Response desk
Tuesday 25 August 2026 · 6 install teams · Bristol, Taunton & Exeter · MCS certified, TrustMark registered
Waiting for a first reply
34
9 over an hour
Median first response
3h 40m
Target is under 5 minutes
Surveys booked, month
108
From 620 enquiries · 17.4%
Cost per booked survey
£412
+£74 on last year
Arriving out of hours
41%
Evenings, weekends, overnight
What a delay costs
Thornbeck's own enquiries, last 12 months · share that went on to book a survey
| Time to first contact | Enquiries | Surveys booked | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5 minutes | 214 | 103 | 48% |
| 5–30 minutes | 486 | 190 | 39% |
| 30–60 minutes | 702 | 218 | 31% |
| 1–4 hours | 1,908 | 420 | 22% |
| Later the same day | 1,334 | 253 | 19% |
| The next day | 1,652 | 116 | 7% |
| After 48 hours | 1,144 | 23 | 2% |
Only 214 of 7,440 enquiries were answered inside five minutes. Nearly half waited until the next day or later, and those converted at 7% and 2%.
When enquiries arrive
Against when somebody is at a desk
Four in ten enquiries arrive when the office is shut. A homeowner researching a heat pump does it on a Sunday afternoon, sends four enquiries, and takes the first survey slot offered. By Monday morning Thornbeck is bidding against three companies that already have an appointment in the diary.
Enquiries a year7,440
Bought from lead sellers4,180
Average cost of a bought lead£118
Spent on leads, 12 months£493,000
Answered inside five minutes
Share of all enquiries · rolling 12 months against an 80% target
| Month | Inside 5 min | Month | Inside 5 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 8% | Mar 2026 | 9% |
| Oct 2025 | 11% | Apr 2026 | 7% |
| Nov 2025 | 9% | May 2026 | 8% |
| Dec 2025 | 7% | Jun 2026 | 9% |
| Jan 2026 | 6% | Jul 2026 | 8% |
| Feb 2026 | 10% | Aug 2026 | 9% |
Flat for twelve months. Everyone in the business knows speed matters. Knowing it is not the same as having something that does it at 21:47 on a Saturday.
Who is answering
Enquiries handled and median first response, this month
NBNia Bevan41 min
JRJoel Rutherford1h 20m
PTPriya Tandon2h 55m
—Out of hours queue14h 10m
Nobody here is slow. Nia answers in 41 minutes while also booking surveys, chasing DNO applications and taking calls from site. The 14-hour figure is not a person — it is the pile that builds up between 17:00 and 09:00.
Waiting right now
Ranked by what the enquiry cost and how fast its value is decaying
| Enquiry | Interested in | Source | Lead cost | Waiting | Booking odds now | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S & R PettiferNailsea BS48 | Solar PV & battery | Greenlight Leads | £136 | 36h 03m | 7% | Never contacted |
| M. TrelawnyTaunton TA1 | Air source heat pump | Greenlight Leads | £164 | 19h 41m | 7% | Never contacted |
| The AshworthsExeter EX4 | Heat pump & insulation | EcoMatch | £171 | 4h 12m | 19% | Voicemail left |
| D. KowalskiBristol BS7 | Solar PV | EcoMatch | £118 | 2h 38m | 22% | Queued |
| H. Vasquez-ReidClevedon BS21 | Battery retrofit | Greenlight Leads | £98 | 47m | 31% | Queued |
| R. FernsBridgwater TA6 | Solar PV | Website form | — | 22m | 39% | Queued |
| L. OgundeleWells BA5 | Air source heat pump | Customer referral | — | 14m | 39% | Queued |
| P. WhitcroftYeovil BA21 | Loft & cavity insulation | EcoMatch | £64 | 6m | 39% | Nia calling |
| A. BeddoePortishead BS20 | Solar PV & battery | Website form | — | 2m | 48% | Nia calling |
Rows open the enquiry. "Booking odds now" is Thornbeck's own conversion at that delay — it falls while the row sits there.