Quick start

This is the whole journey on one page: buy, install, set up, fill in your website, then answer your first quote request. Each step links to the chapter with the details. Most businesses get through it in an afternoon, plus the time it takes to write a few words about each town you cover.

Features marked (Pro) need a Pro or Agency licence.

1. Buy and install

1. Buy the kit and keep the receipt email: it has your licence key. See Buying and your licence.
2. Check your hosting and take a backup if the website already exists. See Before you install.
3. Install the three parts in order: Gradespace Core, then the Gradespace Trades plugin, then the Gradespace Trades theme (a plugin is an add-on for WordPress; the theme is the design). See Installing.
4. Add your licence key under Settings → Gradespace licence and click Activate. This switches on updates and your Pro features.

2. Run the setup wizard

1. The wizard opens by itself after installing. If it doesn't, click Continue setup on the Dashboard.
2. It asks about your business, Your trade (and adds starter services), Where you work (the towns you cover), Quote requests and your Accreditations, then adds starter pages and a menu.
3. Details: The Trades setup wizard and The setup wizard in general.

You can run it again later from Trades → Settings → Run setup again.

3. Choose your look

1. Go to Site Settings → Design & colours and pick Workshop, Local Pro or Blueprint, and a colour palette.
2. Add your logo under Trades → Settings → Business.
3. See Designs, pages and menus and Your look.

4. Fill in your details

1. Trades → Settings → Contact: your phone numbers, WhatsApp number, public email and address. These feed the header, the footer, the Call and WhatsApp bar and your emails.
2. Trades → Settings → Email: where new requests and messages go. Send yourself a test email. See Privacy and emails.
3. Trades → Settings → Quote requests: the choices on the quote form, photos, and who gets new requests. See Quote requests and the pipeline.

5. Fill in your website

1. Services: check the starter services, set a "from" price and what's included. See Services and prices.
2. Service areas: write each town's own words and publish it. Pages without their own words stay hidden from search engines. See Service areas.
3. Projects: add two or three recent jobs with before and after photos. See Projects.
4. Testimonials, accreditations and review links: see Reviews, testimonials and accreditations.

6. Set up quotes and surveys (Pro)

1. Trades → Settings → Quotes: VAT, your VAT number, quote numbers, how long quotes are valid and your terms. See Quotes.
2. Trades → Settings → Survey visits: your survey hours, how long a visit takes and travel time. See Survey visits.
3. Trades → Settings → Reviews: your Google, Checkatrade and other review pages, and when the thank-you email goes. See Reviews, testimonials and accreditations.

7. Add your team

Give each person their own account: Office staff see every request, Estimators see only the requests given to them. See Staff and sign-in and Who gets new requests.

8. Test it yourself

1. Open your website on your phone, signed out, and fill in the Get a quote form with your own name and a photo.
2. Check the reply email arrives, and that the new request email reaches the right person.
3. Sign in. The request is on Trades → Today and under Trades → Enquiries, with a red number on the menu.

9. Answer your first real quote request

1. Open the request from Trades → Today.
2. Read what they sent and look at the photos.
3. Reply with Email it to the customer (the request becomes Contacted), or ring them.
4. (Pro) Click Email them a link to choose a time to let them book a survey visit, or book a time you agreed on the phone.
5. (Pro) Click Write a quote, add the lines and click Save and email it to the customer.
6. When they accept, the request moves to Won by itself. Do the job, then move it to Job done.

Full details: Quote requests and the pipeline, Quotes and Survey visits. For the daily routine after that, see Daily running.