Should the CSR or the technician follow up on unsold estimates?

The technician who was in the house should make the first callback when they can. The CSR should own the rest of the cadence, and the list, if the estimator’s notes are on the ticket. Technical questions go back to the technician. One person has to own the open list.

This is the split for a 2-to-10 truck HVAC, plumbing or electrical shop on ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro or Workiz whose change-outs, panel upgrades, and repipes sit open after the visit.

What each job actually is

Estimate follow-up is a check-in, not a second sales visit. The person who wrote the quote knows the attic and the two options they left. The person at the desk can dial while the trucks are still out.

Job	CSR or office	Technician or comfort advisor
Owns the open-estimate list	Yes, if inbound is not eating the day	Rarely. They have more houses
First call after the visit	If the notes are in the ticket	Wins this row when they can make it
Same business hour	Yes. They are at a desk	Only between jobs
Answers schedule and financing from the notes	Yes	Yes
Talks equipment or drops the price	No. Send it back	Yes
Afternoon still on jobs	Shop hours	The truck wins the afternoon
Logs the reason for a no	If you check the log	Often in their head
Cost, BLS May 2025	CSR median $21.53 an hour	HVAC tech median $29.33 an hour

The technician wins the house and the first call. The CSR wins the list. How to follow up on HVAC estimates that haven’t closed is the habit: same business hour, then days 2, 4, 7 and 14. How soon should you call a customer back after sending an HVAC estimate? is that first hour. Leave the FSM reminder emails and texts on. They never forget. They do not pick up the phone.

What the technician actually does well

The soonest close is still in the house. After that, the person who was there still wins the first callback when they can make it. They remember the line-set, the permit talk, and what the homeowner stalled on.

ServiceTitan built a Follow Up tab in Mobile (updated 2026-10-08) so a technician can call, log a note, and set a reminder from the truck. That tab only shows unsold estimates on jobs in Completed status. The office list shows them for jobs in any status. Close the job out, then the tech can see it on the phone.

On r/HVAC, some shops point techs at that tab every day. That works when the tech has a gap and the notes are theirs. It stops the afternoon they have three more houses. Techs on that subreddit still say people do not want to feel pressured. The useful call is whether the file arrived, not a discount from the driveway.

Equipment, tonnage, a different outdoor unit, or a new price stays with the technician or comfort advisor.

What the CSR actually does well

ServiceTitan designed the office list for the office. The Follow Up screen (updated 2026-07-11) names managers and office employees as the users. A CSR can sell an estimate over the phone. If the estimate does not sell in the house, ServiceTitan’s own help says close the job out: the office sees that nothing sold and they can follow up. Dismissing dead quotes keeps CSRs off files the customer already declined.

That is the job a desk can finish. Pull Unsold Estimates, sort by value, read the visit notes, confirm the file landed, ask whether they are stuck on price, the spouse, a second bid, financing, or a repair instead of the change-out. Book the yes. Park a date. Write the reason on a no. What to say when a customer needs to think about the quote only works if someone wrote the hold-up down.

The BLS, May 2025, puts the median customer service representative at $21.53 an hour and the median HVAC technician at $29.33 an hour. Using the truck to work yesterday’s list takes a tech off today’s no-heat. The CSR stops where the notes stop. Peak-season inbound will eat the outbound list if you mix them in the same seat. Work Follow Up separately.

When the technician should call, and when the CSR should

Shop	Who calls	Why
One truck, owner still sees every quote	The person who was in the house	They already know the job
2-to-10 trucks, CSR at the desk, notes in the ticket	Tech first hour, CSR on days 2 through 14	The list needs someone at a desk
Notes are thin, advisor never writes what they said	Technician, or fix the notes first	The CSR has nothing to say
High-dollar change-out, spouse not home, financing in play	Either, from the notes	Park a time when both can talk
Nobody owns the list this week	Whoever can dial today	A call that happens beats the better caller who never rings
They already replied STOP, or asked you not to call	Neither	Honor it the same day

How to track unsold estimates in ServiceTitan is still a person on Follow Up. Jobber quote reminders and Housecall Pro Pipeline still send. None of that picks a caller.

There is no reliable public number for how much this split raises close rate. Score it from your own FSM: open this month, called within a business hour, booked after a call, lost with a reason, and whose name is on the log.

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 comply immediately with a do-not-call request. This is not legal advice. Check with your own counsel.

When the split fails

Skip this split, or stop expecting it to close replacements, when:

1. You wanted the technician on every callback. They win the first one. Five live attempts over two weeks from the truck is how the list dies in peak season.
2. The notes are not in the job. On r/HVAC, shops still open the cheaper bid and find half the work. A CSR cannot do that from a blank ticket.
3. Inbound and Follow Up share one seat. Overflow and after-hours no-heat will beat yesterday’s change-out every time.
4. Two people call the same afternoon. The homeowner already had a visit. A receipt check from one person is enough that day.
5. You thought the reminder email was the gap. Jobber’s two quote follow-ups and Housecall Pro’s Pipeline resends never miss a day. They do not pick up the phone.

Four ways shops actually keep the list moving

1. The office works Follow Up every morning

Unsold Estimates, quote reminders, Pipeline, or Pending, highest dollar first. Right answer when a CSR is at the desk and the notes are in the ticket. It breaks the first week inbound eats the afternoon.

2. The estimator calls from the truck

Same-hour check-in from the person who wrote the quote. Best first call. Hand days 2 through 14 back to the office before the next house.

3. Hire someone whose only job is the list

Job posts from 2025 list a sales VA for estimate follow-up at about $700 a month. You still train them and check the log. Should I hire a virtual assistant to follow up on estimates for my HVAC company? is that hire. The technician still wins equipment questions.

4. Put the open estimates on a daily call list

Leave the FSM and the trucks in place. Pull open estimates onto a cadence so the office, or a caller working as the shop, actually dials from the estimator’s notes. We make Escloser, which does this, so weigh that suggestion accordingly. Ask who is on the phone, whether they have the visit notes, and whether every no gets a reason.

How to tell this week

The split is working when yesterday’s unsold change-outs have a same-day callback, the first hour has the technician’s name when they could make it, days 2 through 14 have the CSR’s name, and lost jobs have a reason. If the trucks were full and the open list only grew, nobody owned the desk.

Open last month’s estimates in the FSM. Lay the open ones next to the phone. Look at who last called. Start with that list. It already exists.