Most quotes don’t close on the first conversation. The customer is gathering options, comparing prices, or just needs a couple of days to think. That’s normal. What’s not normal is how often contractors send a quote and then go silent — assuming the customer will come back if they’re interested.
They usually don’t. Industry data on home service sales suggests that more than half of unclosed quotes turn into wins when the contractor follows up at least once. The hard part isn’t finding the right words — it’s the act of sending anything at all when you’re also trying to run jobs, manage staff, and answer the next set of inbound leads.
Why a phone call is the worst tool for this
Calling a customer to ask “have you decided yet?” feels pushy on both sides. They didn’t expect you, they have to come up with an answer on the spot, and most of the time you reach voicemail anyway. Then you’re stuck in voicemail tag for three days while the lead goes cold.
Texting flips this around. The customer reads it when they have a free second between meetings or while waiting for coffee, and replies on their own time. Open rates for SMS in Canada sit at roughly 95% within the first three minutes of delivery — there’s no other channel where you can say that.
The three-text sequence
Stop overthinking the words and start sending the messages. This three-text cadence works for roofing, plumbing, HVAC, painting, fencing, landscaping — anything quote-driven. Adjust the names and the line about the work; keep everything else.
Text 1 — same day, 2-3 hours after sending the quote
“Hey [Name], it’s [Your Name] from [Company]. Just sent the quote for the [job description] — let me know if anything looks off or if you have questions. No rush.”
This one matters more than people think. It signals that a real human is behind the email and you’re reachable. Most customers won’t reply, but they’ll see it, and you’ve already separated yourself from the half of contractors who quote and ghost.
Text 2 — two days later
“Hi [Name], checking in on the [job] quote. If you have any questions about the scope or the pricing I’m happy to walk through it. Reply STOP to opt out.”
Day two is your highest-conversion follow-up. The quote is still fresh, they’ve had time to compare, and a low-pressure prompt is enough to surface objections. About a third of the wins from this sequence come from this single text.
Text 3 — five days after the quote
“Hi [Name], wanted to follow up one last time on the quote for the [job]. If you’ve gone with someone else no worries, just want to close the file on my end. Otherwise we have availability the week of [date].”
The “close the file” framing is the magic phrase. It releases the customer from feeling guilty, and it’s the message that flushes out the people who meant to reply but never did. You’ll be surprised how many customers reach out only after this third text — and how many start the reply with “Sorry, meant to get back to you sooner.”
What not to do
- Don’t send more than three follow-ups. After the fifth-day message, you’re no longer following up — you’re harassing.
- Don’t send identical generic messages. Reference the specific job. “Following up on the quote” is forgettable; “Following up on the bathroom reno quote at 41 Maple” gets a reply.
- Don’t text outside business hours. 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, weekdays. A 9 p.m. follow-up looks desperate.
- Don’t skip the opt-out. CASL requires it on commercial messages; we cover that in the CASL guide.
- Don’t use shortened tracking links. bit.ly URLs from an unknown number look like spam to most people.
Make it automatic
The reason most contractors don’t follow up isn’t willingness — it’s memory. Five days later, you’re on a different job, and the quote you sent on Tuesday slipped your mind by Friday. The fix is to remove yourself from the loop.
Set up a template for each of the three texts and a trigger that fires them on the right schedule when you record a quote. TextFuse handles this — you send the quote, and the day-of, two-day, and five-day texts go out without you doing anything. When the customer replies, the conversation lands in your shared inbox just like a normal text. STOP handling, opt-outs, and consent records are tracked automatically so you stay onside with CASL.
However you do it — manually with a sticky note or with a tool that runs the sequence for you — the difference between contractors who follow up and contractors who don’t is roughly 30% to 50% more closed quotes per quarter. That’s not optimization; that’s revenue you’re leaving on the table.