5 questions your AI should ask before you drive across town for a roof quote

Half the roof quotes you go look at are a waste of gas. If an AI is taking your after-hours calls, it should be filtering tire kickers before you ever load the ladder rack.

Why filtering matters more in roofing than most trades

A roof site visit is not cheap for you. By the time you drive to Paris, walk the property, get on the roof or fly a drone, take measurements, and write up a real quote, you have burned two to three hours. At a working rate of $120 to $150 CAD per hour, that is $300 to $450 of your day per visit. If three out of every ten visits end with “we are getting other quotes” and you never hear back, you are throwing away over a thousand dollars a week chasing jobs that were never going to close.

The fix is not to stop quoting. The fix is to ask better questions before the truck moves. A good AI front desk can do this by website chat, email or text 24 hours a day, without reading like a robot, and without making the homeowner feel like they are being interrogated. The five questions below are the ones that separate a real lead from a price shopper.

Question 1: “Is this for a leak right now, an insurance claim, or planning ahead?”

This single question sorts your calendar for the next two weeks.

A leak right now is an emergency tarp job. That is a same-day visit at $450 to $800 CAD for the tarp, plus the eventual repair or replacement. You move other things around for that.

An insurance claim after a hail storm or wind event is a different animal. You want to know if the adjuster has already been out, what the claim number is, and what was approved. If the homeowner has not filed yet, your visit might be free educational time that helps them file a claim that gets denied anyway.

Planning ahead is the lowest urgency. It might be a great job in six months, but you do not need to be there tomorrow. The AI can book it three weeks out and keep your week clear for paying work.

Question 2: “What is the age and type of the current roof?”

Most homeowners do not actually know this, but the answer they give still tells you a lot.

If they say “the roof is about 8 years old and we have one small spot leaking,” that is probably a repair in the $400 to $1,200 CAD range, not a re-roof. If they say “we bought the house and the inspector said the roof has maybe two years left,” that is a real full replacement conversation, typically $8,000 to $18,000 CAD for an average two-storey in southern Ontario.

If they say “I do not know, the previous owner did it,” that is a sign you should ask for a photo from the ground before you commit to driving out. A 2,500 square foot home with a complex hip roof, multiple valleys, and three skylights is a very different quote than a basic gable on a bungalow. The AI should ask for the photo. It costs the homeowner ten seconds and saves you an hour.

Question 3: “Have you already gotten other quotes, and what are you looking to compare?”

This one feels rude when you ask it as a person. From an AI, it does not. And the answer is gold.

If they say “you are the first one I am calling, my neighbour recommended you,” that is a warm lead. Go. Quote it well. You are likely the only contractor in the conversation.

If they say “I have three quotes already and yours would be the fourth,” you have a decision to make. Some shops still want to quote those, especially in the slower months. But you should know going in that your close rate on a fourth quote is probably under 15 percent. The AI can flag this so you can choose to send a phone quote based on photos instead of driving out, or ask for a 50 dollar deposit toward a written report.

If they say “I am just trying to figure out what something like this should cost,” that is research, not a job. Send them to a pricing page on your website and book a callback for next month.

Question 4: “What is the access like and is anyone going to be home?”

You would be surprised how often a quote visit goes sideways because nobody mentioned that the back of the house drops two storeys down a slope, or that the only ladder access is blocked by a 6 foot deck and a hot tub.

The AI should be asking, in plain language, whether it is a single storey or two storey, whether the property is flat or on a hill, and whether someone will be home to unlock a gate or talk through what they are seeing inside the attic. If the homeowner is not going to be there and the AI cannot confirm gate access, that is a visit that should be rescheduled, not booked.

Question 5: “Are you the owner of the property, and is anyone else part of the decision?”

This is the one most contractors skip and most regret skipping.

If the person calling is a tenant, you are quoting for someone who cannot say yes. If the person calling is one half of a couple and the other half wants three quotes from “someone their dad knows,” you are walking into a no. The AI does not need to grill anyone. It just needs to ask, kindly, who the decision makers are and whether they will be present at the visit. If both partners cannot be there, the AI can offer an evening slot or a Saturday morning instead.

How Bally handles this

Bally is run by Hunter, one operator based in Ontario. The text and website-chat tools are set up to ask these exact qualifying questions before anything gets on your calendar. The way it works: a missed call turns into a text thread, the AI writes back and forth with the homeowner, collects photos, flags the urgency, and only books visits that pass your rules. It never picks up the phone and it never pretends to be a person. Websites are the product: $800 CAD to build a presence site, $2,000 for a working site, $2,500 for the showcase, then a care plan from $70 a month. No money-back guarantee and no lead promises. Call (519) 761-2251 or book a slot to see how it would fit your shop.

Stop driving across town for jobs that were never yours. Book a 20 minute call and we will sketch out your filter together.