The 7 Texts Every Contractor Should Have Automated (With the Exact Wording)
You already send most of these texts. You just send them late, or from the truck, or not at all on the days that get away from you. Here are the seven that matter, the exact wording that works, and when each one should fire on its own. Copy them. Change the company name. You're done.
Why seven texts, and why automated
A contractor's day has two kinds of communication. The first kind needs you: the estimate, the walkthrough, the "here's what I found under the shingles" call. The second kind doesn't. Confirmations, reminders, check-ins, the ask for a review. The second kind is where jobs quietly leak, because it's the part that gets skipped at 6 pm when the crew needs paying.
Every text below belongs to the second kind. Each one has a trigger you don't have to remember, a message that reads like a person wrote it, and a reason it earns its place. Set them up once and they run for the life of the business.
1. The missed-call text
Fires: seconds after a call goes to voicemail, from your business number.
Sorry we missed you! This is Northside Roofing. We're on a job right now. Want a free inspection? Grab a time here: [booking link]. Or just reply and we'll text you back.
This is the one that pays for everything else. A caller who hits voicemail usually hangs up and dials the next name on Google. A text in her hand seconds later gives her a reason to wait. Notice what it does: it names the company, explains the miss in five words, offers something, and gives two easy outs. No "we value your call." Nobody values a call.
Run the numbers on your own missed calls with the missed-call calculator, then see how the text-back system sends this one for you.
2. The new-lead text
Fires: the moment a form, chat, or ad lead comes in, day or night.
Hi Dana, this is Mike at Northside Roofing. Got your request about the leak over the garage. When's a good time to take a look? Reply with a day and I'll confirm.
The person filling out your form at 9 pm is filling out two other forms too. The first company to respond usually gets the walkthrough. An automatic text always responds first. Use the lead's name and the thing they asked about, both of which the form already gave you. It reads like you typed it, because you would have, if you'd been awake.
3. The appointment confirmation
Fires: immediately after a booking.
You're booked: Thursday, March 12 at 9:00 AM. Address on file is 418 Elm St. Reply C to confirm or R to reschedule. See you then. Northside Roofing.
Short, specific, and it asks for one letter. The reply is the point: a customer who types C has committed in a way a calendar invite never gets. Include the address so they catch a wrong one now, not while your crew is on the wrong street.
4. The day-before reminder
Fires: 24 hours before the appointment.
Reminder: Northside Roofing is coming tomorrow at 9:00 AM for your roof inspection. Reply C if that still works, or R and we'll find another time.
People miss appointments for two reasons: they forget, and it costs them nothing to bail. The reminder handles the first. A deposit at booking handles the second. Together they're the only two things that reliably cut no-shows, and there's a longer piece on that in our guide to reducing no-shows.
5. The estimate follow-up
Fires: two days after an estimate is sent, then again at day five and day ten if there's no reply.
Hi Dana, Mike here. Wanted to make sure the estimate for the garage roof came through. Any questions I can answer? Happy to walk through the options by phone if that's easier.
Checking in one more time on the roof estimate. No pressure. If the timing isn't right, just let me know and I'll stop bugging you.
Here's the honest truth about estimate follow-up: the contractor who does it politely and consistently wins more than the one with the lowest price. You know this. You also know you don't do it, because it's the fifth thing on a list that ends at three. Let the system send it. The second message matters most. "I'll stop bugging you" gets more replies than any offer, because it gives the customer permission to say no, and most of them say yes instead.
This one lives inside marketing automation, where the sequence starts when a card on your board moves to Quoted and stops the moment the customer replies.
6. The review request
Fires: the day a job is marked complete, or the day an invoice is paid.
Thanks for trusting us with the roof, Dana. If you have thirty seconds, a Google review helps more than you'd guess: [direct review link]. Either way, we appreciate the work.
The gap between you and the company with 200 reviews was never quality. It's asking. Ask every time, by text, with the link that opens the review form directly. Two taps for the customer. There's more on timing and wording in how to get more Google reviews, and the reviews system sends this one without anyone remembering to.
7. The "it's been a year" text
Fires: twelve months after the last job, or at the start of your season.
Hi Dana, Mike at Northside Roofing. It's been about a year since we did the garage. We're doing free gutter and roof checks in your area next month. Want one? Reply YES and I'll get you on the list.
Your past customers are the cheapest leads you will ever get. They already paid you once and were happy about it. A new customer costs ad money. Texting an old one costs almost nothing. Pick the group, send this, and answer the replies. That's the whole campaign, and it's the one most contractors never run because the list is in a shoebox. If yours is, the email and text marketing system is where it stops being a shoebox.
Three rules that keep these working
Only text people who gave you their number. A form, a call, a booking. Never a list you bought. Texting works because it's personal, and personal has rules.
Make every text worth the interruption. A real offer, a useful reminder, a heads-up about the schedule. If you wouldn't want to receive it, don't send it.
Handle opt-outs automatically. Someone who replies STOP should never hear from you again. Any system that can't guarantee that isn't one to send from.
How to set all seven up in an afternoon
You need a business number that can text, a place where leads and jobs live so the triggers have something to fire on, and a way to write each message once. Most contractors bolt this together from three or four apps and then stop maintaining it around month two.
The alternative is to have it built for you. At LeadPro, all seven of these are in the recipes we load during onboarding, worded for your trade, sending from your number. You approve the wording on the launch call. Then they run, nights and weekends included, and you go back to the first kind of communication, the kind that needs you.