JobNimbus automations for roofing lead follow-up and job stages

A roofing lead goes cold fast. After a hailstorm, a homeowner may book inspections with three roofers the same afternoon. Then the job takes weeks to move through inspection, claim, contract, materials, build and final invoice, and at every stage someone is supposed to tell the homeowner and the crew what’s next. In a small roofing office that’s a lot of “did anyone call them?”. This guide uses JobNimbus automations to handle new leads, stalled leads, and stage updates. I chose JobNimbus because its support site documents each automation step by step. If you’re on AccuLynx, there’s a short section at the end.

What you need

A JobNimbus plan with enough automations. The JobNimbus pricing page caps automations by plan: 10 on Essentials (up to 3 users), 30 on Pro (up to 10 users), 100 on Premium (up to 19 users) and unlimited on Enterprise. Prices aren’t published. You request them. Count the automations below before you start: this guide uses six.
Engage, for any automated texts. JobNimbus’s support site says automated texts only work if Engage is part of your subscription. The pricing page sells it as part of a Communications Bundle, price on request. Without it, use email and tasks only.
Your workflows and statuses set up. Automations key off record type and status names. If your statuses are a mess, fix those first.
Email templates written in advance. The Send Email action picks from existing templates.
Admin access to Settings > Automations (profile icon > Settings > Automations).

Step by step

1. Set your Engage hours

If you’re using texts, go to Engage, then phone numbers under Engage Settings, and set your days and hours of operation. JobNimbus says automations only send texts between 8am and 9pm in your company’s time zone. It also says you need customer consent: implied for informational texts when the customer texted you first or agreed verbally, written for anything promotional. Add a consent checkbox to your lead form.

If you have more than one Engage number, JobNimbus says you need a separate automation for each line.

2. Automation 1: instant text to a new lead

Go to Settings > Automations and click +Add Automation.

Trigger type: Event based
Record: Contact
When: Created
Condition: Status is New (use your own status name)
Select Require all conditions to be true
Action: Send text message, from your main Engage number, to the Contact

Message: “Hi {{ContactFirstName}}, it’s Jess at Summit Roofing. Thanks for reaching out about your roof. I’ll call you within the hour to set up a free inspection. Reply with a good time if that’s easier.”

3. Automation 2: task for the sales rep

You can add a second action to the same automation, which saves one of your plan’s automation slots. Click +Add Action and choose Create Task.

Name: “Call new lead – {{ContactFirstName}}”
Assign to: Sales Rep (or a specific team member if reps aren’t assigned yet)
Priority: high, due the same day

That’s the JobNimbus “notify a sales rep of a new lead” pattern from its support site, with a text added.

4. Automation 3: chase leads stuck in a status

This catches leads who got a first call and then went quiet.

Trigger type: Time based
Record: Contact
Run: 3 Days After Date Status Changed
Condition: Status is equal to Contacted (or whatever your “talked once, nothing booked” status is)
Action: Send Email, using a template like “Still need that inspection?”, to the Contact

Template body: “Hi {first name}, I tried to reach you about scheduling your free roof inspection. Our next openings are this week. Just reply with a day that works and I’ll lock it in. — Jess, Summit Roofing”

Make a second version for 10 days after with a different template. Because it’s based on date status changed, once the lead moves to a new status, the clock resets and these stop applying.

5. Automation 4: tell the manager when a contract is signed

From the JobNimbus support example:

Trigger type: Event based
Record: Job
When: Created or Modified
Conditions: Type is Retail, and Status is Signed Contract
Tick Only if Status is modified, so it fires on the change, not every edit
Action: Send Email to the production manager

Copy it for insurance jobs if you track those as a different type.

6. Automation 5: homeowner update when the job is scheduled

Trigger type: Event based
Record: Job
When: Created or Modified, Only if Status is modified
Condition: Status is Scheduled (your build-scheduled status)
Actions: Send text message to the Contact, and Create Task for the crew lead

Text: “Hi {{ContactFirstName}}, your roof is on the schedule. Please move cars out of the driveway the night before, and we’ll text when the crew is on the way.”

7. Automation 6: move stalled jobs automatically

The Change Status action can move a record to a new status when conditions are met. A use I like: a time-based automation that moves a lead from Inspection Done to Follow-up Needed after 7 days with no change, so it shows up on the right board without anyone dragging it.

8. Test with a fake contact

JobNimbus recommends creating a test contact with your own phone number. Create it in New status, check you got the text and the rep got the task, then walk it through each status. Delete it when done.

If you’re on AccuLynx

AccuLynx has an Automation Manager, which AccuLynx describes as a free feature. You open it from the dashboard dropdown. Triggers include job triggers (like creating a job or setting an appointment), milestone triggers (like moving from Prospect to Approved), order triggers and AccuFi financing triggers. Actions are send an email, assign a task, or send a text from a local number on the job file. The same plan works: a text and task when a job is created, an email to the homeowner when the milestone moves to Approved, and a review request at Complete. AccuLynx’s article doesn’t spell out a “time in status” trigger the way JobNimbus does, so check before you plan around one.

Common mistakes

Running out of automations. On Essentials you have 10. Combine actions into one automation where you can.
Forgetting “Only if Status is modified”. Without it, editing a note on the job can send the homeowner the same text again.
Texting without consent. Get it on the form and log verbal consent in notes.
Status names that don’t match. If someone renames “Contacted” to “Contacted – 1”, automations tied to the old name stop firing.
No test contact. Your first real lead shouldn’t be the test.

When it’s worth getting help

Six automations is an afternoon if your workflows are clean. It takes longer when statuses need reworking, you have insurance and retail jobs on different paths, or you want leads from a website or door-knocking app to land in JobNimbus. If that’s you, start with the trades page and the trades cost calculator, and get in touch if it looks worth it.