Estimate delivered
“Hi [name], I’ve sent the estimate for [project]. It includes [main scope] and two options for [item]. Would a 15-minute call this week help to walk through it?”
CONTRACTOR SALES GUIDE
How to follow up on construction estimates and bids
Most estimates are not lost to a competitor. They are lost to silence: nobody asked the next question, the decision date slipped, and the pursuit faded out. This guide sets out a follow-up cadence for homeowner quotes and a different one for commercial bids, with templates you can adapt.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Confirm every estimate on the day you send it. Follow up within a few days, then on a fixed schedule over about a month. Every message should add something: an answer, an option or a date. For commercial bids, focus on clarifications and the expected decision date. When the schedule ends, close the pursuit and record why it was won or lost.
HOMEOWNER AND SMALL-JOB QUOTES
A five-touch cadence for residential estimates
Adjust the days to your market and job size. What matters is deciding the schedule before you send the estimate, so follow-up does not depend on someone remembering.
| When | Channel | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Same day | Email the estimate, then text | Confirm it arrived and offer a short call to walk through it. |
| Day 2 or 3 | Phone call | Answer questions about scope, options and timing while the visit is fresh. |
| About day 7 | Send something useful: a clarified option, a schedule window or an answer to a question they raised. | |
| About day 14 | Phone call, then text | Ask directly where the decision stands and what, if anything, is holding it up. |
| About day 30 | Short email | Close the loop politely and leave the door open. Record the outcome. |
Only text or call people who have agreed to be contacted that way, and follow the consent rules that apply to you.
COMMERCIAL AND GC BIDS
Following up on a commercial bid
On commercial work, the owner or general contractor is usually comparing several bids against a process. Your job is to make your bid easy to understand and compare, and to know when the decision will be made.
| When | Channel | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Before the deadline | Email or phone | Confirm the bid was received and who is reviewing it. Note the expected decision date. |
| After bid opening or review starts | Phone call | Offer to walk through your scope, exclusions and alternates. Ask whether any clarification is needed. |
| When questions arrive | Written response | Answer scope and qualification questions quickly and in writing, and log them against the bid. |
| At the expected decision date | Phone call | Ask for the status and the new date if it has slipped. Update your pipeline. |
| After the decision | Phone call or email | Win or lose, ask for feedback: where your number landed and what drove the decision. |
Post-bid clarification questions
- Is our scope aligned with the drawings and addenda you used to compare bids?
- Do our exclusions or alternates need explaining against other bids?
- Is there a schedule or phasing constraint we should confirm?
- Are there qualifications, insurance or bonding documents you still need from us?
- When do you expect to make a decision, and who else is involved?
TEMPLATES
Messages you can adapt
Adding something useful
“Hi [name], following up on [project]. You asked about [question]. [Answer]. We can also hold a start in [month] if that helps your planning.”
Commercial status check
“Hi [name], checking on the [project] bid we submitted on [date]. Is there anything in our scope or exclusions you’d like us to clarify, and is [decision date] still the expected decision date?”
Closing the loop
“Hi [name], I’ll close out our file on [project] for now. If the timing changes, we’d be glad to update the estimate. Would you share what drove the decision? It helps us price better.”
WHEN TO STOP
Close out, record the reason, learn from it
- Stop when the cadence ends without new information, or when the client tells you the job has gone elsewhere.
- Record the outcome, the winning number if you learn it, and a reason from a short fixed list.
- Review loss reasons every quarter. Repeated price losses on one client type are a bid/no-bid signal, not a follow-up problem.
WHERE SOFTWARE HELPS
Keeping follow-up from depending on memory
Follow-up fails when it lives in one person’s inbox. A shared record with an owner, a next action and a date fixes most of it. In QuotaPartner, each construction opportunity records its owner, decision date and next action. Approved outreach is a limited capability today: where an authorized mailbox is connected, follow-up drafts can be prepared for your review and sent from it, and nothing is sent without a person approving it. See the construction CRM for what is available today, and the sales pipeline guide for where follow-up fits.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
How soon should I follow up on a construction estimate?
Confirm the estimate arrived on the day you send it, and make the first real follow-up within a few days, while the conversation is still fresh. For commercial bids, follow the owner’s or GC’s process and make sure you know the expected decision date.
How many times should I follow up before giving up?
Plan a fixed number of touches over a defined period, usually around a month, then close the pursuit with a recorded outcome. Follow-ups that go on indefinitely without new information rarely change the result.
Is it different for commercial bids?
Yes. Commercial decisions often follow a formal review, so follow-up is mostly about being easy to compare: answering clarifications fast, explaining scope and exclusions, and asking for the decision date and feedback.
Should I use a follow-up template?
A template keeps the cadence consistent, but each message should add something: an answer, an option or a date. A message that only asks whether they have decided is the easiest one to ignore.