What if I genuinely need to know the service type before I quote?

Ask in the free-text field with a placeholder ('Tell us briefly what you need - e.g. boiler repair, gas safety check'). People who know what they want will type it. People who don't shouldn't be forced through a dropdown that doesn't include their problem.

Won't I get more spam without a service-type dropdown?

We added a honeypot field (invisible to humans, irresistible to bots) and a 4-second minimum submit time. Spam dropped to roughly one a fortnight. A dropdown wouldn't have stopped any of it.

What about 'how did you hear about us'?

Ask on the call. People who'd genuinely tell you the truth are 1-2% of submissions, and the data is unreliable anyway (most pick whatever's at the top of the list). Replace it with one good question on the phone.

Is four fields too few for a B2B/professional services enquiry?

Not in our experience. The qualifying questions belong on a 90-second discovery call, not a form. The form's job is to get the call booked.

What about GDPR consent checkboxes?

If your privacy policy is linked under the form (it should be) and the form is genuinely about responding to their enquiry, you don't need a separate consent box under UK GDPR's 'legitimate interest' basis. Check with your DPO if you have one. We don't add the box - it tanks completion.

Why Every Built Local Form Has Exactly Four Fields

Every contact form on every Built Local site has exactly four fields. Name. Phone. Postcode. One free-text box.

We've held this line for two years across roughly 40 client sites. The answer to "can we add one more field?" has been no, every time, without exception. Here's why.

The form-length test

Six client sites volunteered for a controlled test in early 2025. Same site, same traffic, same offer. Half the visitors saw a four-field form. Half saw the same form with three additional fields: a service-type dropdown, a "preferred contact time" radio group, and a "how did you hear about us?" dropdown.

Results across the six sites:

Four-field form completion rate: 8.4% of visitors who started.
Seven-field form completion rate: 3.1%.
Quality of leads: identical. Same conversion to paid job. Same average job value.

The longer form lost 63% of completions and added zero useful information. The clients running it weren't using the "preferred contact time" data. The "how did you hear about us?" data was wrong (most people pick the first option) and never drove a marketing decision.

The four fields, and why each one earns its place

1. Name

Obvious. First name only is fine - we don't need a surname to ring someone back.

2. Phone

The single most important field. We make this required, validate it loosely (allow spaces, hyphens, +44, leading zero), and use type="tel" so mobile keyboards open the number pad.

We don't ask for an email. People will give a phone number for a service they need today. Email feels like signing up for marketing, and the open rate of "thanks for your enquiry" emails is in the low double digits anyway.

3. Postcode

Not "address". Postcode. It tells us if the job's in the service area, gives us a rough drive time for quoting, and answers "is this a tyre-kicker from another county?" instantly. A full address is too much to ask before you've even spoken.

Three characters minimum (so "NE12" works, full postcode optional). We don't validate format strictly - regex on UK postcodes is a rabbit hole that costs more leads than it saves.

4. One free-text box

Labelled something like "What do you need help with?" with a placeholder showing one specific example. Not required. Not minimum-character-counted. Three sentences is plenty - they'll tell us the rest on the call.

The seven fields we kill

Email - covered above.
Service type dropdown - they'll write it in the free text if they know it.
"Preferred contact time" - just call them when you call them. Voicemail is a thing.
"How did you hear about us?" - data is unreliable, never used.
Address line 1 / 2 / city / county - postcode does the same job in 1 field.
"Are you a homeowner or tenant?" - can be asked on the call without losing a single lead.
Marketing consent checkbox - covered in the FAQs above. Don't conflate transactional consent with marketing opt-in.

The 90-second phone script that gets the rest

The argument for a long form is "but I need all that information to quote properly". The answer is: yes, you do. You just need to get it on the phone, not on the form.

The script we recommend to clients (adjust for trade):

"Hi $name, this is $you from $business calling about your enquiry. Quick few questions so I can give you an accurate quote - is now a good time? (Wait for yes.)
What's the make and rough age of the boiler? Is it combi or system? Is the issue $described_in_form, or is there anything I missed? When were you hoping to get this looked at? And just confirming the address - I've got the postcode as $postcode."

That call - 90 seconds, average - extracts more useful information than any form ever will, builds rapport, and gives you a chance to handle objections before the customer rings the next number on the list.

The mobile design rules

Once you're down to four fields, the form should fit above the fold of a mobile screen. Specific rules we follow:

Input height: minimum 44px (Apple's tap-target minimum).
Labels above inputs, not floating placeholders. Floating labels disappear on focus and people lose track.
Submit button full-width on mobile, action verb ("Get my quote", not "Submit").
Inline validation only after first blur, never on keystroke. Premature red text is hostile.
Honeypot field for spam, not a CAPTCHA. CAPTCHAs cost real conversions.

The shortcut

Every Built Local site ships with this form. Honeypot included. £99 setup, £49/month. Most clients see a measurable lift in form submissions within two weeks of switching from whatever 9-field horror their old site had.