For years my replies to enquiries were a paragraph about materials and then a number. Maybe one in six ever wrote back.

Three months ago I changed one thing. Instead of the price I say: I'm setting glass until the 14th, then I'm free, do you want to come and see it on the floor before it's grouted. Nothing else.

Twelve enquiries since. Nine of them got in the car. Seven commissions out of that. Same work, same prices, same photos on the page.

I think people don't actually want a mosaic. They want to know what they're getting before they hand over 3,000 euros to a stranger with a hammer. A number in a message doesn't answer that. Standing over it in bad light in my workshop does. Two of them signed before they'd seen the whole thing, just the corner where the smalti catches.

What annoys me is how obvious it is and how long it took me. I was treating a message like a quote, when it's really the first five minutes of a long job.

It has made my week lumpier though. I'm a person again on Thursdays instead of a form. Some days I'd rather just cut stone and be nobody.