Welcome to the Home Services Dispatch. Read the Founding Letter for an overview of what you can expect each week.
In Brief
Operators pour money into lead generation and then let unsigned estimates die in the truck, whereas a systematized multi-channel follow-up sequence across email, SMS, and direct mail can lift close rates. Because fixed costs hold steady, the incremental revenue drops through at a disproportionate margin.
Three HVAC owners explain why they keep turning down private equity, trading purchasing power and marketing budget for decision rights and direct access to their people. Meanwhile, construction job changers are pulling double the pay bump of the broader economy as veteran tradespeople exit the field.
Orkin picked up a family-run Newburgh, New York pest control operation through a sell-side advisor. Airo Mechanical made its first tuck-in since CCMP Growth took the platform, opening a Myrtle Beach location and deepening plumbing capability.
Commentary
Increase ROAS by 50% with a Well Designed Follow-Up System (And Why Yours is Broken)
I've been a growth advisor in the home services sector for more than a decade. I'm routinely shocked by how many operators at scale–even the most sophisticated ones–have under-invested in systematizing their process for following-up on open estimates.
This is true across every vertical: HVAC, roofing, plumbing, electrical, and garage doors. Operators obsess over lead flow and spend top dollar to generate it. They send their sales techs out to write high-ticket estimates. But if the homeowner doesn't sign on the spot, all too often that estimate gets lost in the truck, so to speak. The job never closes.
Getting serious about follow-up is the most ROI-positive investment an operator can make.
High-ticket sales require at least five follow-ups, yet most sales techs quit long before that. When an estimate fails to close, it’s rarely an undercutting competitor–it’s a broken system. This is especially true when lead flow is heavy and the tech has tons of sales opportunities.
A properly designed, automated follow-up sequence will increase close rates and return on ad spend by 50%. Most significantly, this drives a disproportionate amount of pure net profit straight to your bottom line. Because fixed costs stay the exact same, the margin on that incremental revenue is massive.
Consider this realistic example of how a 50% increase in close rate impacts profitability:
| Metric | Current State | With Systematic Follow-up | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written Estimates | 100 | 100 | - |
| Closed Estimates | 50 | 75 | ↑ 50% |
| Avg. Ticket | $2000 | $2000 | - |
| Revenue | $100,000 | $150,000 | ↑ 50% |
| Variable Costs (60%) | $60,000 | $90,000 | - |
| Fixed Costs | $30,000 | $30,000 | - |
| Net Profit | $10,000 | $30,000 | ↑ 200% |
That’s a 50% bump in top-line revenue that yields a staggering 200% increase in net profit.
Every operator I deal with is using one of the leading field service platforms: ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or Jobber. All these tools make it possible to set up excellent follow-up processes. Yet most operators never fully leverage their software to improve close rates.
The Three Core Channels
There are three primary communication channels every sophisticated home services platform optimizes and automates to maximize close rates:
- Email: This is the most obvious channel. Most businesses have some version of automated email follow-up. Rarely is it optimized, however. Because the cost of sending an email is essentially zero,it’s the foundation of your follow-up stack.
- SMS: Most operators have integrated SMS into their customer communications to some degree. Just like email, few take full advantage of it. Current research puts SMS open rates at 98%. When used intelligently, it’s the single highest impact channel in closing estimates.
- Direct Mail: This is the most overlooked channel of the three. Platforms like ServiceTitan's MarketingPro tool have made it simpler than ever. According to ANA response-rate data, direct mail consistently outperforms email by a wide margin, often by more than 30 times.
Execution Is Everything
On the surface, activating those three channels is easy enough. To actually realize a 50% boost in close rates, your system must execute on the following rules:
- Dial in the messaging: Spend time to get the language right across both your email and SMS sequences. Restate the value concisely. Integrate video messages. Include visualizations of the finished job and real customer testimonials.
- Curate every touchpoint: Personalized, specific messaging consistently outperforms generic blasts. Whether it's a text or a piece of direct mail, include exactly what the customer was quoted, who their sales tech was, and a direct, frictionless path to approve the estimate.
- Be persistent: We all know that high-ticket sales require multiple touchpoints. Frequency is the key to staying top-of-mind. Configure three or more well crafted follow-ups per week, across multiple channels.
- Keep the data clean: Your systems must synchronize. When a customer closes, or opts-out, ensure they are removed from the open estimate follow-up sequence immediately.
- Give sales full visibility: Your internal team needs to see every automated sequence going out to their prospects so they can work with the system, not around it.
- Bonus tip: Set an expiration date on the quote, and state it clearly in every single follow-up. A time-sensitive quote creates real urgency. Without a deadline, there's no reason for the homeowner to decide today instead of next month.
The Highest Leverage Growth Opportunity
This is textbook lead nurturing. Any good salesperson can do it manually for a handful of quotes. At scale, the best operators automate and systematize. Not to remove the human element, but to enable your technicians to serve more customers and grow the enterprise.
For nearly every home service platform, improving close rates is the highest leverage opportunity they have. Almost nobody executes it well.
That's where Jay Street Consulting comes in. If you're ready to stop leaving money on the table, book a discovery call.
Daniel Egan
Daniel Egan is the founder of Jay Street Consulting. He has over a decade of experience in the home services sector. As part of a fast-growing, institutionally-run platform, he helped lead the business into a nine-figure exit. He has built teams, managed agencies, and learned firsthand what drives enterprise value–and what quietly erodes it.
Operator’s Edge
Roto-Rooter’s residential revenue rose 1.7 percent in Q2 to about $159 million and commercial revenue climbed 6.8 percent to $56.8 million, but adjusted EBITDA stayed flat at $48.5 million. Margin fell 77 basis points to 21.1 percent. Gross margin improved from 49.0 percent to 50.4 percent, which means that Roto-Rooter didn’t get worse at doing the work, the work just got more expensive to find. Full-year guidance held at 3 to 3.5 percent revenue growth.
Roto-Rooter’s free internet search leads fell about 13 percent in the second quarter while total leads declined 1.6 percent, forcing the company to push marketing spend about $3.1 million higher than a year ago. This follows a first quarter in which natural search leads dropped nearly 16 percent after Google algorithm changes. Management calls the shift a new normal and is addressing the problem with additional sales force: 30 commercial business managers are now in place, and their branches grew commercial revenue by roughly 13 percent against a 1 percent decline at branches without one.
Google is converting free demand into a recurring expense, and Roto-Rooter has the scale to absorb it. Small operators don’t.
The Deal Sheet
Orkin acquired JNJ Pest Control, founded in 2009 by John Taylor in Newburgh, New York, and built from a one-person route into a family-run business. The transaction closed April 13 and expands New York coverage for the Rollins subsidiary. Cetane Associates served as sole advisor to JNJ, with Bob Williamson, Danny O'Laughlin, and Jack McMurchie managing the deal. Terms were not disclosed.
Airo Mechanical acquired Legrande's Enterprises, a Myrtle Beach specialty plumbing and HVAC contractor founded in 2009 and led by president Chad Boyd. Mooresville, North Carolina-based Airo installs HVAC and plumbing for multifamily and light commercial developers across the Southeast. This is the first tuck-in since CCMP Growth bought the platform in August 2025, and it opens Airo's first Myrtle Beach location. Legrande's will shift to Airo branding over time and retain its employees. Terms were not disclosed.
