Estimate follow-up email and text templates for contractors

Paste these five email and text templates into the estimate follow-up your field-service app already sends: same business hour, then days 2, 4, 7 and 14. Leave those reminders on. The phone call is the follow-up. Stop the day they decline, hired someone else, or reply STOP.

This is the copy for a 2-to-10 truck HVAC, plumbing or electrical shop whose change-outs, water heaters, and panel upgrades sit open after the estimate goes out.

What the email and the text are for

An unsold estimate is still open until someone sells it, dismisses it, or the customer approves it. The reminder is not that ending.

Channel	What it is good at	What it cannot do
Email	Puts the PDF and the line items back in front of them	Hear the spouse, the second bid, or the financing stall
Text	Gets read the same hour	Hold a real conversation or book the install while they talk
Phone call	Answers the hold-up and books, or logs a no	Only happens if someone owns the list

Do not write “just following up.” Ask whether the file arrived, or what they are still deciding. On r/HVAC, techs still say people do not want to feel pressured. A receipt check is not a chase. A pitch into the mailbox is.

A cadence a small shop can paste

One CSR job post for this work asks for a callback within 30 minutes, then days 2, 4, 6 and 7. Five phone attempts in two weeks is a cadence a small shop can run. Paste the matching email and text so the reminder and the call say the same thing.

When	Email and text	Call	What you are trying to learn
Same business hour (day 0)	Confirm the estimate arrived	Yes, first	Did they get it, and is there a first question
Day 2	Who else needs to see it	Yes	Spouse, second bid, or financing
Day 4	Next two open install slots	Yes	Timing versus price
Day 7	The one thing still in the way	Yes	A real objection, or a polite stall
Day 14	Closing the file	Yes, last	A reason in the notes, then dismiss

If they already gave you a date, park it and write then. If nobody answers, leave a short voicemail with your name, the shop, the address, and a callback number. Do not pitch into the mailbox.

There is no reliable public number for how much this raises close rate. Score it from your own FSM. How to follow up on HVAC estimates that haven’t closed has the call scripts. How many times should a contractor follow up on an estimate? is the count.

The five templates

Swap the brackets. Write as the shop, by the company name. Read the estimator’s notes first. Put Reply STOP on anything the FSM sends on a schedule.

Day 0. Receipt check. Subject: Your estimate for 18 Maple

Hi Pat, Luis was out at 18 Maple this morning. The [job] estimate is in your inbox; reply if it didn’t land. I’ll call this afternoon.

Text: Hi Pat, Maya from Northside. Luis sent the 18 Maple estimate. Reply if it didn’t land. I’ll call this afternoon. Reply STOP to opt out of texts.

Day 2. Who else needs to see it. Subject: Who else should see the 18 Maple estimate?

Hi Pat, could you open the [job] estimate for 18 Maple? If someone else needs it, reply with their email. Payment options Luis left are on the last page.

Text: Hi Pat, Maya at Northside. Did the 18 Maple estimate make it to whoever else needs it? I can resend. Reply STOP to opt out of texts.

Day 4. Two install windows, only if they are real. Subject: Two install dates for 18 Maple

Hi Pat, we have [Tue 8-12] and [Thu 1-5] open for the [job] at 18 Maple. If timing isn’t the hold-up, tell me what is.

Text: Hi Pat, Northside. Two windows for 18 Maple: [Tue 8-12] and [Thu 1-5]. Want one, or is something else in the way? Reply STOP to opt out of texts.

Day 7. One question. Subject: What’s still in the way on 18 Maple?

Hi Pat, what’s the one thing you’re still weighing on the [job] at 18 Maple: price, a second bid, financing, or someone at home? If a rebate date is on the estimate, it is [date]. I won’t invent one.

Text: Hi Pat, Maya at Northside. What’s still in the way on 18 Maple: price, another bid, payments, or someone at home? Reply STOP to opt out of texts.

Day 14. Close the file. Subject: Closing the estimate for 18 Maple

Hi Pat, I’m closing open estimates and wanted a last look at 18 Maple. If you went another way, reply and I’ll stop emailing. If you still want the [job], I can resend. Pricing may have moved.

Text: Hi Pat, last note on 18 Maple. If you went another way, reply and I’ll close it so we stop texting. Reply STOP to opt out of texts.

Swap the job, keep the shape

Trade	Put this in [job]	Who was in the house	Example
HVAC	furnace and AC, heat pump, or change-out	Comfort advisor	3-ton replacement at 18 Maple
Plumbing	water heater, repipe, or slab leak	Estimator or plumber	50-gallon water heater at 18 Maple
Electrical	panel upgrade, EV charger, or service upgrade	Electrician	200-amp panel at 18 Maple

A different outdoor unit, water-heater vent, or panel size goes back to the person who was in the house. This message does not guess.

Where these go in the FSM

The field-service app wins the reminder. Paste into what it already sends. It will not cover all five days. Send day 0 with the estimate. Send day 14 when you close the file.

App	What it will send	What you paste
Jobber, Connect and up	Up to two quote follow-ups, same method as the quote	Day 2 and day 7. Help updated 2026-08-06
Housecall Pro Pipeline	Resend First through Third Follow-Up, then decline	Day 2, 4 and 7. Help dated 2026-08-06
Workiz Automations	Stock Email follow-up / 3 days after; you can switch it to text	Day 2 or day 4. Help updated 2024-01-31, read 2026-10-08
ServiceTitan Follow Up	Does not send. A person clicks Call the customer	Keep the call list. Marketing Pro can email or SMS unsold estimates (updated 2026-07-11). A Virtual Agent that texts them is in Private Preview as of 2026-09-30

How to track unsold estimates in ServiceTitan and How to follow up on estimates in Workiz are the click paths. Keep the reminders on. Add the five calls.

When to stop

• They said no, hired someone else, or asked you not to call or email. Dismiss it that day so CSRs are not writing dead quotes.
• They replied STOP, or they put you on their do-not-call list. Honor it immediately.
• They approved. Book the install. More reminders on a sold job are noise.

The FCC (updated 2026-02-27) prohibits telemarketing calls to the home before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m. local time, requires an immediate do-not-call honor, and says commercial texts need written consent while informational texts may be oral. Honor STOP. The FTC CAN-SPAM guide (read 2026-10-08) says commercial email needs an honest subject, a valid physical postal address, and an opt-out honored within 10 business days. An estimate they already asked for may be a transactional message. This is not legal advice. Check with your own counsel.

Five attempts in two weeks, then a logged no, ends this estimate. A year-old quote they bring up again is a new conversation.

Four ways shops actually send these

1. Paste them into the FSM

Work Automations, Pipeline, or the 3-day Workiz template every morning. Right answer when someone is at the desk. It breaks the first week someone edits the copy and never turns the rule back on.

2. Write the next text when you hit send

Write the day-2 text the same minute the estimate goes out. Paste it into a note with the date. Best when you send five quotes a week. It dies at twenty.

3. Hire someone whose job is the list

Job posts from 2025 list a sales VA for estimate follow-up at about $700 a month and an estimator or lead converter at about $400 a month. You still hire, train them on your price book, and check that they log the reason.

4. Use software that builds the daily call list from open estimates

Leave the FSM reminders in place. Pull open estimates onto a call cadence so the office, or a caller working as the shop, actually dials. We make Escloser, which does this, so weigh that suggestion accordingly. Ask who is on the phone and whether every no gets a reason.

How to tell this week

The copy is working when yesterday’s unsold estimates have a same-day call, the FSM reminder went out, thinking and financing have a next date, and Friday’s open list is shorter than Monday’s. If the list only grows, the emails are sending and nobody is calling.

Open last month’s estimates in the FSM. Paste day 2 into the reminder that already exists. Lay the open ones next to the phone. Start there. They already exist.