How many taps to reach a foundation inspection form?

PracticalMode · November 2, 2026

Should you move the form or add a shortcut?

Suppose your inspection form sits beneath several screens of services and project photos. You could move the whole form to the top, or you could leave that useful detail in place and add a “Request an inspection” button near the top. The button adds a tap, but it gives someone who is ready to arrange a visit a direct route to the first field.

Our results show why it pays to check both the tap count and the landing spot. On 22 of 35 sites, we reached a request form in one tap or less. Yet eight of the ten homepage forms whose position we could measure began below the first screen. When you check your own site, look for the first point where a homeowner has to hunt for the next step. That gives you a specific change to test.

Where the request form appeared

We started at each contractor’s homepage in a mobile browser. Eleven sites had a usable request form on that page. On eleven more, a single tap opened one. On one site we opened the menu and tapped Contact Us. Across those 23 verified routes, the median was one navigation tap.

Observed routes by service market, November 2, 2026

From homepage	Columbus	Indianapolis	All
Form on page	5	6	11
One tap	5	6	11
Two taps	0	1	1
Unresolved	7	5	12
Sites tested	17	18	35

Eight homepage forms started below the first screen

We could locate the first field in page coordinates on 10 of the 11 homepage forms. Eight started below the initial 844-pixel screen. On two sites, the first field began more than 9,000 CSS pixels down the page. The eleventh form sat inside an embedded frame, so we left it out of the position count.

A clearly labeled button near the top can take a visitor directly to a form farther down. We measured where the fields appeared. We did not time the scroll or test how quickly a homeowner would notice a shortcut.

What counted as reaching a form

We tested 35 distinct domains associated with foundation contractors serving Columbus, Ohio, or Indianapolis, Indiana. We selected sites from public searches and our existing contractor research. This small, nonrandom sample cannot establish which city performs better or how common these designs are nationally.

Each visit began in a fresh Chrome session emulating a 390 × 844 Android touchscreen. We allowed scrolling and waited for embedded forms. A route qualified when we could reach an actionable field in a form that accepted an inspection, estimate, consultation or service inquiry. A general callback form qualified if a homeowner could use it to ask about a foundation problem.

We counted the shortest route we actually verified. Scrolling, typing and pressing Submit were outside the count. We entered no homeowner information, placed no calls and submitted no requests. The results describe access to the form. Delivery, confirmed appointments and conversion rates were outside the study.

Why 12 sites have no tap count

Four sites returned an access challenge or blocked our browser. One hostname failed to resolve and one failed certificate validation. One site offered a phone estimate and email. Three contact routes yielded no actionable form in our session. One stopped at a ZIP-code check, and another routed us differently across visits. We could not assign those sites a reliable count. A homeowner on a different device or network might see a different result.

What should a contractor change first?

Eleven sites had a form on the homepage, and eleven others had a verified one-tap route. A contractor choosing between those layouts has a more useful question than “Can we save a tap?” Ask whether a homeowner who is ready for a visit can recognize the next step and reach a field they can use. A dedicated request page can do that in one tap. A form farther down the homepage can do it too, if the button takes the visitor straight there.

Hand your phone to someone who hasn’t used your site. Ask, “You’ve found a crack in your basement wall. How would you ask this company to come look?” Let them choose their own route. Where they hesitate tells you which change to try first.

• They scroll past the button. Try a label that matches what your office offers. “Request an inspection” suits an inspection request. “Ask for a callback” sets a clearer expectation when the office needs to discuss the job first.
• They tap the button, then start searching again. Open the same link on a phone. If the first field sits behind a fixed header or below another block of introductory text, adjust where the link lands. You can test that change while keeping the rest of the homepage in place.
• They reach the form immediately. Before spending money on a redesign, send a labeled test inquiry on your own site. Have the office confirm what arrived, who received it and whether the acknowledgment tells the homeowner what happens next.

How to tell whether the change helped

Change one thing at a time. For comparable periods before and after, record mobile visits, visits that reached the form, and genuine inquiries from those mobile visits that reached the office. Exclude your tests and spam. Divide visits reaching the form by all mobile visits to see whether more visitors reached it. Compare those mobile inquiries per 100 mobile visits so a busier week alone doesn’t look like a better design. If your office cannot tell which inquiries came from mobile visits, report its total separately.

If more visitors reach the form but inquiries stay flat, inspect what happens after the first field, including the questions you ask and whether submissions reach the right inbox. Small counts, seasonal demand and changes in traffic sources can move either rate. Our study ended at the first usable field. Your office records can help you decide whether a change earned its place on your site.

Our foundation inspection request form guide covers which details to collect before the callback.

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