Big projects attract a lot of shoppers
A kitchen remodel, a new primary bath, a finished basement or a house full of replacement windows can run anywhere from $20,000 to $150,000. Homeowners spending that much collect several bids, and a good share of the people filling out your form are only checking a price. Getting inquiries is not the hard part. Sorting serious projects from idle curiosity without spending every evening on the phone is.
Inquiries arrive from Houzz, Angi, Facebook ads and your own website, often late at night while homeowners scroll through photos of other people’s kitchens. By the time you return the call the next afternoon, they may have a consult on the books with someone else.
That number comes from a Harvard Business Review study covering more than 2,000 companies. The MIT / InsideSales Lead Response Management study shows why the delay hurts: a lead called at the 5-minute mark was 21 times more likely to qualify than one called at 30 minutes. If your inquiries come through Angi, its help center asks pros to call within 15 minutes.
The honest part: high-ticket buyers want a person
Someone about to spend tens of thousands of dollars on their home wants to meet the people who will do the work. HelloSetter does not pretend otherwise. It does not design, quote or sell the project. Its job is to reach the homeowner fast, ask the screening questions, and get a design consultation or measure appointment on your calendar. You or your designer run the consult and build the relationship.
If a homeowner says they would rather speak with a person first, the AI does not push. It records that in the email summary so you can call them yourself, already knowing their scope and budget.
What happens when a remodeling lead comes in
- A homeowner sends in your website form: “Want to redo our kitchen. New cabinets and counters, maybe move the sink.”
- If it is inside your calling hours, HelloSetter phones them within 60 seconds. Our own tests show the call going out roughly one second after the lead is received. Late-night leads wait for your next calling window.
- The AI says which company it is calling for, confirms the project, and asks the questions below.
- If the project fits the work you do, it books a design consultation or measure appointment into an open slot on your HelloSetter Calendar.
- An email summary reaches you after the call, and the recording and transcript are in your dashboard.
- If nobody answers, it detects voicemail, leaves a short message, and retries up to 16 times over the following days, inside calling hours only.
- A homeowner who returns the call on your local number gets the same AI, and the conversation carries on.
What the AI asks on a remodeling call
The questions shift a little by project type. The goal stays the same: you know what you are walking into before you set foot in the house.
- What are you looking to remodel: kitchen, bathroom, basement, windows, doors, or something else?
- Is this a refresh with new surfaces and fixtures, or a full gut with layout changes?
- For windows and doors: roughly how many openings, and all of them or just a few?
- Do you have a budget range in mind?
- When would you like the work to start?
- Do you own the home?
- Who else is part of the decision, and can they be at the consultation?
Budget is where most homeowners hesitate. The AI asks for a range rather than a number, and explains that it helps the designer bring ideas that fit. If they decline to say, it moves on and notes that they skipped it.
Getting both decision-makers to the consult
Remodelers know the pattern. One spouse meets you, likes the plan, then has to explain it to the other over dinner, and your proposal gets retold secondhand. The AI asks early who else will weigh in. When it offers times, it looks for a slot when both can be home, such as an evening or a Saturday if you open those hours.
If only one of them can make it, it still books, and the summary flags that the second decision-maker will be absent so you can plan a follow-up meeting.
How it handles remodeling objections
“We’re only collecting prices.”
For custom work, nobody can give an honest price without seeing the space and talking through options. The AI says so, and presents the consultation as the way to get a real figure instead of a guess. Then it offers a few times.
“Can you give me a ballpark over the phone?”
It does not quote. It explains that cost depends on scope, materials and what turns up behind the walls, which is why the consult comes first.
“We aren’t starting until next year.”
Long timelines are normal for big remodels. The AI offers a planning consult now, or schedules a callback for the date they name, inside calling hours.
Lead sources and setup
Setup happens on a 30-minute call. The team links your website forms, a Google Sheet, a webhook, or Zapier for sources like Angi, Thumbtack, Facebook lead ads and Google Local Services Ads. If many of your leads come from Houzz, raise it on the call: Houzz Pro’s Zapier app currently lets Zapier create leads inside Houzz, not send new Houzz leads out, so check with the team whether yours can be forwarded another way.
You get a local phone number for callbacks. Appointments go on your HelloSetter Calendar, which you can subscribe to with an iCal link. Give it the link to the calendar you already use and the AI reads that too, so a measure never lands on top of a job walk. HelloSetter only calls leads who consented, and it has no SMS and no native connection to remodeling CRMs.
Window company answering service, or something narrower?
If you sell windows and doors, you may be shopping for a window company answering service. HelloSetter is narrower than that. It calls new web leads and answers when those leads call back. It does not pick up every call to your showroom, handle warranty questions or schedule installs.
Pricing and a test call
Founding pricing is $197, $347 or $697 per month, and a free 14-day pilot begins after the setup call. Look over the plans.
Call (307) 414-8089 and act like a homeowner pricing a bathroom remodel who will not share a budget. You can also press Call me now on the homepage and get a call from the AI inside a minute.