The Booked-Estimate Playbook

Most remodeling companies think they have a lead problem. They almost never do. They have a speed problem and a follow-up problem. Fix those two and the same ad budget produces two to three times the booked estimates. Here is exactly how. Steal all of it.

Play 1: The 5-minute rule

A lead that gets a reply within 5 minutes is up to 21 times more likely to book than one you reach 30 minutes later. Most contractors take 3 to 24 hours. That gap is where your money leaks out.

The fix is not "try harder." It is to make the first touch automatic so it never depends on whether someone happened to be free.

• The instant a lead comes in, they get a text: fast, human, and from a local number.
• The text does one job only: start a conversation, not sell.
• If nobody replies to them in 5 minutes, a real person gets pinged to call.

First-touch text that works:

Hi {First name}, this is {Name} with {Company}. Saw you were looking at a {bathroom/kitchen} remodel. Are you still hoping to get that done this year?

Short. A question. Easy to answer. That is the whole trick.

Play 2: The follow-up ladder

The average sale takes 5 to 8 touches. The average contractor makes 1 to 2, then writes the lead off as "not serious." The lead was serious. You just stopped talking to them.

Here is a follow-up ladder that runs over 14 days. Every message is a question or a piece of value, never "just checking in."

• Day 0: first-touch text (above)
• Day 0, +1 hour if no reply: a call
• Day 1: "Want me to send over a couple of {kitchen/bath} projects we finished near you? Might give you some ideas."
• Day 3: value text with a photo of a real finished job
• Day 5: "A lot of folks are surprised what their budget actually covers. Want a ballpark range for your project?"
• Day 8: a call
• Day 11: "No rush at all. Want me to check back in a few weeks, or are you ready to lock in a time to look at it?"
• Day 14: last touch, then move to the long-term list

That is 8 touches, and not one of them is annoying, because every one gives them a reason to reply.

Play 3: The reactivation goldmine

Every remodeler is sitting on a list of old quotes and dead leads. Most of them are worth more than this month's ad spend, because they already raised their hand once.

Pull every lead from the last 12 months that got a quote and never booked. Send this:

Hey {First name}, it's {Name} at {Company}. We looked at your {project} a while back. We just opened up a few install spots for {month} and I thought of you. Still on your list?

A 2% response on a list of 300 old leads is 6 conversations you paid nothing for. Run it once a quarter.

Play 4: Make booking take 10 seconds

Every extra step between "interested" and "on the calendar" costs you people. Phone tag is the biggest killer.

• Give every lead a direct booking link so they can pick a time themselves, day or night.
• Send it by text, not email. Texts get opened. Emails do not.
• Confirm the appointment, then remind them the day before and the morning of. No-shows drop hard when you do.

Booking text:

Perfect. Here's my calendar, grab whatever time works best for you: {link}. Takes about 30 seconds.

Play 5: Track the one number that predicts everything

If you only measure one thing, measure speed-to-lead: how many minutes from lead-in to first human contact. It quietly predicts your close rate better than any other number in the business.

Watch these four, weekly:

• Speed-to-lead (minutes to first contact)
• Contact rate (leads you actually reached)
• Booked rate (contacts turned into estimates)
• Close rate (estimates turned into jobs)

When speed-to-lead goes up, everything downstream drops. Now you can see the leak instead of guessing.