Electrical

Estimate follow-up for electrical contractors: close more bids

Updated October 3, 2026 · Alvin

Electrical estimates — panel upgrades, re-wires, EV chargers — are considered purchases, and most homeowners decide within days. Estimate follow-up sends a short sequence on roughly day 1, 3, and 7, each message carrying one useful question instead of "just checking in." Alvin runs it from your CRM and hands technical questions to a human with the full thread.

Why electrical bids go cold

A panel upgrade isn't an impulse buy. The homeowner is comparing two or three bids, checking with their spouse, and possibly waiting to hear whether the work needs a permit and how long that takes. The decision window is short — usually days, not weeks — and silence from your shop during it reads as indifference. The contractor who answers the permit question on day two looks like the safer pair of hands, even with the higher bid.

Follow-up fails for the usual operational reasons: the estimator is on the next job, the office is buried, and the CRM holds forty open estimates nobody is watching. Nobody chose to drop them. They just drifted past the decision window while everyone was busy doing the work.

The sequence that works

1. Day 1 — the confirmation. A short text the morning after the estimate goes out: who you are, the estimate is in their inbox, one question. This catches the "never saw it" cases and the immediate objections while they're fresh.
2. Day 3 — the useful fact. Permits make a natural opener for electrical work: current city turnaround, whether their job needs one, what it adds to the timeline. You're being helpful, not pushy — and you're demonstrating you know the process.
3. Day 7 — the direct ask. One plain question: are we moving forward, or is something holding it up? Homeowners stuck on price, timing, or a spouse's sign-off will tell you here — and that's actionable information.
4. Day 14 — the schedule note. A brief message about your current lead time. Only mention it if it's true — real scarcity ("we're booking three weeks out") moves decisions; invented scarcity just sounds like sales.
5. Day 30 — the file-away. One last check-in, then mark it cold. Alvin revives it if the homeowner re-engages or if you run a seasonal push — panel work spikes before storm season and holidays.

Technical questions go to a human

Electrical follow-up has a tripwire other trades don't: the homeowner who replies with a real technical question. "Will a 200-amp panel handle the EV charger and the hot tub?" "Does the re-wire require opening the walls?" These get a human answer, full stop. Alvin flags the question, attaches the estimate and the entire message thread, and the owner or lead electrician replies. Alvin never guesses at code, load calculations, or specs — a wrong technical answer in writing is worse than a slow one.

What Alvin does handle on Alvin's own: scheduling questions, permit-status questions, "can you send that again," price-range questions already covered in the estimate, and the yes. Everything else routes up with context, so the human never starts cold.

What Alvin handles vs. what stays with you

The line is simple: Alvin does the chasing, you do the closing and the engineering. Alvin never negotiates price and never sends anything you haven't approved in the template. When a reply needs judgment — a price objection, a competing bid, a technical deep-dive — Alvin hands it over with everything attached.

The rules that keep it human

• Reply means stop. Any homeowner reply pauses the sequence immediately. A scheduled "just checking in" landing after they already answered poisons the whole relationship.
• Every message earns its send. A useful fact, a real question, a genuine update. If the message doesn't contain one of those, it doesn't go out.
• One channel at a time. Text first, email as backup. Never both at once.
• Respect quiet hours. No follow-up texts late at night or early morning — Alvin holds them for business hours.
• Every message has an out. "Reply STOP to opt out" keeps your number clean and your reputation intact.

Once the bid is signed, the next paperwork battle is the permit — which is why many shops pair estimate follow-up with permit filing and inspection scheduling handled the same way.

What it costs you to keep doing it by hand

For example, a shop sending thirty bids a month for panel upgrades and re-wires, with an average job value in the low thousands. If a handful of those bids go cold each month for lack of a second touch, the lost revenue is a multiple of what the follow-up would have cost — which, once the sequence exists, is close to zero per bid. The expensive part was never the text. It was the estimator's evening spent remembering who to call, or the spreadsheet nobody opened.