“We appreciate everything you’ve done tonight, but we need to get three estimates before we can decide.”
That is the sentence, close to word for word, and I have taken it in living rooms for twenty-plus years. Reps hear a procurement process. It is not one. The homeowner is telling you they are afraid of choosing wrong and they want a way to feel sure.
“When a homeowner says they need to get three bids, they’re not shopping for the best deal. They’re looking for permission to feel confident inside of the decision itself.”
That is me on my own channel in When a Prospect Wants 3 Estimates (Here’s What You Do). The cost of accepting the sentence at face value comes about ten seconds earlier in the same video: “And just like that, you’re not the solution anymore. You’re just simply option number one in the lineup.”
Three estimates is not an objection
I have said this on other people’s stages for years, and it still surprises reps. Wanting more bids is a stalling excuse. It sits on top of the objection, not inside it.
“Three estimates, need to talk to my father — those are not objections. So what are real objections? Your price is too much. I can’t afford it. Those are the objections. That’s the real reason.”
I said that on Roofing Insights in 3 Estimates Should NOT be an Objection, and in the same session I put the job of the rep plainly: “Everybody wants to sell the job. It’s not the purpose. You have to get past the stalling excuse to get it to money.”
I concede before I do anything else
Push back on caution and you become the reason for it. So the first move never argues. On Contractor Dynamics I put it in one line — “I totally understand. You always concede” — in The Best Response to “I Need to Get 3 Estimates”.
The 2026 version says the same thing with names in it: “Hey Bob and Mary, I get it. When I got here, I knew that you guys were smart shoppers, and I totally understand that you guys need other bids.”
The criteria question does the real work
Once I have agreed with them, I ask what they intend to compare:
“So when you get these other estimates and let’s say you put them all on the table, what criteria are you going to use to pick which contractor you’re going to go with?”
Most homeowners say price, because price is the only thing they know how to compare. So I test it: “So is price the only thing that you’re concerned with, that you are not concerned with the quality at all?” Nobody says yes to that. They say they want a good product. Then I close the gap: “So is it fair to say that it’s value more than it is price?”
On Roofing Insights I run the same question from the other direction, which I like even better because it takes price off the table entirely:
“Now let me ask you — if we put all the estimates down next to each other and every one of them is the exact same price, which one would you choose?”
Whatever they answer is the real criteria. Now I know what I am selling against, and it is not a number.
Give them the questions to take to the next bid
The homeowner who leaves with only a price cannot compare anything. So I write down what to ask the next two companies. TOP REP publishes four questions to hand every homeowner: what exactly happens if the decking turns out rotted and whether that is a change order, who is physically on the roof and whether they are employees or subcontractors, what the warranty covers in year seven when the manufacturer and installer point at each other, and whether they can see a license and insurance certificate dated today.
Those four questions grade my competition while I am not in the room. A rep who hands them over is not stalling the decision. He is arming it.
The porch light close beats a rebuttal
Most of the time the three-bid line is not even true. As I said on Contractor Dynamics, “Most of the people that tell you they’re getting multiple bids are not. They don’t have anybody else coming out.” They want a minute without me watching them.
So I give it to them. I say I need to step out and take a few pictures: “Let me take about five, ten minutes to do that. Would that give you guys enough time to talk about this?” I called it the porch light close on that show, and I called it the strongest close in the industry.
Usually one spouse has already bought in and is waiting to find out about the other. Leave the room and they sort it out in five minutes. Stay in the room, and as I put it there, “what’s coming is ‘we need to think about it.’”
The framework held up across four years
I taught this objection on Roofing Insights in 2022 and again on my own channel in 2026. Same objection, four years apart, two different rooms:
- 3 Estimates Should NOT be an Objection — Roofing Insights with Dmitry Lipinskiy, April 3, 2022, 25 minutes, 27,899 views
- The Best Response to “I Need to Get 3 Estimates” — Contractor Dynamics, April 21, 2022, 4 minutes, 7,907 views
- When a Prospect Wants 3 Estimates (Here’s What You Do) — my own channel, April 3, 2026, 8 minutes, 26,796 views
Three things never moved: concede first, ask the criteria question, and convert price into value before anyone talks about a number. Those show up in all three recordings.
Three things I added by 2026. I now ask when the other bids arrive — “So, Bob and Mary, when do you think that you’ll have these other bids?” — because a decision with no date is not a decision. I put a price and value guarantee in front of the number, so a homeowner who finds the same work done the same way for less gets the difference back plus $100. And I close with a question that leaves the door open rather than forcing it: “Would it be a crazy idea just to go ahead, get this thing taken care of, and you let me know if you have found somebody?”
The 2026 video ends on the line that holds the whole framework together: “Homeowners don’t need more options. They simply need more clarity.”
Questions reps and owners ask me about this
Is asking for three estimates a real objection?
No. It is a stalling excuse sitting on top of a real objection. Real objections sound like “your price is too much” or “I can’t afford it.” Three estimates is what a homeowner says when they are not ready to say the true reason out loud. Your job is to get past the excuse and reach the actual concern.
Should I ever match a competitor’s price?
Matching a number tells the homeowner your first number was made up, and it teaches every future customer to ask. I would rather move them to a lower tier, phase the work across two seasons, or change the payment terms. Those keep the price honest. My approach to handling price without discounting lays out each option.
What if they already have two bids before I get there?
Then you have a sample to work with, which helps. Ask whether they were happy with those bids, without asking for the numbers. Their answer tells you what the other companies failed to explain, and that becomes the part of your presentation you slow down on. It also tells you whether price or trust is driving the delay.
Do I leave the house or keep selling?
Leave, briefly and on purpose. Step out to take photos and give them five to ten minutes alone. One spouse has usually decided already and needs a private minute with the other. Reps who stay in the room and keep pushing get “we need to think about it” instead of a decision.
What do I say when they will not tell me their criteria?
Take price out of the question. Ask which company they would choose if every estimate came in at exactly the same number. With the price neutralized, they have to name what actually matters to them, and that is the thing you have to win on. It also shows them they were never really comparing prices.
Does this work outside roofing?
Yes. I teach it to roofing, exteriors, and home services teams, and the mechanism does not depend on the product. Any in-home sale with a large number and a nervous buyer produces the same request. Only the four questions change, because those come from wherever your trade hides its cost.
Where to go from here
The step-by-step wording and the follow-up sequence live in the TOP REP how-to article linked above, and the diagnostic that sits underneath it runs through the five root objections.
Three estimates is one of five objections I teach reps to diagnose instead of rebut. The rest live on my objection handling framework.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n