The situation
A contractor's estimate usually starts in the truck: a walk-through, a few measurements in a notebook, a promise to "get you a number tonight." Then the evening goes to retyping the same lines into a template, checking the math, saving a PDF and emailing it, and the customer who called three companies hears from the fastest one first.
After it is sent, there is no way to know whether the homeowner opened it, and follow-up depends on memory. A quote tool for the trades has to do three things: get from notes to a clean quote in minutes, price from your numbers rather than guesses, and make saying yes easy from a phone.
The aiKit tools for this job
- Quote Studio: Drafts the quote from your notes, prices it from your saved prices, and gives the customer a live page to accept.
- Your websites: A quote request page on your aiKit website collects the job details and up to 4 photos, and each request starts a quote in one press.
- Reviews & customer photos: When a job from an accepted quote is marked Done, the customer is added to Reviews and the ask is scheduled.
Step by step
Save your prices once
Add your services and prices the way you say them, such as "mulch $68 a yard installed, edging $4 a foot". Saved prices and past quotes are used from then on.
Quote Studio →Give it the scope
Pick your company, then paste the customer's email, type your notes, press the mic and say the job, or add a photo of a sketch or a handwritten list, a PDF or a Word file up to 3 MB.
Quote Studio →Press Make the quote
The one-page quote appears beside the form exactly like the PDF. Lines without a saved price are marked Price needed, and a missing quantity is marked Check how many. Check these lists every assumption.
Quote Studio →Fix anything by clicking or asking
Click a line to change its quantity or price, or type a change such as "add a haul-away fee and drop the permit line". Add pick-one options, optional extras, tax, a discount or a deposit percent under More options.
Quote Studio →Send it and watch it
Download the PDF, copy the live link, or send it by email and set a follow-up date. You see when the customer opens it, asks a question or accepts with their typed name.
Quote Studio →
Examples
A deck repair quoted from the driveway
Ridgeback Decks & Fences, an invented contractor, says the job into the mic after a site visit: replace 14 boards, sand and seal 320 square feet, new railing on one side. The quote comes back with each line priced from the saved list and the railing marked Price needed, because the owner never saved a railing price. One click fills it in.
Three options for a bathroom refresh
Tidewater Tile & Bath sends one quote with three pick-one options (refresh, mid-range, full remodel) and an optional heated floor. The homeowner switches between options on a phone, ticks the heated floor, and accepts by typing her name.
From the website form to a quote
A request arrives through the quote page on Summit Roofing Co.'s aiKit website, with four photos of the damaged flashing. Quote this starts a quote with the customer's details and request filled in, and the photos stay visible to the team only.
Tips
- Write prices the way you would say them out loud; the more of your price list is saved, the fewer Price needed lines you will see.
- Read the Check these list every time. It is where the quote tells you what it assumed.
- Offer two or three options on one quote. Customers who can choose tend to answer sooner than customers who get one take-it-or-leave-it number.
- Set a follow-up date when you send. The quote page shows when it was viewed, so your call lands at the right moment.