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Estimates & follow-up

Your plumbing quote got no reply. Here's what to do next.

Tuesday, 3:40 in the afternoon. You're in a basement in Terwillegar, kneeling on cold concrete, looking at a water tank with a rust line creeping up the side.

You tell the homeowner straight. It's 11 years old. It might last the winter. It might not. You leave her a written quote for $1,900 to replace it, installed, before you go.

She says thanks. She says she'll talk it over at home that night.

Four days pass. Nothing. No yes, no no, no question. Just silence, and a quote sitting in her inbox getting colder than that basement floor.

First, price that silence so it stops feeling abstract. Always Plumbing & Heating, here in Edmonton, puts a standard gas hot water tank replacement at about $1,400 to $2,500 installed, depending on tank size and venting. So that $1,900 quote in Terwillegar isn't a small favour. It's a real job, with a real margin, currently decided by nobody.

Homeowners go quiet for boring reasons, most of the time. The number was bigger than she expected, and she needs a night to sit with it. Her partner hasn't looked yet. She's getting one more quote because her dad told her to. She doesn't understand what's included — is the old tank hauled away, is the permit in there, what happens if the venting needs work? And the tank still makes hot water today, so the urgency that was there on Tuesday has leaked away by Friday.

None of those are a no. All of them turn into a no if the only voice she hears next is another company's.

Here's what I'd do, in order. And notice what's not in it: no discount, no daily chasing, and no text that just says you're checking in. That message gives her nothing to answer.

That same evening. One short text. Thanks for having me out, your quote is $1,900 all-in for the tank we talked about, and the one thing people usually ask is how long they'll be without hot water. Answer: most of a morning. You've just done two things — you've confirmed the number in plain words, and you've answered a worry before she had to ask it.

Day three. Add one useful detail, not a nudge. What's included, in one line: new tank, haul-away of the old one, and the work tested before you leave. If there's a choice she was stuck on — standard tank or tankless, which that same Edmonton guide prices at $2,500 to $5,000 or more installed — say which one you'd put in your own house, and why, in one sentence. An opinion helps her decide. A reminder doesn't.

Day seven. Ask the direct question, and make no easy to say. Are you going ahead, still deciding, or did you go another way? Tell her a no is fine. It is. A clean no closes the file in your head, tells you the quote lost on something you can learn from, and leaves the door open for the next job — which, with an 11-year-old tank on borrowed time, may not be far off.

Day fourteen, then stop. One last short note, then the quote moves to a monthly list. Tanks that limp in October tend to quit in January, on the coldest weekend, at the worst hour. When hers does, she won't Google fresh. She'll call the plumber who quoted it, explained it, and didn't pester her. Be easy to remember for the right reasons.

The honest problem is time, same as always. You're in the next basement by Thursday. Nobody in a two-truck shop has a job description that says chase Tuesday's tank quote on day three and day seven, at the right hour, in the right tone. So it happens once, late, or not at all — and then we tell ourselves homeowners are flaky. Some are. Most are just waiting for a reason to reply, from somebody.

That's the gap RealtabsAi was built to close. The follow-up goes out on schedule, every time — same evening, day three, day seven — in under a minute, while you're still on the tools. Not a nag. A sequence, with something useful in each step.

She didn't ghost you. She stalled. There's money in the difference.

Send the second message.