Hatch alternatives for contractor estimate follow-up?

The Hatch alternatives for contractor estimate follow-up are Chiirp for estimate rehash on ServiceTitan, Podium for a shared text inbox, HighLevel if the quote lives there, the reminders already in Jobber or Housecall Pro, or a person who dials the open list. Hatch still wins a dedicated text, email, and phone sequence.

This is the buy for a 2-to-10 truck HVAC, plumbing or electrical shop whose change-outs go quiet, and who is pricing Hatch against Chiirp, Podium, HighLevel, the FSM they already pay for, or a caller.

What Hatch actually sells

Hatch’s estimate follow-up page, read 2026-11-02, is the dedicated layer. The CRM marks the estimate open, then a sequence goes out on text, email, and phone. AI can answer quote questions in the thread. A person steps in to close. Scheduling and invoices stay in the FSM you already pay for.

Hatch’s ServiceTitan page that day calls the app ServiceTitan Certified, with a 15-minute bidirectional sync that includes estimate status, value, and timestamps. Hatch pricing: platform fee plus usage, annual plans paid monthly per location, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. No dollar figure.

Hatch’s own HVAC estimate follow-up study, dated 2024-09-23 and read 2026-11-02, analyzed 163,212 campaigns and reported a 60% average reply rate. That is replies, not signed jobs. Score close rate from your own FSM.

On r/hvacadvice in September 2026, the same search got “It’s called Hatch.” Hatch still wins shops that want every open estimate in a multi-day sequence without a CSR writing each text.

Five alternatives we priced

Prices below are from each vendor’s own page, read 2026-11-02, unless a help article carries an earlier updated date. Hatch still wins the dedicated sequence.

Tool	Cost	Reminder email or text	Who is on the phone	Reason for a no
Hatch	Quote-only. Platform fee plus usage, billed monthly per location	Text, email, and phone sequences on top of the FSM	AI on the sequence, then a human for the close	A reply in Hatch, unless the CRM writes it back
Chiirp	Quote-only	Estimate rehash on open estimates, plus missed-call and lead texts	AI text or voice, then a person	Asked on dismissed estimates, their claim
Podium	Quote-only. Talk to sales	Inbox, automations, and an AI Employee add-on	AI Employee if you buy it. Otherwise the inbox	Only if they text back
HighLevel	Starter $97 a month. Unlimited $297. Founder $497	Email, SMS, and a Manual Call task if the estimate lives in HighLevel	Manual Call is a task. Voice AI is an add-on	Only if you write it
The FSM you already run	Jobber Connect, 1 user: $99 a month billed annually, $139 month-to-month. Housecall Pro Basic $59 / $79. ServiceTitan quote-only	Jobber: two quote follow-ups. Housecall Pro Pipeline: three resends. ServiceTitan Follow Up sends nothing; Marketing Pro up to four SMS	CALL on a Housecall Pro card, or Call the customer in ServiceTitan, if someone clicks it	Only if you write it
A person who dials	HVAC Callback $2,000 a month, one HVAC location. Software $149 a month. Managed $350 a month plus a capped 3%	No. Leave the FSM reminders on	The office, HVAC Callback during agreed hours, or a trained caller working as the shop	Logged, if you check the handoff

Chiirp wins estimate rehash. Podium wins a shared inbox. HighLevel wins a workflow if the quote lives in Payments. The FSM wins the reminder already in the plan. A person wins the hold-up. Hatch wins the multi-channel sequence.

Chiirp

Chiirp’s homepage, read 2026-11-02, sells AI text and voice for speed-to-lead, missed-call recovery, and estimate recovery, and lists ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, and Jobber. No public dollar price.

Chiirp’s estimate-rehash page that day is timed follow-up on open estimates, and a “what made you choose someone else” ask on dismissed quotes. The cadence it prints is day 1, day 3, day 7, day 14, then seasonal re-engagement after day 30. That page claims Goettl moved from 43% to 52% conversion and $752,000 in two months. That is Chiirp’s claim.

Chiirp wins a shop that wants estimate rehash and missed-call texts from one vendor. It stops at the phone call from the estimator’s notes.

Podium

Podium’s pricing page, read 2026-11-02, is talk-to-sales. It names an AI Employee add-on that sells, schedules, and messages, plus a shared inbox for texts, calls, email, and webchat, reviews, automations, and payments. No dollar figure printed.

Podium is the shop that already lives in a text inbox and wants reviews in the same thread. Unsold estimates in Follow Up, awaiting response, or Pipeline stay there until someone puts those rows into a campaign or works the FSM list. Podium wins the inbox. It stops at last week’s change-outs still sitting in the FSM.

HighLevel

Shops say GoHighLevel or GHL. The vendor’s pages now say HighLevel. HighLevel pricing, read 2026-11-02: Starter $97 a month, 3 sub-accounts. Unlimited $297. Founder $497. Month-to-month. Phone, SMS, email, and AI usage bill extra.

The Estimates trigger, updated 2025-02-13, fires on Sent, Viewed, Accepted, Declined, or Invoiced. It can email or text. A Manual Call action puts a task in Conversations. Someone still has to dial. A new workflow does not see quotes sitting in Jobber. Can GoHighLevel handle estimate follow-up is that split.

HighLevel wins a shop whose quotes already live in HighLevel Payments. It stops when last month’s change-outs only exist in the FSM.

Jobber, Housecall Pro, and ServiceTitan

Turn these on before you buy a second vendor.

Jobber’s automations help, updated 2026-10-28, puts two quote follow-ups on Connect and up, same channel as the original quote. Connect, 1 user: $99 a month billed annually or $139 month-to-month, read 2026-11-02. Core does not include it. Does Jobber automatically follow up on quotes? is the click path.

Housecall Pro Pipeline, dated 2026-08-06, is the Estimates board with CALL on each card. Automations resend a sent estimate three times, then decline it. Housecall Pro pricing, read 2026-11-02: Basic $59 a month billed annually, $79 month-to-month, 1 user. Pipeline is an add-on with no published price.

ServiceTitan’s Follow Up screen, updated 2026-10-15, is Unsold Estimates. Filter Open, click Call the customer. The screen does not email or text. Marketing Pro, updated 2026-10-16, can send up to four SMS. ServiceTitan pricing is per technician and request-a-quote. How to track unsold estimates in ServiceTitan is that list.

On r/ProHVACR, one shop said their estimate software already sends a day-2 text and an expiry text, and that this is standard. That is the reminder. How to follow up on HVAC estimates that haven’t closed is the call: same business hour, then days 2, 4, 7 and 14.

Jobber wins two included reminders. Housecall Pro wins three resends. ServiceTitan wins the list a person works. Someone still has to click Call.

A person who dials

Leave the FSM, and Hatch or Chiirp if you have them, in place. Yesterday’s open change-outs still need a voice that can see the estimator’s notes.

HVAC Callback, read 2026-11-02, is $2,000 a month for one residential HVAC location, month-to-month. Missed-call and unsold-estimate follow-up, then a handoff with notes. Their own page says they do not answer live, book, dispatch, price, quote, or close.

The BLS, visited 2026-11-02, puts the US CSR median at $21.53 an hour in May 2025. That is enough when someone owns the open list every morning, highest dollar first.

Pull open estimates onto a call cadence so the office, or a caller working as the shop, actually dials. We make Escloser, so weigh this entry accordingly. Software is $149 a month and the shop’s own office makes the calls from the daily list. Managed is $350 a month plus 3% of a quote that closes within 30 days of the call, capped at $250 per job. It does not answer the after-hours no-heat line.

If they reply STOP, or they ask you not to call, stop that day. The FCC (updated 2026-02-27) prohibits telemarketing calls to the home before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m. local time, and says telemarketers must honor a do-not-call request immediately. This is not legal advice. Check with your own counsel.

What most shops actually run

A 2-to-10 truck shop already paid for the reminder. Turn it on. Work Follow Up, awaiting response, or Pipeline every morning. That is enough when someone is at the desk. The estimator’s same-hour check-in is still the best first call.

Hatch or Chiirp on top of the FSM is the shop that wants texts to go out even when the desk is empty. Leave one text sequence. Add the call. Podium is the inbox-and-reviews shop. HighLevel is the shop whose quotes already live there. A person who dials is the shop whose open list is growing and whose reminders are already sending.

How to tell this week

Follow-up is working when yesterday’s unsold change-outs have a reminder and a same-day callback, lost jobs have a reason, and Friday’s open list is shorter than Monday’s. If the texts went out and the list only grew, nobody called.

Open last month’s estimates in the FSM. Lay the open ones next to the phone. Turn the reminders on if they are off. Start with that list. It already exists.