The review text works in a short window and fails outside it. Too early and you are still in the driveway. Too late and they have gone back to work and forgotten the name on the shirt. The review guide covers the direct link, the template, and why you do not pay for the review. This page is only the clock. The six status texts, including job complete, are a separate list. The review ask is not one of those six.
Where the text actually goes out. The costing log can store an optional phone number on a job. It does not send a text. It has no schedule, so it cannot send a booking confirmation, a day-before reminder, an on-my-way note, or a review ask. Send those from the phone in your pocket, or from the field-service tool that already holds the appointment. When the visit happens, log what they paid, the time, the miles, and the parts. That is the part this product does today.
The window, and how to pick inside it
About 2 to 24 hours after you finish. That is the range. Inside it, pick by how the day went.
- You finished before mid-afternoon, the house is calm, and they already turned the water or the switch back on. Same evening, after dinner time starts, is the right hour. They are home. The visit is still today.
- You finished after 4. Next morning. A text at 8 p.m. about a review lands on top of the rest of their night. A text at 8 a.m. lands with coffee, which is when people answer short messages.
- They need to live with the repair before they know it worked. A no-cool call in the evening should wait until they have run the system overnight. Ask the next morning, not from the curb.
- The job was messy: a water heater swap, a panel, an attic. Give them the evening to see a normal house again. Next morning. The work can be excellent and the kitchen can still look like a job site at 5.
Do not send it during the job. Do not send it in the same bubble as the invoice if the invoice is the thing they are unhappy about. The done text can confirm the work and point at payment. The review text is the next message, after that one has had time to be a normal thank-you.
One line, after the thank-you
The parent article has the full template. The timing version is shorter, because the thank-you already happened.
Hi Maria, it's North Side Plumbing. If the kitchen drain is behaving, a short Google review helps neighbors find us: [direct review link]. Thank you either way.
The link goes to the review form, not your homepage and not a search for your name. Send it once. A second ask the following week trains people to ignore you. A third ask is how a happy customer becomes a quiet one.
When the clock says wait, or skip
- A callback is still open. Asking for a review while you owe them a return visit is how you collect the review you did not want. Finish the callback. Then decide.
- They were unhappy, even if you fixed it. A filtered ask beats an average star rating. The guide's rule stands: do not send the review text to the jobs you would not want described in public.
- You are not sure it held. HVAC overnight, a leak you dried but did not pressure-test, a device they supplied. Wait until you would bet on it, inside the next day, or skip.
- You already asked in person and they looked cornered. The text will not fix that. Skip.
Do not offer a discount, a gift card, or a free filter for the review. That is the policy on the parent page, and it is the policy here. The ask is genuine or it is absent.
How this sits next to the done text
Job complete goes out within about half an hour of wrapping up, with the one fact they need. The review text waits for the window above. If your tool can only send one automated message, send the done text. Add the review when you can delay it. A tool that fires both at the moment you tap Finish will feel pushy on the jobs that ended at 6 p.m.
Hand-sending is a fair version for a small shop. The failure mode is memory, not prose. A note on the job, "ask tomorrow morning," beats an automated send at the wrong hour. The costing log will not remind you. It does not send the text. A phone alarm or the field-service tool that already has the customer will.
Post-job follow-ups beyond the review, including a maintenance nudge much later, are in post-job SMS follow-ups. Keep that nudge months away from this text. A review and a tune-up offer in the same hour is two requests. People answer one.
What drops the response rate
- Sending while you are still on the property.
- Sending two days later because the office batched them on Friday.
- A link that dumps them on Google search instead of the form.
- A paragraph. The line above is the length that gets tapped.
- Asking on the jobs you know were tense. Those replies arrive, and they are not the ones you wanted.
The best time is the next calm hour in their house, still inside a day of the work. Same evening when the day ended early. Next morning when it ended late, or when the system has to run overnight. Then stop asking.
Frequently asked questions
When should a contractor send a Google review text?
After the job is done and the customer has had a quiet hour in the house, inside a window of about 2 to 24 hours. Same evening if you finished before mid-afternoon. Next morning if you finished late, the job was messy, or they need to run the system overnight.
Should you ask for the review in the driveway?
No. They have not lived with the repair, and you are standing there. The done text can go out the same day. The review ask waits.
When should you not send it?
When a callback is still open, when they were unhappy, when you are not sure the repair held, and when you already asked. One ask. Skip the jobs you would not want a stranger to describe.
Does the costing app send the review text?
No. It can store a phone number on the job. It does not send a review request. Send the text yourself or from the tool that has the customer conversation. The timing on this page is the same either way.
The review ask, beyond the clock
Wording, the direct link, and what not to automate sit on the main review page. This one is only the timing.