Two things slip in almost every small HVAC, plumbing or electrical shop: chasing estimates and asking for reviews. Both are easy to do and easy to forget, because they happen after the interesting part of the job. Housecall Pro can do both on its own. This guide sets up a three-step estimate follow-up that ends cleanly, and a review request that fires when a job is finished or paid.
What you need
- A Housecall Pro plan. At the time of writing, the pricing page lists Basic at $79/month ($59 billed annually), Essentials at $189/month ($149 annually) and MAX at $329/month ($299 annually). Online booking and reviews are listed on all three.
- Pipeline, for estimate follow-up automations. Housecall Pro’s Pipeline FAQ says Pipeline requires enrollment and points you to book a demo. The pricing page doesn’t say which plan includes it, so ask your rep whether it’s included in your plan or extra.
- A connected Google Business Profile, so review requests can go to Google.
- Premium Reviews, if you want to reply to reviews from Housecall Pro. Housecall Pro’s Reviews overview says reply features need it. Sending requests doesn’t.
- Clean customer records. Review texts only go to the number in the Mobile field. Customers with no mobile number get email only.
Step by step
1. Find the estimate automations
Click Pipeline, then the gear icon at the top right, choose Estimates, and select Edit automations. Housecall Pro’s help center says most Pipeline automations are on by default. That’s good, but it also means they may be running with timings and wording you’ve never read. Read them now.
2. Set the follow-up chain
The default estimate automations work as a chain of statuses:
- When an estimate is Sent for X days, resend it and move it to First Follow-Up.
- When an estimate is First Follow-Up for X days, resend it and move it to Second Follow-Up.
- When an estimate is Second Follow-Up for X days, resend it and move it to Third Follow-Up.
- When an estimate is Third Follow-Up for X days, decline it.
Note the X is days in that status, not days since sending. So the gaps add up. A schedule I’d start with:
- Sent for 2 days → first follow-up (day 2)
- First Follow-Up for 4 days → second follow-up (day 6)
- Second Follow-Up for 7 days → third follow-up (day 13)
- Third Follow-Up for 14 days → decline (day 27)
There’s also a Smart Recommendations toggle that Housecall Pro says adjusts follow-up timing for your industry and season. Try it if you’d rather not pick numbers, but write down what it chose so you can compare.
3. Rewrite the messages
You can edit the email subject, email body and, if Custom SMS is on, the text. Variables like Customer First Name and Company Name are available.
Day 2 text:
“Hi {Customer First Name}, it’s {Company Name}. Your estimate is in the link below. Any questions about the options? Just reply here.”
Day 6 text:
“Hi {Customer First Name}, quick note on your estimate. If the price is the sticking point, ask about our financing or the repair option instead of replacement. Happy to walk you through it.”
Day 13 text:
“Hi {Customer First Name}, last check-in on your estimate from {Company Name}. If you’ve gone another way, no hard feelings. If you still want it done, approve from the link and we’ll get you on the schedule.”
Follow-ups go by email or text depending on how the estimate was first sent. If it went both ways, Housecall Pro uses whichever was sent last.
4. Use conditions to split by job type
Each automation can be limited by tags, job types or lead sources. If your water heater installs need a faster chase than your remodel bids, copy the automation and set a condition on job type. Turn on Quiet Hours so texts don’t land at 10pm.
5. Check how approved estimates leave the chain
Per the Pipeline FAQ, estimates are archived when they’re approved and copied to a job, or after they’ve been approved for 7 days by default. Make a habit of copying an approved estimate to a job the same day, so it leaves the follow-up chain straight away.
Also know this: automations only act on estimates inside the cadence window. Older estimates won’t get picked up. Resend those by hand once.
6. Turn on review requests
Go to Settings > Notifications > Reviews. By default, requests go out by email and text when you click Finish on a job. You can change that to send after the job is finished and paid. I’d use “paid” for most shops. Asking for five stars before the invoice is settled can go badly.
The same page lets you choose message style: Personalized (the default, a unique message per customer based on the job) or Custom (one message for everyone). Housecall Pro’s Reviews FAQ also says the email and SMS templates themselves can’t be customized, so test what customers actually receive before you rely on the wording.
Customers with notifications turned off are skipped unless you switch on Send to notifications off. I’d leave that off.
7. Connect Google and set where reviews go
Go to Settings > Marketing Center > Reviews and connect your Google Business Profile (and Facebook if you want). With the default Optimized distribution, customers with an @gmail.com address are sent to Google, because leaving a Google review needs a Google sign-in. Everyone else is split between Facebook and your website. If Google is the only one you care about, switch off optimization and set your own percentages. Reviews already collected in Housecall Pro can’t be moved to Google.
8. Test on yourself
Create a test customer with your own mobile and a Gmail address. Send an estimate, change the timings to 1 day temporarily, and watch it move through the statuses. Finish and pay a $1 test job to see the review request. Then put the real timings back.
Common mistakes
- Leaving defaults you’ve never read. Pipeline automations can be on from day one with someone else’s wording.
- Missing mobile numbers. No Mobile field, no review text.
- Forgetting the decline step. After the last follow-up, the estimate is declined. If you want to keep chasing big jobs by phone, tag them before that step.
- Asking for reviews before payment. If you’ve had any invoice disputes, switch the trigger to paid.
- Not copying approved estimates to jobs. They sit in the follow-up chain longer than they should.
When it’s worth getting help
This is mostly settings and good wording. Where shops get stuck is splitting follow-ups by job type, tuning timings after a month of data, and keeping customer records clean enough for texts to reach people. If you want a second pair of hands, see the Housecall Pro page, or check the trades cost calculator to see if it’s worth paying for.