The repipe quote followup cadence that recovers 30% of cold quotes

The repipe quote followup cadence that recovers 30% of cold quotes runs five touches over 90 days. Day 1 sees a same-day text confirming the visit and attaching the proposal. Day 7 is a check-in. Day 30 introduces a financing-aware follow-up. Day 60 is a price-validity reminder. Day 90 is a final move-or-archive decision. Shops without this discipline recover 5-12% of cold repipe quotes. Shops with it recover 25-35%. The structural reason: most homeowners need 4-12 weeks to decide on a $8K-$25K repipe, and most plumbers stop following up at week 2.

30-second summary

5-touch sequence:

Day 0 (visit day): tech leaves the proposal, sends the SMS recap within 2 hours.

Day 7: SMS or call — "any questions on the proposal?"

Day 30: SMS introducing financing options or addressing common objections.

Day 60: SMS noting the price validity window ("this quote is good for X more days").

Day 90: final SMS or call — "should we keep this on file or are you going a different direction?"

Past day 90, the lead is cold enough that the next move is a 6-month recheck rather than continuous followup.

Why most plumbers stop too early

The standard cadence for a plumbing shop running quote followup looks like: tech leaves the proposal on visit day. Office manager calls at day 3-5. Maybe one more call at day 14. Then nothing. By week 4 the quote is sitting in a file folder and the office manager has 40 other things to handle.

The math problem: repipes are big-decision purchases for most homeowners. Decision cycles run 4-12 weeks. The plumber who stops following up at week 2 is missing 70-85% of the natural close window. The quote isn't dying because the homeowner chose a competitor — it's dying because nobody asked them again.

The 5 touches in detail

Touch 1 — Day 0 (visit day) — Same-day SMS recap

Within 2 hours of the tech leaving the home:

"Hi [first name], it's [company]. Wanted to thank you for the time today. The proposal we left is also attached for easy reference [link to PDF]. We're available to walk through any of it — text or call anytime. No pressure on timing."

The same-day SMS does three things: confirms the company name is in the homeowner's phone (most homeowners get 2-3 repipe quotes; the one with their name on file gets remembered), provides a digital copy of the proposal (the paper copy gets lost), and signals "no pressure" upfront. Repipe customers especially are sensitive to pushy sales.

Touch 2 — Day 7 — Check-in

SMS or short call. SMS converts better unless the customer has expressed a phone preference.

"Hi [first name] — just checking in on the repipe proposal. Happy to answer questions or just stay quiet until you're ready. Either way, here when you need us."

The phrase "happy to stay quiet" matters. It removes the pressure the customer is expecting from a salesperson, which makes them more likely to engage.

Touch 3 — Day 30 — Financing-aware follow-up

At day 30, the customer who hasn't said yes has usually hit one of two friction points: financing or fear of disruption. The day-30 touch addresses both without assuming which one.

"Hi [first name], it's [company] checking in. A few customers have asked recently about financing on repipes — we work with [partner] and can get most projects to $[X]/month if that's part of the decision. Also happy to talk through what the actual install week looks like in your house if that would help. Either useful?"

This converts about 8-15% of the customers who haven't moved by day 30. Two of every three of those conversions cite financing as the deciding factor.

Touch 4 — Day 60 — Price validity

At day 60, scarcity (used honestly) starts being relevant. Quotes more than 60 days old should be reviewed for current material costs anyway.

"Hi [first name], it's [company] — your repipe quote is good for another 30 days at today's pricing. After that we'd need to re-quote with current material costs. Want to lock in at the original price, or should we schedule a re-look in a few weeks?"

This works because it's honest. Material costs do fluctuate. PEX and copper especially can swing 8-15% over a 60-day window. The customer hears "this is real, not a sales tactic."

Conversion at this touch typically runs 5-10% of the remaining open quotes.

Touch 5 — Day 90 — Decision close

At day 90, the lead is either still potentially alive or genuinely cold. The day-90 message resolves which.

"Hi [first name], it's [company]. We've kept your repipe quote on file these 90 days — should we plan to circle back in 6 months when timing might be better, or are you going a different direction? Either is fine, just want to make sure we're not bothering you."

This converts 2-5% of the still-open leads. More importantly, it cleanly resolves the rest — the customers who reply "we went with someone else" let you stop chasing, and the customers who reply "check back in spring" go into a long-cycle followup tag.

What recovers 25-35% vs 5-12%

The shops recovering 25-35% of cold repipe quotes share three operational traits, beyond running the 5-touch cadence:

The cadence runs automatically

If touches 2, 3, 4 depend on someone remembering to call, they get skipped 40-60% of the time. The cadence has to fire from scheduled automation, not from someone's mental to-do list.

The first touch is genuinely no-pressure

Repipe customers shopped you against 2-3 competitors. They're already on guard. The same-day SMS that says "no pressure on timing" disarms the wariness. The plumber who sends a same-day "so when do you want to schedule?" message has already lost the lead.

The 30-day touch addresses financing without assuming

Most plumbers either ignore financing entirely or push it aggressively. The 30-day touch raises it as one possible factor without forcing the conversation, which gives financially-constrained customers permission to engage with that conversation rather than ghosting.

Where AI handling makes the cadence run

The 5-touch cadence is mechanical. Same SMS template, same timing, every quote. But "mechanical" is exactly where most shops fail. The office manager is supposed to send the day-7 message, but the day-7 of one quote falls on the same week as 12 other operational tasks and gets missed.

An AI Employee handling outbound follow-up fires the SMS at the right time for every quote in the pipeline, without depending on human memory. Replies route back to the office for human handling. The work that doesn't need judgment ("send the day-30 SMS to this customer") happens automatically; the work that does ("this customer asked a financing-specific question — respond personally") flows to the human.

The compound effect

A 4-truck plumbing shop running 80 repipe quotes a year at a $14K average ticket has $1.12M in quoted business. Recovering an additional 18-25 percentage points of those quotes (from 10% to 30%) is $200K-$280K in incremental annual revenue from work already quoted, already sized, already in the pipeline. The cadence pays for itself in any month of any year it runs cleanly.