HourSaved

Turn a phone or walk-in inquiry into a written quote draft

Paste your rough call notes and your own price list, and AI drafts a clean quote plus the questions you still need to ask, so you can send a quote the same day after you check every line.

Setup
10 min
Saves
About 15 min a use (our estimate)
Level
Easy
Last checked
Works with
Any AI chat, QuickBooks Online, Square Invoices
Step in a real app
Described from the official help page, not run on a real account

Run once on made-up data on with Claude Opus 5.5. One run, not proof.

Version 1 · Draft: not yet approved by the owner · How we test

What this does

Paste your call notes and your own price list. AI drafts a quote, lists what it could not price, and writes a short cover message. You check every line before sending.

Before you start

  • Any AI chat (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot).
  • Your price list, quote terms and call notes, as plain text.
  • Setup: about 10 minutes the first time (our estimate).
  • Privacy: leave out the customer's name, phone number and street number.

This is not financial or legal advice. Check your quote terms with your accountant or lawyer.

Steps

  1. Type your call notes right away, including what the customer was unsure about.
  2. Paste the prompt with your notes and price list filled in.
  3. Settle the "Questions to confirm" with the customer.
  4. Check every line and total against your price list. Fix anything marked UNCLEAR.
  5. Build the real quote in your own tool. In QuickBooks Online: + Create, Estimate, add customer and items, Review and send. In Square: Invoices, Estimates, Create estimate (Square says this needs an Invoices Plus or Premium plan).
  6. Send it yourself.

The prompt

Prompt · fill the [brackets]
You are helping me write a quote draft for my business. Use only the price list and notes I give you. Do not invent prices, services, discounts or dates. Do not send anything.

My price list and quote terms:
[paste your services, prices, fees and terms]

My notes from the customer's call or visit:
[paste your notes]

Today's date: [date]

Please give me:
1. A quote table: item, quantity, unit price, line total. Then a subtotal and any deposit my terms require.
2. If a quantity, size or fee is unclear, write UNCLEAR in that cell and show the total both ways if it changes the price.
3. "Assumptions": anything you assumed, one line each.
4. "Questions to confirm": what I must ask the customer before sending.
5. A short, friendly cover message (under 100 words) that does not promise a date or price I have not confirmed.

Before and after: the made-up input, then the real output the AI gave us.

Try it with made-up data

Harbor Lane Window Cleaning (fictional). Price list: exterior windows, one-story $180; exterior windows, two-story $260; interior windows, add $120; screens $4 each; gutter clearing up to 150 feet $210; travel fee beyond 15 miles $35. Terms: quote good for 30 days; 50% deposit on jobs over $500.

Call notes, March 4, 2030: "Homeowner on Ridgeway Ave. Two-story. Outside windows plus inside, first floor only. 'Around 20 screens maybe.' Gutters too, house about 40 ft long. Asked about week of March 18. Lives about 20 min away, not sure on miles. Wants it done before her open house."

What the AI gave us

ItemQtyUnitTotal
Exterior windows, two-story1$260$260
Interior windows (first floor only)1$120$120 (UNCLEAR: your list has one interior price, not a first-floor price)
Screen cleaning20 (estimate)$4$80
Gutter clearing, up to 150 ft1$210$210
Travel feeUNCLEAR$35UNCLEAR

Subtotal: $670 without travel fee, $705 with it. Deposit (job over $500): $335 or $352.50. Valid until April 3, 2030.

Questions to confirm: exact screen count; total gutter length (40 ft long suggests about 80 ft front and back, under 150 ft, but sides unknown); distance in miles; whether a partial interior gets a lower price; the open house date.

(Cover message trimmed here.)

The math and the 30-day date were right, and it did not guess the travel fee. But it made a mistake you should not copy: it priced gutters at a firm $210 and put that into the subtotal and deposit, though the notes only give the house length. The screen count is a guess too. Treat the gutter line, subtotal and deposit as provisional until you confirm both. A person also had to set the first-floor interior price and confirm the miles.

Check before you send

  • Every price matches your current price list.
  • Quantities match what the customer said.
  • Every UNCLEAR item is settled or removed.
  • The valid-until date and deposit follow your terms.
  • The cover message promises no unchecked date.

Don't paste

  • Card or bank numbers.
  • Gate codes, alarm codes or key locations.
  • Full home addresses and phone numbers.
  • Health details ("he can't climb stairs"). Permission to write it down is not permission to share it with an AI. Describe the job need instead: "work must be done from outside".

When not to use this

  • Jobs that need a site visit or measurement first.
  • Licensed work where a quote has legal weight (electrical, structural). Have your contract reviewed.
  • An out-of-date price list.
  • Don't assume a quote email is exempt from marketing-email rules, even if the customer asked for it. The FTC judges each email by its main purpose, and "transactional" covers only narrow cases, such as a deal the customer already agreed to. A quote that mainly sells your service can count as marketing, so when in doubt, follow CAN-SPAM (honest subject line, postal address, a way to opt out).

Questions owners ask

Can AI set my prices for me?

No. This guide only applies prices you already chose, and you check its math.

Is it safe to paste customer notes into ChatGPT or Claude?

Paste only the job details, with names, numbers and addresses taken out. Privacy settings don't make confidential details safe to paste, and removing a name doesn't hide sensitive facts, so leave those out too.

Sources

Related guides

Customers and salesMake a weekly "who to follow up with" list from your CRM or spreadsheetMoney adminWrite payment reminder emails in three tones (friendly, firm, final)Inbox and emailDraft routine email replies in your own voice, without promises you didn't approve

All 7 customers and sales guidesAll 45 guides

The newsletter

One new guide a week, free.

Start with the free starter: three short emails over your first week. First the 15-minute Start here guide, then the three jobs we'd hand to AI first, then one question about what eats your week. The first two come with a practice task and the check you do before anything goes out. After that, one new guide every Tuesday: one task, the prompt to paste and the check to do. At most one ad, always labeled.

  1. Day 1Your first 15 minutes with a free AI assistant
  2. Day 3Summarize a long email thread into decisions, open questions and next steps
    Draft routine email replies in your own voice, without promises you didn't approve
    Write payment reminder emails in three tones (friendly, firm, final)
  3. Day 6What eats your week? Reply in one line, plus how the weekly guide works