How to Follow Up on Service Quotes (2026)

You priced the job and then the thread went quiet. On a service quote that usually means the customer is comparing two other numbers, waiting on a partner, or waiting on payday. It rarely means they decided you were rude for asking.

The follow-up is a short, specific nudge on a date you chose in advance. This is the cadence and the scripts. A shorter version lives at How to Follow Up on an Estimate (2026). If the quote never got written because nobody picked up, fix that first with Stop Losing Leads From Missed Calls (2026 Guide).

Names below (Alex, Sam, Riverside) are placeholders. Swap in yours. These are scripts, not stories from a real customer.

Two clocks, not one

A $280 drain clearing and a $9,000 system replacement do not move on the same schedule. Using one cadence for both is why the small jobs feel nagged and the big jobs go cold.

Small repair. The customer has a problem today. They will hire someone this week, often today. Your clock is hours, not weeks.

• Same day, within a couple of hours: the price in writing, one sentence on what is included, and when you will check.
• Next morning, if you have not heard: one text. Ask if they want it on the schedule.
• Two days later: one last note. Offer a specific opening, then stop.

Replacement or a larger install. A water heater, a condenser, a panel, a roof section. Someone else often has to agree. Financing, a spouse, or a landlord sits between the quote and the yes. Your clock is days.

• Same day: the quote in writing, with the scope in plain language and the line "I will check in on Thursday unless I hear from you."
• Day two: confirm they could open it. Ask which part they want walked through. Do not apologize for sending it.
• Day seven: one reason to reply. An opening on your board, a question about access, or a cheaper scope you already priced, not a surprise discount.
• Day fourteen to twenty-one: close the loop. Tell them you are marking it paused, and that a reply reopens it.

If you only remember one rule: say, in the first message, when the next one is coming. People answer a message they expected. They ignore a message that feels like it appeared from nowhere.

What every touch has to contain

Four pieces, in any channel:

1. Their name and the specific job. "The 40-gallon water heater at 18 Oak," not "your estimate."
2. Who you are, the first time, and the company name every time. They asked three companies.
3. One new piece of information or one easy question. A repeated "just checking in" trains them to swipe it away.
4. A single next step they can take in one reply. "Want Thursday at 8?" beats "let me know your thoughts."

Write it so it can be answered with yes, no, or a time. A paragraph that asks three questions gets none.

Scripts you can send

Same day, email, replacement.

Subject: Quote for the water heater at 18 Oak

Sam, here is the quote we walked through for replacing the 40-gallon water heater. The price covers the unit we looked at, haul-away, and the permit. It does not cover drywall if the closet needs to be opened further.

I will text you Thursday to see if you want it on the schedule. If a line is unclear before then, reply here and I will answer it.

Attach the quote or link it. Do not make them hunt through a text thread from the driveway for the number.

Same day, text, small repair.

Sam, it's Alex at Riverside Plumbing. The kitchen drain is $280, including the cleanout and the camera if we need it. I can be there tomorrow at 8 or Thursday after 1. Which works?

Day two, text, replacement.

Sam, Alex at Riverside. Wanted to be sure the water heater quote opened and the scope made sense. Is the holdup the price, the timing, or someone else who needs to see it?

That last question is the whole point of day two. You are sorting the objection so the next message matches it. "Just checking in" does not sort anything.

Day seven, text.

Sam, I have Tuesday and Thursday morning open for the water heater. If you want one of those, reply with the day. If you are waiting on a number from another company, no rush, tell me and I will check back next week instead.

Close-the-loop, text or email.

Sam, I am pausing the water heater quote so it is not sitting open on my side. If you want it done later, reply to this and I will put it back at the front. Either way, thanks for having us out.

Send that one. Owners skip it because it feels like giving up. It does two useful things: it stops you from texting a dead lead for a month, and it gives a polite customer an easy way back without awkwardness.

What to say when they answer with an objection

Match the reply to the reason. Do not treat every silence as a price problem.

"You're higher than the other quote." Ask what the other quote includes before you move a dollar. Scope is the usual gap: haul-away, permit, disconnect of the old unit, a different efficiency rating.

If you can tell me what their quote includes, I will tell you straight whether we are covering the same work. I would rather adjust the scope than guess.

Offer a smaller scope you can actually do, such as a standard-efficiency unit you already price, only if it is true. A discount with no change in scope teaches them to wait for the next text.

"We are waiting until next month." Put a dated task on the day they named, and say so.

I will reach out on the 3rd. If something fails before then, call and we will treat it as urgent.

Then do not message them in between unless they write first.

"I need to ask my partner." Give them something to forward.

Want me to email a one-page version you can forward? I will follow up Friday, so you are not stuck reminding them.

"We're still getting other quotes." This is normal. Say when you will be back, and leave a reason to keep your quote in the pile.

Totally fair. I will check next Wednesday. The quote stays good through the 20th, and the Tuesday opening is still yours if you want it before then.

Do not badmouth the other companies. You do not know who is standing in their kitchen.

They do not reply at all. Do not invent a reason. Run the cadence, then send the close-the-loop note. A second copy of the same text is how you become noise.

Who sends it, and where it lives

The script is the easy part. The miss is remembering day two while you are under a house. Put the quote in a stage called "quote sent" the moment it goes out, and put a task on the next date with the channel written on it: "text Sam, day-two question."

One person owns the list. On a two-person shop that is the owner, checked at the same time each day, even if the check is ten minutes in the driveway before the first job. On a larger shop it is whoever answers the phone, not "whoever is free." Shared ownership is how day seven never happens.

Log what you sent. The next person to touch the lead should not send day-two language on day seven. A note that says "asked if it was price, timing, or a partner" is enough.

If you are choosing the tool that holds this list, the buying criteria are in Best CRM for Plumbers and HVAC in 2026. Any tool that cannot show you "due today" will not run this cadence.

What to stop doing

• Opening with "just checking in" and nothing else.
• Sending the identical text three times.
• Discounting before they have said price is the issue.
• Apologizing for the follow-up. You said you would write.
• Adding a new pitch (maintenance plan, financing, a review ask) onto a message that has not been answered. One job per message.
• Calling at dinner because the cadence said "day two" and you forgot until 8pm. Move the task to the next morning. A late call costs more trust than a late text.

Where Puffly fits

The free Puffly CRM holds the leads, the pipeline stage, and the dated task. That is enough to run this cadence by hand. No card to start.

Quotes a customer can accept online, SMS follow-up, and Puff are on paid plans, which start at $99 a month. Puff drafts the next follow-up and suggests who to call. It does not send unless you approve it, unless you have deliberately switched that off. The current plans are on the pricing section.

If you already have a place where quotes live, you do not need a second one for the sake of it. You need the date and the owner. Puffly is useful when that reminder is the piece your current tool is not getting done.

Run the replacement clock on the next three quiet quotes, even on paper. Same day, day two, day seven, close the loop. The shops that book the work are usually the ones who decided the dates before they got busy, which is also why the first call has to be caught in the first place: missed calls.