Open a contractor’s GoHighLevel account that isn’t working and the pattern is usually the same: forty workflows nobody can explain, three funnels, a newsletter that went out twice. And the office manager still tracks leads in a notebook, because the software got too confusing to trust.
That account didn’t fail from too little setup. It failed from too much.
A contractor needs about six things working in GoHighLevel. Everything else should be turned off until those six have run for a few months without babysitting. For what the tool is in plain English, see our GoHighLevel page. This post is the order we set it up.
Turn things off before you turn anything on
Most accounts come loaded with a snapshot: a pre-built template of pipelines, workflows and pages, dropped in by whoever sold you the account. Snapshots are built for a generic business, and a roofer is not one. Anything you can’t explain in one sentence gets switched off. You can always turn it back on.
Same with sub-accounts. GoHighLevel can hold many businesses under one login. You have one business, so you need one.
Leave these off at the start:
- Funnels and landing pages. Your website already does this job.
- Email newsletters. You don’t have the list or the time yet.
- Social scheduling. Fine later. Not what loses you jobs today.
- Memberships and courses. Not a contractor problem.
None of those stop a lead going cold. The six things below do.
The six things, in the order we build them
1. One pipeline, named in your words
Not “Opportunity Qualification.” Stages a crew lead would understand on sight. For most trades it’s five or six: New lead, Site visit booked, Estimate sent, Following up, Won, Lost. An HVAC shop might swap “Site visit” for “Diagnostic booked.” If a lead can’t fit in one of those, the pipeline is wrong, not the lead.
Load your open leads before building anything else. The pipeline has to match the whiteboard on day one, or nobody will trust it on day thirty.
2. The phone number and missed-call text-back
Get the business number inside GoHighLevel early, because the carriers require your business to be registered before texts go out reliably, and that paperwork takes a while. Start it, then build while you wait.
Then the first automation: a call goes unanswered, a text goes back within a minute. Why that works and what to say is in the missed-call text-back post. It’s first because it needs nothing else to exist.
3. The “new lead” instant reply
Every way a lead can arrive (website form, Google Business Profile, a lead service, a referral typed in by hand) creates one contact at New lead and sends one short text: thanks, here’s who you’ll hear from, here’s when. The lead hears from a real business inside a minute, and lands in the pipeline without anyone copying it there.
4. A 3-touch estimate follow-up
When a lead moves to Estimate sent, three messages queue up. Say day two, day five and day ten, as an example cadence; pick yours. Each one refers to that specific estimate, not a template about “your project.”
The part most setups skip: a person approves each message before it goes. The automation drafts, you tap yes or no. That keeps the tone yours and stops a follow-up reaching someone who signed yesterday. The “not now” leads and past customers are a different system, covered in the lead follow-up post.
5. The review request after a finished job
When a job is marked done, one text goes out with the one-tap link to your Google reviews, and one reminder a few days later if they haven’t replied. Then it stops. Two asks, never more, and never with an open punch list.
6. Connect it to the job software
This is the step that makes the other five pay off. When a lead moves to Won, the customer and job should appear in the software that runs the work, with nobody re-typing the address.
For builders and remodelers that’s GoHighLevel and JobTread. For HVAC and plumbing shops it’s GoHighLevel and ServiceTitan. GoHighLevel wins the job, the job software runs it, and the hand-off happens once, at Won.
The two rules that keep it safe
Nothing that touches money or a client goes out without a human approving it, and every run is logged, so you can open one screen and see which texts went to whom last week and who said yes to each. If a setup can’t show you that log, it isn’t finished.
Where to go from here
Here’s the setup in the order we’d do it, one line each, with what “done” looks like. Don’t skip ahead.
The 10-step GoHighLevel setup checklist:
- Turn off what you won’t use. Done when the workflow list shows only items you can explain in one sentence.
- Get the business number and start carrier registration. Done when a test text from that number lands on your cell.
- Build the pipeline with 5 or 6 stages in your words. Done when every open lead sits in exactly one stage.
- Load every current open lead. Done when the pipeline matches your whiteboard or notebook.
- Set up missed-call text-back. Done when you call the number, don’t answer, and get a text within a minute.
- Set up the new-lead instant reply on every lead source. Done when a test form fill gets a text and shows up at New lead.
- Build the 3-touch estimate follow-up. Done when moving a test contact to Estimate sent queues three drafts you can approve or cancel one by one.
- Build the review request. Done when a test contact marked done gets the review link, and the reminder stops when they reply.
- Connect to your job software. Done when moving a test lead to Won creates the customer and job with nothing re-typed.
- Open the run log. Done when you can see every message sent this week, who it went to, and who approved it.
Give that list to whoever runs your office, or do it yourself over a couple of quiet afternoons.
If you’d rather have someone who has done this before build it, book a free 30-minute call. Bring your pipeline stages and the name of your job software. We’ll show exactly how we’d set up those six things in your account, with a written plan and a fixed price before you decide anything.