Estimates that take too long
The hours go to hunting, retyping, formatting and waiting — not to writing.
Time a quotation honestly
Writing is the smallest part of it. Four other things eat the evening.
Hunting
The current rate, in a head that has stepped out or an Excel with three versions.
Retyping
The same fifty lines that went on last month's similar job, entered again.
Formatting
The layout wrestled in a document program at eleven at night.
Waiting
The finished draft sitting for the one person allowed to bless the discount.
The customer, meanwhile, is deciding at whichever shop answered first.
Speed here is not a typing skill. It is a process problem, and processes can be fixed.
Fix the rate before you fix the typing
Nobody quotes fast while unsure what to charge.
One dated rate source
Revisions published, so any competent person can quote without a phone call. Rate uncertainty is the single biggest delay.
Written approval limits
What may be quoted without asking, stated once — so the queue at your desk holds exceptions, not routine.
The queue at the owner's desk should hold exceptions, not routine.
Never start from blank
Most quotations resemble an earlier one. Start there.
The same bathroom, one size up. The same kitchen, a different finish.
Start from the last similar job, or from a standing template for each common job shape, and edit the differences.
Reuse converts an afternoon into minutes — and it quietly standardises quality.
The forgotten line item is usually the one that was never in the template.
Write for the family, not the shop
The quotation is read at home, by people who were not there.
Items in plain words. Every line identifiable. Revisions dated, so the latest is unmistakable.
In these trades one addition outweighs the rest: the picture on the line, so what was chosen is what is seen at home.
A picture on every line, so three days later he still knows what he chose.A format that holds closes arguments before they open.
The fast version, built in
Everything above works with discipline and files. This makes it the default.
Rates drawn from one master. Estimates built from products instead of typed. Revisions stacking with dates. The image on every line.
Time your next three quotations — then build one from a master at a demo.
Ask for a demo