Free working guide · HVAC, plumbing and home services · November 2026
Seven checks before following up on an open estimate.
An old quote is not necessarily a sales opportunity. First separate outstanding estimates from completed jobs, duplicate exports, expired quotes and records that cannot be contacted. This spreadsheet checklist makes those decisions explicit before anyone sends a message.
No customer data is needed to use this guide. It is a manual review process, not legal advice, a CRM integration or an automated follow-up campaign.
Use this checklist directly. For offline CSV mapping, five human-review queues and exportable review lists, the separate Quote Recovery Workbench is available for a one-time $19 payment on Gumroad.
See the $19 offline workbench Download free synthetic starter ZIPThe starter ZIP includes an example and blank template, not the paid workbench. The paid tool sends no customer messages.
What to review in your estimate spreadsheet
- Keep a stable estimate ID. Preserve the original quote or estimate identifier so a review decision can be checked against the actual CRM or accounting record. Do not assume every spreadsheet row represents a different customer or job.
- Separate open from closed statuses. Distinguish pending/open from won, declined, cancelled and completed. If the status is ambiguous, hold the record and confirm it in the source system instead of inventing a category.
- Check estimate age and validity. Keep the original estimate date and any quote-expiration or validity field. An old quote may require a fresh price or availability check; never represent an expired quote as still binding.
- Respect the next-action date. If a salesperson has already scheduled a future action, keep that record separate from an immediate review queue. Avoid duplicate or contradictory follow-ups from different staff.
- Flag identical repeats. Exports can contain repeated estimate IDs or identical rows. Review them before treating them as additional opportunities. The same person can still have separate legitimate estimates.
- Check contact restrictions first. Review opt-outs, relevant communication permissions, prior complaints and the applicable contact rules for the location and channel. Missing information is a reason for human verification, not an invitation to message everyone.
- Assign a human owner and record the decision. For each unresolved estimate, document whether to review, hold, exclude, revisit later or investigate a duplicate. Keep a source reference and update the authoritative system only through an approved workflow.
Example of a minimal review file
Start with six useful fields. Exact column names and business rules vary by export. These rows are synthetic examples, not customer results.
| estimate_id | status | estimate_date | next_action_date | valid_until | contact_permission |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EX-1001 | open | 2026-10-25 | 2026-11-15 | 2026-11-30 | review_required |
| EX-1002 | won | 2026-10-20 | 2026-11-20 | do_not_contact | |
| EX-1003 | unknown | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-30 | unknown |
The examples demonstrate questions to investigate. They are not a universal classification specification, and they do not establish a lawful basis for marketing messages.
What a useful review produces
A good review should produce a shortlist that a person can assess, an exception list for unclear or missing records, and a traceable reason for each decision. The goal is a trustworthy list—not an inflated count of possible revenue.
Prefer the offline workbench?
Quote Recovery Workbench — $19, one time. Download an HTML tool for current desktop Chrome or Edge. Map six fields in a UTF-8 estimate CSV, review five queues and export review CSVs. Files are processed locally; no CRM credentials, subscriptions, emails or texts are required.
One-business internal-use license. It does not guarantee recovered revenue or replace consent checks. The paid tool supports up to 10 MB and 20,000 input records under the stated file requirements.
Buy Quote Recovery Workbench — $19 Read the full product detailsQuestions about a separately scoped manual estimate export audit? Contact shopairlind@gmail.com before sending confidential exports.