Zapier Automations Every Contractor Needs

Your tools don’t talk to each other. Leads from your website live in one system. Customer data lives in another. Review requests happen manually, when someone remembers. Follow-ups fall through the cracks.

Zapier connects the tools you already use. When something happens in one app, Zapier automatically triggers an action in another. No coding required.

78% of customers go with the first contractor to respond. If your current process is “check the form submissions when I get back to the office,” you’re losing to competitors who have automated instant response.

How Zapier works

A Zap is an automated workflow connecting two or more apps. Every Zap has a trigger (something happens) and one or more actions (do something in response).

Trigger: New form submission on your website. Action: Create a customer in Housecall Pro, send an SMS via Twilio, notify your dispatcher in Slack.

Zapier’s free tier includes 100 tasks per month with 5 single-step Zaps. That’s enough to test the most important automations. Paid plans start at $19.99/month for more Zaps and multi-step workflows.

Speed-to-lead automations

Responding within 1 minute increases conversion by 391%. After 5 minutes, your odds of qualifying that lead drop 80%. The average contractor takes 47 hours to respond.

Automation closes this gap instantly.

Instant text response to form submissions

Trigger: New submission in Gravity Forms, Typeform, Jotform, or whatever you use. Action 1: Send SMS via Twilio or SimpleTexting. Action 2: Create contact in your CRM. Action 3: Notify dispatcher via Slack or email.

The text message goes out in seconds. “Thanks for contacting [Company Name]. We got your request and someone will call you within 10 minutes.”

The customer knows you’re responsive. Your team has time to actually make the call without losing the lead to a competitor.

Lead notification to your phone

For smaller operations where the owner handles most calls:

Trigger: New form submission. Action: Send push notification via the Zapier mobile app or SMS to your personal phone.

You see the lead immediately, wherever you are. No waiting to check email or log into your CRM.

After-hours routing

Leads don’t stop at 5pm. 38% of service requests happen outside business hours.

Trigger: New form submission (filtered to after 5pm or before 8am). Action: Send automated text acknowledging receipt, explaining office hours, and confirming someone will call first thing in the morning.

The lead knows you’re not ignoring them. They’re less likely to call three other contractors while waiting.

Read more about speed to lead and the 5-minute rule.

Review request automations

91% of homeowners check reviews before letting a contractor in their home. The companies winning have automated systems generating consistent review volume.

Trigger from job completion

If your field service software is Jobber, Housecall Pro, or ServiceTitan:

Trigger: Job marked complete. Action: Wait 2 hours. Action: Send SMS with direct link to Google review form.

Timing matters. Within 2 hours gets a 42% response rate. Waiting two days drops to 6%. The automation handles timing perfectly every time.

For platforms without native Zapier integration

Some field service software doesn’t connect to Zapier directly. Workaround:

Trigger: New row added to a Google Sheet (where you log completed jobs). Action: Send review request via SMS.

Your technicians add a row to a shared sheet when they finish a job. Columns for customer name, phone number, service type. Zapier watches the sheet and triggers the text.

Not elegant, but it works for platforms without better options.

Conditional review requests

Filter by job type or value to prioritize review requests for jobs most likely to generate good feedback.

Trigger: Job completed in Housecall Pro. Filter: Job value greater than $500 AND job type = “installation”. Action: Send review request.

Higher-ticket jobs with happy customers generate better reviews than $99 service calls. Focus your asks where they’ll have the most impact.

Read more about review automation ROI.

CRM sync automations

Running multiple platforms means customer data gets fragmented. Zapier keeps systems in sync.

Website lead to CRM

Trigger: New submission on website form. Action: Create or update contact in ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or Jobber.

New leads appear in your field service software without manual entry. Your dispatcher sees them immediately.

GoHighLevel to Jobber sync

Contractors running GoHighLevel for marketing and Jobber for operations need data flowing both directions.

Trigger: New contact in GoHighLevel. Action: Create customer in Jobber.

Trigger: Job completed in Jobber. Action: Update contact stage in GoHighLevel. Action: Trigger “completed job” workflow in GoHighLevel.

This keeps both systems current without double-entry. The GoHighLevel workflows for review requests and follow-ups fire based on actual job completion in Jobber.

Lead source tracking

Tag contacts with where they came from so you know which marketing channels are working.

Trigger: New submission from Facebook Lead Ads. Action: Create contact in CRM with tag “facebook-ad”.

Trigger: New submission from Google Ads landing page. Action: Create contact in CRM with tag “google-ppc”.

When you review booked jobs, you can filter by lead source and calculate actual ROI per channel.

Read more about marketing attribution for home service businesses.

Team notification automations

Get the right information to the right people without manual forwarding.

Dispatch alerts

Trigger: New job scheduled in Housecall Pro. Action: Send Slack message to #dispatch channel with job details. Action: Send SMS to assigned technician.

The dispatcher doesn’t have to text every tech manually. The tech knows immediately when a new job is assigned.

Estimate request notifications

Trigger: Customer requests estimate via website. Action: Create Trello card or Asana task for sales team. Action: Send email to sales manager with customer details.

Estimate requests don’t sit in a form queue. They become actionable items tracked in your task management system.

High-value job alerts

Trigger: New job created with value over $5,000. Action: Send SMS to owner. Action: Create task for follow-up call.

Big jobs get attention. The owner knows immediately when a significant opportunity comes in.

Follow-up automations

Most contractors follow up when they remember. Automation makes follow-up consistent.

Unconverted estimate sequences

Trigger: Estimate created in Jobber (via webhook or integration). Action: Wait 3 days. Action: Check if job status changed to “booked”. Filter: If not booked, continue. Action: Send follow-up email or SMS.

Repeat with a second follow-up at day 7 and day 14. Customers who were comparing options often book after a gentle reminder.

Maintenance reminder campaigns

Trigger: Job completed with tag “AC installation” or similar. Action: Wait 11 months. Action: Send SMS or email reminding customer about annual maintenance.

The automation fires exactly when the customer should be thinking about service. You don’t have to remember who needs what or when.

Post-job follow-up

Trigger: Job completed. Action: Wait 1 week. Action: Send email checking in, asking if everything is working well, and reminding about referral program.

This catches potential issues before they become complaints and reinforces your referral incentive.

Administrative automations

Reduce busywork that doesn’t require human judgment.

Invoice follow-up

Trigger: Invoice sent in QuickBooks or field service software. Action: Wait 7 days. Action: Check if invoice is paid. Filter: If unpaid, continue. Action: Send payment reminder email.

Collections happen automatically without awkward phone calls or manual email sends.

New customer welcome sequence

Trigger: First job completed for a customer. Action: Send welcome email with company info, service hours, and how to request future service. Action: Wait 2 days. Action: Send email about maintenance plans. Action: Wait 5 days. Action: Send email with referral program details.

Every new customer gets the same onboarding experience without staff remembering to send anything.

Weekly summary reports

Trigger: Every Monday at 8am (schedule trigger). Action: Pull data from Google Sheets or CRM. Action: Send email to owner with key metrics.

Start every week knowing how many leads came in, jobs completed, and revenue booked, without logging into multiple dashboards.

Getting started

Start with one automation that solves a real problem. Don’t try to build everything at once.

Highest-impact first

The speed-to-lead automation delivers immediate value. If leads sit in a form for hours before anyone responds, fix that first.

Review request automation comes second. Consistent review volume compounds over time, and the automation is simple to set up.

Everything else can wait until the basics are running smoothly.

Test before you trust

Every Zap should be tested with fake data before going live. Send a test form submission. Verify the text goes out. Confirm the CRM entry is created correctly.

Broken automations waste leads. A typo in a phone number field or incorrect CRM mapping means customers don’t get contacted.

Monitor for failures

Zapier shows task history and errors. Check weekly to catch failed Zaps before they accumulate.

Common issues: expired app connections (reconnect the app), changed form fields (update the Zap mapping), rate limits on SMS services (upgrade the plan or slow down sends).

Advanced patterns

Once basic automations are working, multi-step Zaps create more sophisticated workflows.

Conditional routing

Use Zapier Paths to route leads differently based on criteria.

Trigger: New form submission. Path A (emergency checkbox selected): Send immediate text + call notification. Path B (service type = installation): Create opportunity in CRM + schedule follow-up task. Path C (default): Send standard confirmation + add to email nurture.

Different lead types get different treatment without building separate forms.

Data enrichment

Before creating a CRM contact, enrich the lead data.

Trigger: New form submission. Action: Look up address in Clearbit or similar to add company info. Action: Create contact in CRM with enriched data.

B2B leads (commercial clients) get flagged automatically. Property details get added for better job costing.

Multi-system workflows

Complex operations might need chains across 4-5 apps.

Trigger: New lead from Facebook Ads. Action: Create contact in GoHighLevel. Action: Send confirmation text via Twilio. Action: Add row to Google Sheets for tracking. Action: Create task in Asana for sales follow-up. Action: Send Slack notification to sales channel.

A single lead submission triggers a coordinated response across every relevant system. Nothing falls through the cracks.

The time math

A typical contractor spends 30 minutes daily on tasks that could be automated: manually forwarding lead forms, sending review request texts, updating spreadsheets, following up on unpaid invoices.

At 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week, that’s 10+ hours monthly. At an owner’s effective hourly rate, the time cost exceeds Zapier’s monthly subscription many times over.

The automation pays for itself in the first week, and the consistency is better than any manual process.

Platform-specific notes

ServiceTitan integrates with Zapier, but some triggers require the Marketing Pro add-on. Basic contact and job data syncs on standard plans.

Housecall Pro has native Zapier integration for jobs, customers, and estimates. Most automations work without limitations.

Jobber connects to Zapier for customers, jobs, and invoices. Some advanced fields require workarounds.

GoHighLevel integrates fully with Zapier for contacts, opportunities, and workflows.

If your current software doesn’t have Zapier integration, check for webhooks. Most modern platforms can send data via webhook, which Zapier can receive as a trigger.

Read more about marketing automation for home service businesses.