Most contractors measure lead response to the minute and then stop paying attention the moment an estimate leaves the truck. The tech presents a $9,400 system replacement, the homeowner says "let me think about it," and the estimate sits in the field software with the status "open" for six months.
That customer is not a cold lead. They let you into the house, they described the problem, they saw a price. Whatever stopped them from saying yes is usually small: a spouse who was not home, a second quote on the way, a repair that got the AC running for now, a question nobody answered. Follow-up is how you find out which one it was.
This guide gives you a follow-up schedule you can start on Monday, five message templates (text and email) to copy, a rule for when to stop, and the close-rate report to build in your field software so you can see whether any of it works.
Why estimates go quiet
Open estimates rarely die because the customer said no. They die because nobody asked again. A few common reasons the homeowner stalls:
- The decision-maker was not in the room. The tech presented to one spouse, who now has to carry a four-figure number back to the other.
- They are comparing. A second or third bid is coming, and the first company to follow up with something useful stays in the running.
- The price needs a plan. Financing exists, but nobody walked through it on the call.
- The urgency faded. The system limped through the weekend, so the replacement slides to "later."
- They have a question they did not want to ask. Warranty, permit, what happens to the old unit, what the "good, better, best" difference really is.
None of these are fixed by silence. Most of them are fixed by one short, specific message sent at the right time.
The follow-up schedule
Here is a schedule built around the way estimates actually stall. Treat the day counts as a starting point and adjust to your sales cycle. A $350 repair estimate and an $11,000 replacement estimate should not run on the same clock.
| When | Channel | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Same day, within a few hours | Text, plus the written estimate by email | Confirm they received it, offer to answer questions |
| Day 2 | Answer the objections you hear most often, add financing or option detail | |
| Day 4 or 5 | Text | Short check-in, one easy question to reply to |
| Day 7 | Phone call from a person | Real conversation. This is where the money is on high-ticket work |
| Day 14 | Something new: a seasonal point, an updated option, a deadline that is real | |
| Day 30 | Text | Low-pressure check-in, offer to hold the quote details |
| Day 60 to 90 | Last scheduled touch, then move to the long-term list |
Three rules keep this from turning into spam.
Vary the message. Five identical "just checking in" texts is how you get blocked. Each touch should give the customer a reason to read it: a fact, an option or a question.
Match the channel to the ticket. Text is fine for a repair estimate. A replacement estimate deserves a phone call by day 7, because the person deciding on $9,000 wants to talk to a human.
Stop the sequence the moment something changes. A booked job, a reply, a "not interested" or an opt-out ends the automation. Wire this into your field software so a won estimate never gets a "just checking in" text the day after the install.
Five message templates you can copy
Replace the bracketed fields. Keep them short. Every one of these should sound like a person at your company wrote it, because that is the point.
Template 1: same-day text
Hi [First name], this is [Name] at [Company]. Thanks for having [Tech name] out today. I just emailed your estimate for [job]. If anything in it raises a question, reply here and I will get you an answer today.
Why it works: it confirms delivery, names a person and invites a reply instead of asking for a decision.
Template 2: day-2 email
Subject: Your [system/repair] estimate and a few common questions Hi [First name], Following up on the estimate [Tech name] left for you on [date]. Three questions we hear most on [job type]: 1. What does the warranty cover? [One plain sentence.] 2. Do you offer financing? [Yes or no, with a link or a number to call.] 3. What is the difference between the options? [One sentence per option.] If it would help to talk it through with [Tech name] or me, reply with a time that works and we will call you. [Name], [Company], [Phone]
Why it works: it answers the objections before the customer has to ask, and it makes the next step a conversation instead of a purchase.
Template 3: day-5 text
Hi [First name], [Name] at [Company] again. Quick question on the [job] estimate: is the price the hold-up, or is there something about the work you want changed? Either way is useful for me to know.
Why it works: it offers two easy replies and treats a "no" as useful information. Replies to this message tell you which objection to address.
Template 4: day-14 email with a real reason
Subject: Still thinking about your [system/repair]? Hi [First name], I wanted to check in on the estimate from [date]. A couple of things have changed since then: [a real, specific update, such as a manufacturer rebate window that closes on a stated date, an open install week on your schedule, or a new financing term]. If you want to move forward, you can reply to this email or call [Phone]. If you went another direction, no hard feelings, and I would appreciate knowing so I can close this out. [Name], [Company]
Why it works: a follow-up with nothing new in it is a nag. Only use a deadline or offer if it is real. Invented urgency costs you the customer and the review.
Template 5: day-30 text, the soft close
Hi [First name], [Name] at [Company]. Your estimate for [job] is still in our system if you want to revisit it. If now is not the right time, tell me when to check back and I will set a reminder. Reply STOP anytime to opt out.
Why it works: it gives the customer a graceful exit and a way to name their own timeline, which turns a stalled estimate into a scheduled one.
Before you automate any of these, read the rules on texting. Whether and how you may text a given customer depends on consent, timing and opt-out handling, which we cover in TCPA texting rules for contractors, in plain English. This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your practices with counsel.
What to say on the phone at day 7
Your day-7 call is not a script read. It has one job: find out where the estimate stands. Three questions do most of the work:
- "Did you get a chance to look at the estimate with [spouse or decision-maker]?"
- "Is there anything in it you want to change or understand better?"
- "Where are you in the process? Are you still gathering quotes?"
Write down the answer in the estimate record. Over a few months, those notes become your list of real objections, which tells you whether to fix your presentation, your financing offer or your price.
When to stop
Follow-up has a stopping point, and it should be a written rule, not a feeling.
- Stop immediately when the customer books, replies "no," replies "stop" or asks not to be contacted. Honor opt-outs on every channel, every time.
- Stop the active sequence after the last scheduled touch (day 60 to 90 in the schedule above) if the customer has never replied.
- Move, do not delete. An estimate that is 90 days old and never answered is no longer an active sale. It becomes a segment on your long-term list, which you can revisit at the right moment: the start of cooling season, a rebate window, or the anniversary of the quote. Texting that long-term list is a separate consent question, covered in the TCPA guide linked above.
- Mark the reason. "Lost to competitor," "price," "not now," "no response." If you do not record why an estimate ended, you cannot improve the next one.
How many touches is too many? There is no study that settles it, and be wary of anyone who quotes you one. A practical test: if a customer has seen six messages from you over two months and answered none, a seventh will not help. The better move is a call from a person, then the long-term list.
Who does the follow-up
A schedule is only worth anything if it runs on the days it is supposed to. In most shops it breaks in one of three places:
- The tech presents and moves on. Nobody owns the estimate afterward.
- The CSR is busy. Follow-up is the first task dropped when the phones get heavy.
- Statuses are not updated. Open estimates pile up with no way to see which ones are alive.
Pick one owner for open estimates: a comfort advisor, a sales coordinator or a CSR with protected time. If your field software supports automated sequences, use them for the texts and emails, and keep the day-7 call as a task assigned to a person. Automation handles consistency. People handle the conversation.
How to track estimate close rate in your field software
You cannot manage follow-up without a close rate, and a lot of shops calculate it wrong. Here is a version that works.
Estimate close rate = estimates sold in a period / estimates presented in the same period
Dollar close rate = sold dollars / presented dollars
Track both. Counting estimates tells you how often you win. Counting dollars tells you whether you are winning the big ones.
Build these views in ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber or whatever you run. The exact report names vary by product, so look for estimate or opportunity reporting and filter as follows:
- By estimate age. How many open estimates are 0 to 7 days old, 8 to 30, 31 to 90 and older. The older buckets are your follow-up backlog.
- By technician or comfort advisor. Close rate varies by person, and so do their open estimates. The gap tells you who to coach.
- By job type. Repair, replacement and maintenance close at very different rates. A single blended number hides this.
- By lead source. An estimate from a repeat customer and one from a paid lead should not share a denominator.
- By follow-up status. Estimates that received your full sequence versus those that did not. This is the closest thing to a clean test of whether follow-up works.
- Won after follow-up. Count estimates that closed more than 7 days after they were presented. That is the revenue you would not have collected without the sequence.
Two data problems wreck close-rate reporting. First, estimates that are never marked won or lost, which inflate the denominator. Second, tech-written estimates created and then replaced by a revised version, which count as two presentations. Clean statuses first, then trust the number.
A worked example
These numbers are illustrative, not from a real company. Say a shop presents 120 estimates a month with an average value of $4,200 and closes 36% on the first visit or the same week. That leaves roughly 77 open estimates every month.
If a follow-up sequence converts even 8% of those, that is about six more sold jobs a month, or about $26,000 in monthly revenue at the same average ticket. Replace the 8% with your own number once you have it. If your real number is 3%, the answer is still two or three jobs a month from leads you already paid for.
The point of the example is the shape of the math, not the result. You already have the denominator in your software. The follow-up rate is the number you do not have yet.
What the published case studies do and do not show
Software vendors publish case studies with large recovered-revenue numbers from automated estimate follow-up. They are single customers, reported by the vendor, usually with no baseline. They tell you the idea can work. They do not tell you what to expect. We did not rely on any of them here, and you should be cautious about budgeting from one.
Trade publications describe the same practice more modestly. Contracting Business, in a February 2025 piece by a marketing agency, recommends segmenting your customer list by history, including customers who received an estimate but never replied, and setting automated triggers for follow-ups. It reports contractor anecdotes without baselines, which is a fair summary of the whole field: the practice is common and sensible, and the hard benchmarks are thin. That is why tracking your own close rate matters more than any published figure.
How this fits with response speed
Follow-up on an estimate starts the moment the lead comes in, not when the quote goes out. If the lead waited 18 hours for a call back, the estimate is already behind. Our guide to speed to lead for home services covers the front end, and why contractors lose booked jobs after the lead comes in covers the places the handoff breaks.
If you want estimate follow-up wired into your field software with tracking, that is part of the multi-touch follow-up in our Booked-Jobs Recovery System. You can also read about how we approach AI lead generation and follow-up before you talk to anyone.
Frequently asked questions
How long should I wait to follow up on an HVAC estimate?
Send a confirmation text the same day, and a first real follow-up within one to two days. Do not wait a week. The customer is deciding now, and a short, specific message in the first 48 hours keeps you in the conversation while they compare options.
How many times should I follow up on an estimate?
There is no research-backed number. A workable plan is five to seven touches across 60 to 90 days, with at least one phone call from a person, then a move to a long-term list. Stop at once if the customer books, says no or opts out.
Can I text customers about an open estimate?
It depends on consent, timing and how you collect and honor opt-outs. This is general information, not legal advice. Read TCPA texting rules for contractors and confirm your process with counsel.
What is a good estimate close rate for a contractor?
Published figures vary widely and mostly come from vendors, so we do not give one. Track your own close rate by estimate count and by dollars, split by job type and by technician, and improve against your own baseline.