Two videos on this one objection have been watched more than 43,000 times — one on Roofing Insights in 2022, one on our own channel in 2026. Four years apart, same script, same demand. That tells you something.
You have just finished the presentation. It went well. The homeowner is nodding. And then:
“This all sounds great. I just want to get a couple more estimates before I decide.”
Most reps do one of three things here, and all three lose the job.
They agree cheerfully — “Of course! Take your time!” — and hand the homeowner to whoever shows up next. They argue — “You don’t need three estimates, we’re the best value” — and confirm they are a salesman. Or they discount preemptively — “What if I could do better on price?” — and teach the homeowner that the first number was never real.
What they are actually saying
Nobody wants three estimates. Nobody has ever wanted three estimates. Getting three estimates means three strangers in your living room, three sales presentations, three follow-up call sequences, and three sets of numbers you are not qualified to compare.
What they want is to not be wrong.
“Three estimates” is what people say when they do not have a way to tell a good decision from a bad one. It is the folk remedy — the thing your dad told you to do. It is not information-gathering. It is anxiety management.
And here is the part that matters commercially: if you send them out to get two more quotes, you have handed the decision to whoever is cheapest. Because price is the only variable an untrained homeowner can actually compare. They cannot evaluate underlayment. They cannot evaluate crew quality. They can evaluate a number.
So the goal is not to talk them out of due diligence. The goal is to give them a better way to do it.
The response
Do not argue. Agree, then reframe.
“Good. You should. This is a big number and you should be careful with it.
Can I ask you something though — when you get those other two quotes, what are you going to compare?”
Then stop talking.
Almost every homeowner says the same thing: “Uh… price, I guess?” Some will add “and reviews.”
That pause is the whole thing. They have just heard themselves admit they have no criteria. You did not tell them — they said it. Now you get to be useful instead of defensive.
“That’s what most people say, and it’s the part that worries me for you. Two roofs at the same price can be completely different roofs.
Let me give you four things to ask the next two guys. If they answer them better than I did, hire them — seriously. But at least you’ll be comparing the same things.”
The four questions
Hand them written down. On paper. This is the entire technique.
- What exactly happens if you open it up and the decking is rotted? Is that in the price or is that a change order? Get the per-sheet number in writing.
- Who is actually on my roof? Your employees or a subcontracted crew? Is the crew that shows up the crew that was quoted?
- What does the warranty cover in year seven? Not year one. Year seven, when the shingle manufacturer says it is a workmanship issue and the installer says it is a material issue.
- Are you licensed, insured, and can I see the certificate with today’s date? Not “we’re fully insured.” The certificate.
Two things happen when you do this.
The first: you have changed what “three estimates” means. It is no longer three prices. It is four questions, and you have already answered them.
The second, which is the real one: you have become the expert who helped them shop rather than the salesman who tried to stop them. That is a different relationship, and it survives the other two appointments.
The close after the reframe
Once they have the sheet:
“Here’s what I’d suggest. Take the list. Have the conversations. If someone answers all four better than I did, you should absolutely hire them.
But if I’m the one who answered them best — can we get you on the schedule now, before we get into the busy stretch? I’d hate for you to do all that work and then wait five weeks.”
You are not pressuring. You are giving them a reason that the decision is time-sensitive which has nothing to do with a fake discount deadline.
When it does not work
Sometimes you run the whole thing cleanly and they still want to shop. That is fine, and here is the part most reps get wrong: the four questions still won.
They are walking into the next two appointments with your criteria in their hand. When the next rep cannot answer question one without hedging, you are the one they think of.
What kills you is not losing the close. It is losing the follow-up. Set the next contact before you leave — a specific day, a specific reason — and put it in your calendar in front of them.
Where this fits
“Three estimates” is a trust and value-clarity objection wearing a research costume. It shows up in the first two of the five roots in the objection handling playbook. If you are hearing it on more than a third of your appointments, the problem is usually upstream — the presentation is not differentiating, so the homeowner has nothing to compare on but price.
Related: handling price without discounting and tiered pricing that closes at the middle.
Reps who rarely hear this objection are doing something different at the front of the appointment. Flight School is where that gets taught.
This breakdown comes from sessions recorded with Roofing Insights and Contractor Dynamics. Chuck Thokey’s full media record is at Chuck Thokey: In the Media.