Customer CRM fields for trades: a simple template

A small trades CRM does not need dozens of fields. It needs the right split.

The useful question is not “what can the CRM store?” It is “what belongs to the person, and what belongs only to this job?” If you get that right, repeat customers are easier to manage, old notes are easier to read, and your team spends less time hunting for basic details.

This matters because CRM systems often separate person records from deal or job records. In HighLevel, contact custom fields sit on the person, while opportunity custom fields sit on the specific deal, and a field cannot later be switched from contact to opportunity (How to Create and Use Custom Fields). HighLevel also keeps opportunity notes separate from contact notes, which supports a clean split between customer-level and job-level information (How to use Custom Fields for Opportunities, Adding Opportunity Notes).

The exact labels in your CRM may differ. The structure below is a practical trades template to adapt.

The simple rule: person here, job there

Put details on the customer record if they are likely to stay true across more than one job.

Put details on the job record if they only matter for one site visit, quote, repair or install.

That usually means:

• customer record = who this is and how they like to hear from you
• job record = where the work is, what the work is, and what you need to know to do it

If you mix those together, a repeat customer can end up with old gate codes, old appliance notes and old property addresses cluttering the main record.

What belongs on the customer record

For most small trades businesses, the minimum customer record is short.

Use the customer record for:

• customer name
• primary mobile
• secondary phone if needed
• primary email
• preferred contact route
• main correspondence address, only if it is a stable customer-level address
• general customer note that is likely to stay useful over time
• business name, where the customer is acting through a company, landlord business or managing agent

HighLevel’s standard contact fields include name, phone, email, business name, address and notes (Import Contacts into HighLevel). It also gives “preferred contact method” as a contact-field example (How to Create and Use Custom Fields).

For a trades business, the key point is this: a customer record should help you recognise the person and contact them properly, without being overloaded by one-off site details.

A good general note might be:

• “Prefers weekday afternoon visits”

A bad general note might be:

• “Boiler in loft, rear gate code 4821”

That second note belongs to a specific job, not to the person forever.

What belongs on the job record

Use the job record for details that apply only to this piece of work.

That usually means:

• job address
• service type or job type
• job-specific notes
• next visit or follow-up date
• access details
• location of the item worked on
• fault description linked to this job

HighLevel describes opportunity custom fields as suitable for record-specific details such as service type, deadlines and client preferences, and supports separate opportunity notes for extra detail (How to use Custom Fields for Opportunities).

For trades, that makes practical sense. A person may own several properties. A landlord may call about different tenants. A facilities contact may book work across multiple sites. The person stays the same. The worksite and job details change.

Minimum field dictionary for a trades CRM

Use this as a draft, not a rigid rule. Keep it lean enough that you will actually keep it tidy.

Scroll sideways to see all columns.

If you mainly work for commercial clients, a separate company record can also be useful for business-level details such as company name, phone, email, website and address (Getting Started with Companies).

Hypothetical tidy-up: one messy record made usable

Here is a deliberately messy example.

Hypothetical before:

• “Jamie Reed, 07700 900123, 14 Cedar Close, wants WhatsApp, boiler in loft, rear gate code 4821, quote for service, maybe landlord business is Reed Property Ltd.”

That has person details, site details and job notes all jammed together.

Here is the tidy version without adding facts that were not already there.

Hypothetical after:

Customer/contact:

• Customer name: Jamie Reed
• Primary mobile: 07700 900123
• Preferred contact route: WhatsApp
• Business name: Reed Property Ltd, only if that really is the customer’s organisation

Job/opportunity:

• Job address: 14 Cedar Close
• Job type / service: Service quote
• Job-specific notes: Boiler in loft; rear gate code 4821

What stays blank for now:

• email, because it was not provided
• secondary phone, because it was not provided
• correspondence address, because we do not know whether 14 Cedar Close is the customer’s own main address or only the worksite

That last point matters. If you are unsure whether an address is customer-level or job-level, leave it off the customer record until you know. It is better to keep one field empty than to store the wrong thing in the wrong place.

Common mistakes to avoid

A small CRM gets messy for predictable reasons.

The most common ones are:

• using one big notes field for everything
• storing worksite address on the customer when the same person has multiple properties
• putting permanent preferences, like “email only”, inside a job note
• creating too many fields that nobody fills in
• choosing the wrong object for a field, then discovering later that it should have lived elsewhere

That last problem is worth stressing. In HighLevel, once a custom field is created for contacts or opportunities, it cannot be switched later between those objects (How to Create and Use Custom Fields). So decide your split before you build lots of forms, automations or imports around it.

What you can do today

You do not need a full CRM rebuild to improve this.

• Pick four customer fields you will always maintain: name, primary mobile, primary email, preferred contact route.
• Pick four job fields you will always maintain: job address, job type, job notes, next visit date.
• Rename vague notes fields so the difference is obvious: “General customer note” and “Job notes”.
• Review one repeat customer with more than one address and move property-specific notes off the customer record.
• Check whether you need a company-level record for commercial clients instead of squeezing company details into personal notes.
• Write a one-line rule for your team: “If it changes by property or by visit, it belongs on the job.”

If you are still shaping how enquiries enter the system, our guide to trades quote form fields helps you collect less upfront and sort the rest later. You can also browse more practical articles in our guides library.

If you want help setting up a cleaner pipeline and record structure, see our CRM service and pricing. Related reading: What do trade leads cost? Checkatrade, Bark and MyBuilder compared, Trades quote form fields: what to ask first and what to leave for later, and How much does a tradesperson’s website cost?.

A good CRM record is boring on purpose

The best customer CRM fields for trades are not clever. They are clear.

You need enough detail to recognise the customer, contact them the right way and run the job without scrolling through a wall of old notes. Keep permanent facts on the customer. Keep property and visit details on the job. If you do only that, your CRM will already be more useful than most.

Keep building your enquiry process

See our guides for trades for the wider picture, explore crm for trades with UKTL and check the current package and pricing.

• What do trade leads cost? Checkatrade, Bark and MyBuilder compared
• Trades quote form fields: what to ask first and what to leave for later
• How much does a tradesperson’s website cost?