Roofing estimate follow-up texts: a 3-touch sequence that stops when it should

Most roofing estimates go out and then go quiet. One roofer on r/Roofing put their own number at 65-75% of estimates never converting; that's one contractor's estimate, not a measured rate, but anyone who has run a sales board knows the pattern. The fix most offices reach for is a few follow-up texts. The hard part isn't writing them. It's making sure they stop at the right moment and never say something your state doesn't allow.

This post lays out a three-touch sequence, starts with what JobNimbus can already do on its own, and then shows where our roofing estimate follow-up recipe fills the gaps. We built and tested that recipe against a mock of the JobNimbus API. We have not run JobNimbus Automations or Engage on a live account; everything we say about them below comes from JobNimbus's own help pages, read on October 28, 2026.

Start with JobNimbus Automations if you have Engage

If you're on JobNimbus and pay for Engage, its texting add-on, you may not need anything else.

• Event-based texts. JobNimbus's help page How Do I Automate Text Messages? includes an "Estimate Sent" recipe: an automation on the Estimate record that sends a text when the estimate's status changes to Sent.
• Time-based follow-ups. JobNimbus also has time-based automations that run a set number of minutes, hours or days after a condition is met, and its Automations page recommends turning on a built-in "Estimate Follow Up Job (2 Days After Date Status Change)" automation.
• Quiet hours. The same help page says automations "will only send texts between 8am and 9pm of the company's local time zone", and warns not to send more than 10 texts per second.
• Replies. When a customer replies to an automated text, JobNimbus says the conversation moves to the Unassigned tab in Engage and is not assigned to the sales rep automatically, so set notifications for that tab.

Two things to check before you rely on it. First, the quiet hours follow the company's time zone, not the homeowner's. If you work storms in more than one time zone, a 7:30 a.m. text from your office could reach a homeowner at 6:30 a.m. Second, the help pages we read describe conditions on the record (like the job's status), not a way to cancel a time-based automation because the homeowner texted back. If a homeowner replies "we went with someone else" and nobody updates the status, the next touch may still go out. Keep statuses current, or test this on your own account before relying on it.

The three touches

The timing below is a starting point, not a tested conversion rate. Change it to match how long your homeowners usually take to decide.

1. Day 2: "did you get it?" Short, from the rep by name, with the property address so it doesn't look like spam. Example: "Hi Dana, this is Marco with Ridgeline Roofing. Just checking that you got the estimate for 412 Elm St. Any questions? Reply here or call (555) 010-0100. Reply STOP to opt out."
2. Day 7: an offer to talk. Example: "Hi Dana, Marco with Ridgeline Roofing again. Happy to walk through the estimate or change the scope. Reply with a good time to talk. Reply STOP to opt out."
3. Day 14: the last one, and say so. Example: "Hi Dana, last check-in from Marco at Ridgeline Roofing about your estimate. If now isn't the right time, no problem. We won't text about it again. Reply STOP to opt out."
4. Day 21: a task for the rep, not a fourth text. After three touches, a person decides whether to call.

When the sequence must stop

Stopping is the part that protects your reputation, and your phone number.

• The homeowner replies. Any reply, good or bad, ends the automatic sequence. A person answers from there.
• The homeowner opts out. The FCC's rule (47 CFR 64.1200(a)(10)) says consent can be revoked "using any reasonable method", treats replies such as "stop", "quit", "end", "revoke", "opt out", "cancel" and "unsubscribe" as revocation, and requires honoring it within a reasonable time of no more than ten business days. Plain-English replies like "please stop texting me" count too, so don't rely on the STOP keyword alone.
• The job's status changes. Signed, lost or rescheduled: the follow-ups are over.
• It's outside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. for the homeowner. The same FCC rule bars telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. at the called party's location. Whether a follow-up on an estimate the homeowner asked for is a "solicitation" is a question for your lawyer; holding texts to that window costs nothing.

Consent comes first

JobNimbus's help page says customers "must explicitly opt-in to texting" before automated texts, that consent for informational messages like job updates can be assumed if the customer texts first or gives verbal consent with their mobile number, and that promotional messages need written consent. An estimate follow-up can read as either. The safe pattern is to record text consent on the contact when the homeowner gives it, and send email to everyone else. Nothing here is legal advice; check with counsel about your own forms and scripts.

Words to leave out

Follow-up texts are advertising for your company, and several states regulate what roofers can say about insurance claims:

• Texas Insurance Code 4102.163 says a contractor may not act as a public adjuster or advertise to adjust claims on property it is working on or may work on, and Texas Business & Commerce Code 27.02 makes advertising or promising to pay, waive or rebate a homeowner's deductible without the insurer's consent a Class B misdemeanor. The Texas Department of Insurance lists more ad language to avoid.
• Florida Statutes 489.147 requires specific disclosures on any written or electronic communication, including emails, that encourages a homeowner to make a roof-damage claim, and treats canvassers' acts as the contractor's.
• Minnesota 325E.66 and Colorado 6-22-105 also bar deductible promises, and Minnesota bars roofers from advising homeowners on coverage.

Other states have their own rules, and we have only read these four. The simplest approach: follow-up texts talk about the estimate and the work, never about deductibles, coverage or filing a claim. Our recipe checks every message for those words; if one slips into a rep's custom note, the message isn't sent and a JobNimbus note tells the office why.

What our recipe adds

The roofing estimate follow-up recipe is an n8n workflow that reads JobNimbus jobs in "Estimate Sent" every 15 minutes and sends the three touches above on days 2, 7 and 14. Compared with the built-in automations, it:

• holds texts to 8 a.m.-9 p.m. in the homeowner's time zone (from the job's state);
• stops on any reply, any opt-out word or plain-English opt-out, or a status change;
• texts only contacts with recorded consent and emails everyone else;
• logs every message as a JobNimbus note and hands off to the rep with a task on day 21;
• never sends a burst to jobs imported late, only the latest touch that's due.

We tested it with a mock JobNimbus, Twilio and Google Sheets built from their API docs, with invented homeowners, and a frozen test clock; 7 of 7 test scenarios passed. Nothing was sent to a real person. It's built for JobNimbus only. If you're on AccuLynx, see our AccuLynx milestone updates recipe and the other roofing automations.