Why you, before the numberWritten once, used on every quote. This is where you answer the cheaper bloke without ever mentioning him.
4
Itemised, then accepted in one tapNo printing, no signing, no posting it back.
5
You get a text the second they open itAnd again if it opens on another device, which usually means the wife or the neighbour. That's when you ring.
Two things that cost you nothing
Wean off HiPages$252 a month, and you couldn't name a job it's won you in the last six months. We don't cancel it today, we step away from it as the ads come on.
Put your price up$115 a metre on COLORBOND® steel, unchanged in three years while your timber went up. That Gold Coast quote was $175. On your 90 metre job next week, moving to $130 is $1,350 more for the same two days.
That one price change covers most of this.
Back to booked out
| Now | Month 2 | Month 4-6 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where enquiries come from | HiPages, price shoppers | Google Ads live | Ads plus your own listing |
| Quote conversion | under 10% | back toward 20% | 30% plus |
| Jobs a month | a handful | building | booked ahead again |
| Google listing | none | live, reviews coming | competing with the top 3 |
| Days on the tools | two a week | filling up | full |
Where you were in your first two years, booked a month ahead.
Is that worth having a crack at?
Investment
All up$1,800per month inc GST
What that covers
- $1,200 for the system and running it
- $600 straight into Google Ads
- Quoting, follow-up, CRM, call tracking, reviews
- Your Google listing built and claimed
- Month to month, 30 days notice, no lock-in
- Everything built is yours and stays yours
What it actually costs you
Google give you $600 back once you've spent your first $600, so your first stretch is roughly $1,200 of advertising for $600.
And you're stepping away from HiPages, so take $252 off that.
There's no SEO in thisDeliberately. It takes three to six months and you haven't got three to six months.
And if it doesn't workYou give me 30 days notice and you walk with the lot. The quotes, the listing, the ads account, your customer list. All of it is in your name from day one.
How do you want to
play it from here?
1. Agreement, month to month2. Quoting and follow-up live in a week3. Ads on once that's working