BidStack - Quote and Follow-Up Tracker for Independent Home Service Contractors
Independent plumbers, electricians, and HVAC techs send quotes via text message and then forget to follow up, losing $3k-$8k in jobs every month to contractors who just remembered to call back. BidStack is a simple quote pipeline tracker with automated SMS follow-ups so independent contractors close more jobs without hiring an office manager. This is the April 2026 answer to a decade of ignored blue-collar CRM pain.
Difficulty
beginner
Category
Home Services Tech
Market Demand
Very High
Revenue Score
7/10
Platform
Web App
Vibe Code Friendly
⚡ YesHackathon Score
6/10
What is it?
On Reddit r/Plumbing and r/HVAC, independent contractors constantly post about losing bids because they forgot to call back or sent a quote and never heard back. BidStack is a mobile-first web app where a contractor logs a quote in 30 seconds after leaving a job site, sets a follow-up day, and gets an automated Twilio SMS sent to the homeowner at the right time. The pipeline view shows all open quotes, their status, and estimated close value — the only analytics a solo contractor actually needs. No CRM complexity, no sales jargon, just a quote board and a follow-up bot. Buildable in 2 weeks with Next.js, Twilio, Supabase, and a dead-simple mobile UI from v0.
Why now?
Contractor software consolidation in 2025-2026 pushed Jobber and ServiceTitan upmarket, leaving millions of solo contractors with no affordable tool — and Twilio SMS pricing dropped enough in 2025 to make automated follow-ups viable at $29/month margins.
- ▸30-second quote logging form optimized for mobile thumb use after leaving a job site (Implementation: single-page form with Supabase insert).
- ▸Automated Twilio SMS follow-up sent to homeowner on the contractor-set follow-up date with a customizable message template.
- ▸Kanban pipeline board showing quotes in New, Followed Up, Won, and Lost columns with estimated revenue totals per column.
- ▸Monthly close rate report showing win percentage and average quote value so contractors know which job types they close best.
Target Audience
Independent home service contractors (plumbers, HVAC, electricians) with 1-5 employees, estimated 3.5 million in the US earning $80k-$250k/year
Example Use Case
Carlos, an independent HVAC tech with 20 open quotes at any time, logs a $4,200 new AC installation quote after leaving a home, sets a 3-day follow-up, and gets an automated SMS sent to the homeowner — he closes the job he would have forgotten and covers 2 months of BidStack in one sale.
User Stories
- ▸As an independent HVAC tech, I want to log a quote in 30 seconds after leaving a job site, so that I never lose track of an open bid.
- ▸As a plumber with 15 open quotes, I want automated SMS follow-ups sent to homeowners on my chosen day, so that I close more jobs without remembering to call back manually.
- ▸As a solo contractor, I want to see my monthly close rate and average quote value, so that I know which job types are worth quoting.
Done When
- ✓Quote logging: done when contractor fills out the 5-field mobile form and sees the new quote appear in the New column of the Kanban board within 2 seconds
- ✓SMS follow-up: done when the daily cron fires and the homeowner receives a correctly formatted SMS on the exact follow-up date set by the contractor
- ✓Kanban update: done when contractor drags a QuoteCard to the Won column and the Won column revenue total updates immediately
- ✓Stripe billing: done when contractor completes $29/month checkout and is immediately able to add a 6th quote that was previously blocked by the free tier limit.
Is it worth building?
$29/month x 200 contractors = $5,800 MRR at month 4. Math: 3% conversion from 7,000 email list built via Facebook Groups for independent contractors and r/HVAC, r/Plumbing posts.
Unit Economics
CAC: $12 via Facebook Group organic posts. LTV: $348 (12 months at $29/month). Payback: 1 month. Gross margin: 90%.
Business Model
SaaS subscription
Monetization Path
Free: 5 active quotes. Paid $29/month: unlimited quotes, automated SMS follow-ups, pipeline analytics.
Revenue Timeline
First dollar: week 2 via beta upgrade. $1k MRR: month 2. $5k MRR: month 5. $10k MRR: month 9.
Estimated Monthly Cost
Twilio SMS: $15 (est. 1,000 SMS/month at $0.0079 each), Supabase: $25, Vercel: $20, Stripe fees: ~$20. Total: ~$80/month at launch.
Profit Potential
Solid at $8k-$15k MRR. Extremely low churn because losing one job covers a year of subscription cost.
Scalability
High — add photo quote attachments, e-signature on quotes, and a customer-facing quote approval portal.
Success Metrics
Week 1: 50 signups from r/HVAC and r/Plumbing posts. Month 1: 15 paid. Month 3: 100 paid with 90% retention.
Launch & Validation Plan
Post in r/HVAC and r/Plumbing asking how contractors track open quotes. DM 20 independent contractors on Angi or Thumbtack offering a free 60-day trial.
Customer Acquisition Strategy
First customer: post in the largest HVAC Facebook Group (HVAC-Talk has 80k members) with a screenshot of the pipeline board and the line 'I built this after my buddy lost a $6k job because he forgot to follow up' — offer the first 20 respondents 3 months free. Ongoing: r/HVAC, r/Plumbing, Angi contractor community, YouTube ads targeting contractor channels.
What's the competition?
Competition Level
Low
Similar Products
Jobber is $99/month and built for teams, too complex for solo contractors. HouseCall Pro costs $65/month with scheduling overhead. ServiceTitan requires a sales call. BidStack is the only sub-$30 quote-only tracker with automated SMS.
Competitive Advantage
Jobber and ServiceTitan cost $100-$250/month and are built for 10+ person companies. BidStack is $29/month and takes 30 seconds to learn — the contractor market is massively underserved at this price point.
Regulatory Risks
TCPA compliance required for SMS — include opt-in consent language in quote form. Low regulatory risk otherwise. No HIPAA.
What's the roadmap?
Feature Roadmap
V1 (launch): Quote logging, automated SMS follow-up, Kanban pipeline, monthly close rate report, Stripe billing. V2 (month 2-3): Photo attachments on quotes, customizable SMS templates, win/loss reason tagging. V3 (month 4+): Customer-facing quote approval portal, basic invoicing, referral program.
Milestone Plan
Phase 1 (Week 1-2): Quote form, Kanban board, and Twilio SMS cron ship and verified with real SMS delivery. Phase 2 (Week 3-4): Stripe billing, Supabase Auth with SMS OTP, and 10 beta contractors onboarded. Phase 3 (Month 2): Facebook Group launch, 50 paid users, customizable SMS templates added.
How do you build it?
Tech Stack
Next.js, Twilio SMS API, Supabase, Stripe — build with Lovable for mobile UI, v0 for pipeline board components, Cursor for Twilio integration
Suggested Frameworks
Twilio Node SDK, Supabase Auth, Drizzle ORM
Time to Ship
2 weeks
Required Skills
Twilio SMS API, Supabase Auth, Next.js mobile-first UI, Stripe billing.
Resources
Twilio SMS Node.js quickstart, Supabase Auth docs, Drizzle ORM guide, Next.js App Router docs.
MVP Scope
app/page.tsx (landing + mobile hero), app/dashboard/page.tsx (Kanban pipeline board), app/quotes/new/page.tsx (30-second quote form), app/api/quotes/route.ts (CRUD for quotes), app/api/sms/followup/route.ts (Twilio SMS trigger), app/api/cron/followups/route.ts (daily cron checking due follow-ups), lib/db/schema.ts (users, quotes, followup_schedules), components/QuoteCard.tsx (kanban card), components/PipelineColumn.tsx (status column with revenue total), seed.ts (10 demo quotes across pipeline stages), .env.example (Twilio, Supabase, Stripe keys)
Core User Journey
Log quote on mobile after leaving job site -> set follow-up date -> automated SMS fires to homeowner -> update status to Won in Kanban -> see close rate improve month over month.
Architecture Pattern
Contractor logs quote on mobile -> Supabase insert -> daily Vercel cron checks follow-up dates -> Twilio SMS fires to homeowner -> contractor updates quote status in Kanban -> Supabase updates pipeline -> monthly report generated from aggregated quote data.
Data Model
User has many Quotes. Quote has one FollowupSchedule (date, message_template, sent_at). Quote has status enum (new, followed_up, won, lost). User has one MonthlyReport (aggregated from quotes).
Integration Points
Twilio for automated SMS follow-ups, Supabase for database and auth, Stripe for subscription billing, Vercel Cron for daily follow-up scheduler.
V1 Scope Boundaries
V1 excludes: photo attachments on quotes, e-signature, customer portal, invoicing, scheduling, team member accounts, GPS tracking.
Success Definition
An independent plumber who found BidStack in a Facebook Group logs their first quote, gets an automated SMS sent to a homeowner, closes the job, and renews their subscription after month one without ever contacting support.
Challenges
Contractors are notoriously resistant to new software — the onboarding must take under 2 minutes or they abandon it. The hard non-technical problem is distribution: Facebook Groups and word of mouth in trade communities are the only channels that actually reach this audience at scale.
Avoid These Pitfalls
Do not add scheduling, invoicing, or dispatching in v1 — contractors will ask for everything but the core follow-up workflow is the only thing that makes them pay. Onboarding over 3 steps kills conversion with this audience — keep it ruthlessly simple. Finding first 10 paying customers takes longer than building — spend 2 weeks in Facebook Groups before writing code.
Security Requirements
Supabase Auth with SMS OTP, RLS on quotes table ensuring users only see their own data, Twilio webhook signature validation, rate limiting 30 req/min per IP, TCPA opt-in consent stored per quote.
Infrastructure Plan
Vercel for Next.js and cron jobs, Supabase for Postgres and auth, Sentry for error tracking, GitHub Actions for CI, dev/staging/prod via Vercel environments. Total: ~$80/month.
Performance Targets
Expected 150 DAU at launch, 800 req/day. Quote form submit under 300ms. Kanban board load under 1.5s. Twilio SMS delivery under 10 seconds of cron trigger.
Go-Live Checklist
- ☐Security audit complete
- ☐Twilio SMS delivery tested end-to-end with real phone
- ☐Stripe payment flow tested
- ☐Sentry live
- ☐Vercel Analytics configured
- ☐Custom domain with SSL
- ☐Privacy policy and TCPA consent disclaimer published
- ☐5 beta contractors signed off
- ☐Rollback plan: Vercel instant rollback
- ☐Facebook Group and Reddit launch posts drafted.
First Run Experience
On first run: 10 demo quotes are pre-loaded across all four Kanban columns showing realistic contractor job types and dollar amounts. User can immediately drag cards between columns and see revenue totals update. No manual config required: demo data loads from seed.ts without any Twilio or Stripe configuration needed to explore the UI.
How to build it, step by step
1. Define Drizzle schema for users, quotes, and followup_schedules in lib/db/schema.ts with quote status enum. 2. Run npx create-next-app and install Twilio SDK, Drizzle ORM, Stripe SDK. 3. Build the 30-second quote form in app/quotes/new/page.tsx with fields for customer name, phone, job type, amount, and follow-up date. 4. Create CRUD API in app/api/quotes/route.ts with Supabase insert and RLS protecting user data. 5. Build Kanban pipeline board in app/dashboard/page.tsx using PipelineColumn.tsx with drag-and-drop status update. 6. Build daily cron in app/api/cron/followups/route.ts that queries due follow-ups and fires Twilio SMS via app/api/sms/followup/route.ts. 7. Add monthly close rate calculation endpoint returning win percentage and average quote value from aggregated quote data. 8. Set up Supabase Auth with phone number sign-in (SMS OTP via Twilio) for zero-friction mobile onboarding. 9. Add Stripe checkout for $29/month plan with webhook enforcing the 5-quote free tier limit in Supabase. 10. Verify: log a test quote, set a follow-up date to today, trigger the cron manually, confirm Twilio SMS fires to a test number, update quote to Won in Kanban, confirm pipeline revenue total updates, complete Stripe checkout end-to-end.
Generated
April 21, 2026
Model
claude-sonnet-4-6
Disclaimer: Ideas on this site are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies. Revenue estimates, market demand figures, and financial projections are illustrative assumptions only — not financial advice. Do your own research before making any business or investment decisions. Technology availability, pricing, and market conditions change rapidly; always verify details independently.