The Prequal Clock: a financing application follow up routine for home service offices

The Prequal Clock in three steps

This is the setup from our video on financed jobs that go quiet. It runs every morning and takes one person a few minutes.

1. The list. Pull every financing link that was sent but never finished, sorted by the day it runs out.
2. The text. Send each homeowner a friendly text that names the job and offers to help, approved by someone in your office before it goes.
3. The line. The text never promises an approval and never talks about credit, because that decision belongs to the lender.

Why a clock? Wisetack says a prequalification is valid for 14 days, and the same page says applications that haven't been paid expire on their own after 90 days. A homeowner who prequalified on a Monday and then got busy is quietly running out of time, and nobody in a busy office is watching that date.

Who this is for and what you need first

The Prequal Clock is for HVAC, plumbing, roofing and electrical offices that offer customer financing on bigger jobs: a water heater, a repipe, a new system, a panel upgrade. You need three things before you start.

• A way to see application status. If you use Jobber, the Jobber and Wisetack integration puts financing on your quotes and invoices. In Housecall Pro you can send a customer an application right from the Job Details page. Either way, you want a view of who started and who finished.
• One owner for the list. Pick the person who checks it every morning, usually the office manager or whoever books installs.
• A texting channel with an opt-out. Every follow-up text carries "Reply STOP to opt out," and your system has to respect it.

If you don't have financing set up yet, this guide won't help much. Start with the AI agents overview to see where agents fit in an office, and come back once financing is live.

1. The list

Every morning, pull the applications that were sent or started but not finished. For each one, write down four things: the customer, the job, the amount on the quote, and the day the prequalification runs out.

Then sort by days left, fewest first. That's the whole trick. A list sorted by date sent hides the urgent ones in the middle, while a list sorted by days left puts tomorrow's expiring application at the top where you can't miss it.

A simple version, kept in a spreadsheet or your job software's notes:

Customer	Job	Quote	Started	Days left	Status
Nguyen (example)	Tankless water heater	$6,400	Oct 6	3	Prequalified, not finished
Brooks (example)	Sewer line replacement	$11,200	Oct 8	5	Link sent, not opened
Ortiz (example)	Repipe, 2-story	$14,800	Oct 13	10	Prequalified, not finished

The rows are made-up examples. The 14-day window is what Wisetack states; if you use a different lender, use the window in its terms.

Two rules keep the list honest. First, a customer only stays on it while the application is open; once they finish, decline or tell you they're paying another way, take them off. Second, if the job amount changed, the old application may not fit anymore. Jobber's help article says to edit the original quote for the new amount and resend it, and the customer applies again.

2. The text

One friendly text per open application, written by your office and approved before it goes. It names the job, so the customer knows it's not spam, and it offers help instead of pressure. Here are three to copy. Change the names, keep the shape.

Text 1, a few days left (the default):

Hi Mrs. Nguyen, it's Maria at Bluewater Plumbing. Your financing for the tankless water heater is still open. Want help finishing it, or should we hold the install date? Reply STOP to opt out.

Text 2, the link was never opened:

Hi Mr. Brooks, it's Maria at Bluewater Plumbing. I sent the financing link for the sewer line job last week and wanted to make sure it reached you. Want me to resend it, or would you rather talk it through on a call? Reply STOP to opt out.

Text 3, the window has passed:

Hi Ms. Ortiz, it's Maria at Bluewater Plumbing. The financing application for your repipe looks like it closed before it was finished. If you'd still like to go ahead, I can send a fresh link. No rush either way. Reply STOP to opt out.

Text 3 works because, as Wisetack's Jobber setup page puts it, a customer can always reapply. You're not chasing a lost cause, you're offering a clean restart.

Send one text per application per window. If there's no reply after that, leave a note on the job and let your salesperson decide whether to call. A second and third text about the same loan stops being help.

If an AI agent drafts these, the setup is simple: it reads the list each morning, fills in the template that fits each row, and puts the drafts in front of the office manager. Nothing sends until a person taps approve. That approval step is the same pattern we use for every agent we build; your free AI Operations Audit walks through where it fits in your own office.

3. The line you never cross

This is the step that keeps you out of trouble. The follow-up is about finishing paperwork and booking the job. It is never about the loan decision.

Things the text (and anyone answering replies) never says:

• "You're approved" or "you'll definitely get approved."
• A rate, a monthly payment or a term, unless it's the exact offer the customer already has in front of them.
• Anything about the customer's credit score or history.
• "Last chance" or any deadline that isn't real.

The reason is plain: Wisetack's own page says financing is subject to credit approval, and that approval comes from the lender, not from your office. When a customer asks a credit question, the answer is a pointer: "That's a question for the lender, and you can see everything in your application. I'm happy to hold the date while you look."

The opt-out is part of the line too. The FCC's rules on revoking consent, as summarized by Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, took effect April 11, 2025 and require stop requests to be honored within 10 business days. A broader "revoke-all" piece of the rule has been pushed back, and Burr and Forman reports the new date is January 31, 2027. The safe habit is simple: when someone says stop, they come off every list that day. Ask your attorney what applies to your own texts.

What to watch out for

• Duplicate texts. If your financing provider or job software already sends its own reminder, check what it says and when, so the customer doesn't get two messages in one morning.
• Changed quotes. A new amount usually means a new application. Fix the quote first, then text.
• Stale rows. A customer who paid cash or went with another contractor should leave the list the day you learn it.
• The wrong person answering replies. Route replies to the person who approved the text, not to a shared inbox nobody reads.

How to tell it's working

Keep three numbers for a month, from your own records: how many applications were open each morning, how many got a text before they ran out, and how many of those finished. You're not looking for a big jump. You're looking for the first two numbers to match, which means no application expired without a friendly word from your office. If they don't match, the list is being skipped, and that's the problem to fix before anything else.

When the routine sticks, it's also a good sign the office has room for the next small check. If you run Jobber, the Jobber AI integration guide shows what else an agent can watch inside it.