How to follow up on an estimate

Chasing an unpaid invoice and chasing an estimate feel similar and are not. Nothing is owed here, nobody is late, and there is no process to have fallen out of. The client is deciding — or has decided and not said. Everything about following up well comes from taking that seriously instead of treating quiet as resistance.

What silence usually means

  • They are still getting other prices, and yours arrived first.
  • The decision needs someone who was not in the conversation.
  • Something changed on their side and the job is paused, not cancelled.
  • They have chosen someone else and would rather not say so.

Only the last of those is a no, and it is the one a follow-up can actually resolve. The rest resolve themselves — your job is to still be in the frame when they do.

Two touches, then leave it

  1. A few days after sending

    Check it arrived and that the scope reads the way they expected. This is not a nudge about the price, and it should not mention the price at all.

  2. Shortly before it expires

    A short note that the estimate runs out on its date, and that you are happy to re-issue it if they are still deciding. The date does the asking, so you do not have to.

  3. After that, stop

    A third and fourth chase change nothing except how you are remembered. Leave the door open and move on to work that is moving.

What to write

Short, specific to their job, and free of pressure. Name the work rather than "my estimate", give one piece of information they did not have — when you could start, a material now in stock — and ask one question they can answer in a line. Anything longer reads as a sales sequence, which is the tone that gets ignored.

The best follow-up is one the document made unnecessary: a clear scope and an expiry date do most of this work on their own, before anyone has to write anything.

Once the work is done and the money is what is outstanding, the conversation changes shape entirely, and so should the schedule you use for it.

Send an estimate

Common questions

How long should I wait before the first follow-up?
A few days — long enough that it does not read as anxiety, short enough that the job is still in their head. On urgent work it is shorter, because the client is deciding this week or not at all.
Should I offer a discount to close it?
Not as the opening move. A price that drops because nobody answered teaches the client that your first number was optional, and it makes every future estimate a starting bid.
What if they ask me to re-issue an expired estimate?
Re-issue it at today's numbers rather than honouring the old one silently. If nothing has changed, that takes a moment and costs nothing; if something has, this is the right moment to say so.

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