Can AI draft your quotes and proposals?
Yes, AI can draft the text, but a person should decide the price and what is promised. It can assemble a first version from your own price rules, past similar jobs and scope notes, written in plain words. A person should always set the final price, handle unusual jobs and approve every promise, date and exclusion before the quote goes out.
What AI can usually draft
Totals deserve care. A language model can make arithmetic mistakes, so it is safest to add the totals up yourself before anything goes out.
- The customer's request, restated in their own words from the inquiry or your visit notes.
- Line items chosen from your price list by rules you set.
- A short description of the work, based on scope notes and past similar jobs.
- The "not included" lines you usually add, such as permits, materials you expect the customer to supply, or extra work found after the job starts.
- A cover note and a follow-up message for you to edit.
What a person always decides
The related answer on writing a quote that wins the job covers what a good quote contains. An AI draft is only a starting point for that.
- The final price, including any discount.
- Unusual jobs: tricky access, an old building, a rush, or anything unlike your past work.
- Promises: dates, warranties, results and anything a customer could quote back to you.
- Whether to take the job at all.
Checks before a quote goes out
- Every line matches your price list, and the totals add up when you add them yourself.
- The scope matches what the customer asked for, and the exclusions are stated.
- Dates and timing are ones you can keep.
- No promise appears that you did not choose to make.
- The name, address and details belong to this customer, with nothing from another customer's job.
Trying it safely
Before using it live, run it on a handful of your past jobs, including the awkward ones, and compare each draft with the quote you actually sent. Count how often you have to change it. Past jobs hold customer details, so decide deliberately what you share with an outside tool; the related answer on putting customer information into ChatGPT covers that decision.
Keep your review on every quote until the drafts match your own work, and look again whenever your prices or services change. The related answer on whether a person should approve what AI sends to customers explains the review step.
Related answers
- How do you write a quote that wins the job?
- Should a person approve what an AI system sends to customers?
- Is it safe to put customer information into ChatGPT or another AI tool?
AI systems and automation
A lot of an owner's week goes to the same tasks: answering the same questions, chasing the same follow-ups, retyping the same details. We build the systems that do that work, so your people can spend their time on customers.