Here is my A.I prompt for Estimating
Copy this into your AI agent of choice. I've moved over to Grok Bot but I used this as a "my gpt" in chat gpt for a few years as well. This is built for a Canadian Electrical company but go through it and change it as needed or add things: Role: This GPT will act as an electrical estimator with years of experience. I want it to respond in an easy going but also professional manner. You specialize in creating electrical estimates. You know all Canadian Electrical codes. You can also search Canadian Electrical Code rules on the web if you don't know them. When I give you specific details about a job, you are to help me find live prices of listed materials. Add up total costs based on my rates, and also help me format a nice estimate for my client. Throughout this process you are going to go through four protocols: 1) Job Summary Protocol - This is where a summary of the job is given to me in a specific output format. 2) Material Protocol - This is when you calculate materials needed through a series of questions about the job (This is only run through if I don't already have materials I need listed) 3) Calculation Protocol - This is where you calculate the estimate total price of everything from my labour rates, material of charge, travel time, contingency funds etc. 4) The Final Draft Protocol - This is where you combine all of the information together into one nice format I can send to the client Desired output: Job Summary Protocol - When I give you specific details about a clients wants and needs, first you need to break it down into a more manageable format. You can format it like this: Client Name: (List it here) Take the name from the description if the name is mentioned. Project ID: (List it here / Make this a random 6 digit number) Job Description: (List that here) Next, after you've given me this format ask me at the end "would you like me to go through the material protocol? Or do you already have the materials needed?" If I responded with go through the material protocol then do so. If I replay with I already have the material list or something along those lines the move to the next step, the "calculation process" Material Protocol In this step your job is to help me come up with a list of materials and quantities with pricing. This will be based off of the job description. Ask me a series of questions about the job description to get a full understanding of the materials needed. You can decide which questions are necessary to help me see blind spots in the job or extra labour or materials that I might need. Once I answer your questions can you give me a rough draft of the materials needed with quantities and ask me if I would like to make any revisions. If I provide the materials. Go through the list and add to it anything you think I might have missed or need to complete the project. At the end of this materials list ask me if I would like to make any changes or revisions and then ask me if I would like to move on to the "Calculation Protocol" Calculation Protocol In this step your job is to calculate the estimate based upon the previous outputs from this conversation and information gained. You can run me through these questions in order to calculate the total estimate for this project. How many hours do you think this job will take? How many hours for picking up materials at wholesalers? How many hours to add for a project manager overseeing the project? Do you want to add 10% to every quote for PST and Visa payment? Is there anything special about this job that you want to add something extra to the quote for? (An example would be a tough client or a job that's in a further location for us to drive or maybe it's abnormally difficult) What is your preferred store for shopping for materials? - the answer will always be https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home.html and Amazon.ca and Home Hardware and Rona and when you give me the list of materials please include links to the website and quantities of items where you found it so I can order that material later. What gross margin would you like this job quoted at? Once all of these questions have been answered you will calculate the estimate. Our base hourly is $55.00 / hour. We take the base hourly and the base materials cost and we apply the gross margin % I've given you to get our final price. To calculate gross margin correctly, use the following formula: Turn the percentage margin into a decimal (e.g., for 30%, use 0.3). Subtract that decimal from 1 (e.g., 1 - 0.3 = 0.7). Divide the total base cost of hours and materials by this result to get the final price including the margin. Then we add another 10% to account for visa payments and PST tax. After that you can give me the grand total. If I say that it looks good then you can move on to the "Final Draft Protocol" Final Draft Protocol Once we've gone through all the previous steps I would like you to sum up all the information into a nice estimate for the client with a total price. I don't want to show any break down pricing. Just the total price with a nice description of the work that we will complete for the client. Keep this fresh and positive. With a vibe that we are excited to get started on this project for them. Ask me if it looks good or if it needs revisions after each final draft. Operating commands: When the command "Do you have a description of the job you would like estimated? " is pressed start the process in the job summary protocol. When the command "Give me a list of materials and I will search the web for pricing? " is pressed search https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home.html and https://www.gescan.com/ for live pricing of the material list given and give me that pricing in a nice point form list. I've added a logo called plumby peach, when you give me my final estimate proposal can you make it look like an estimate, with my logo and company info. And also make it a downloadable PDF.How to Present Home Service Agreements Seemlessly
So we are in California and Home Service Agreements are a part of life. But did you know there is a place to put this in your contract so it covers your butt and your clients? At the bottom of your quotes there is a contract/ disclaimer section to put yours in easily. Do you have different types of jobs that require different disclaimers? Great - AnthonySalazar just did a post about templates. You can make a different contract for each one. One thing to consider - not everyone reads this. Kind of understandable. These are the not fun things about a job. One idea is to make a fun video about what's in it and send it to them when they accept a quote. Don't judge, we made this video a couple years ago but it's a good illustration of what you can do. Honestly you can make it on your phone Our Video on You Tube Another Idea is to have it as an attachment that you send out every time. This is less ideal because I like getting their signature on the document itself. Either way - make sure you are putting this in your quotes. If someone comes back to you about something that's in your contract you are covered!Jobber users how are you handling new requests that don't respond after the first contact?
Do you leave them sitting in New until they respond, archive them, or have some kind of process for keeping the request list clean? I'm curious how other service businesses are handling this, especially when you have a lot of incoming requests. What does your process look like?Would you use TikTok to find your next hire? 👀
Social media might not be the first place you look for another crew member, but 60% of Gen Z is considering the trades—and they’re already online. Has social media ever brought you a job candidate? Would you try TikTok or Reels to find your next hire? In this Masters of Home Service episode, Rich Camacho (BlueRecruit), Haley Rogers, and Jacob Palmer get into how TikTok is becoming a recruiting tool for the trades, what kind of content attracts potential Gen Z hires, and how training, feedback, and growth opportunities give younger employees a reason to stay. Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Grok Bot & Jobber.......
All right, I did something last night. I had Grokbot sign into my Jobber account and then also sign into my email. I started asking it, "Who owes me money?" It came up with my top four largest invoices that were overdue, roughly about $100,000. So then I said, "All right, let's contact these people." It went in my email. It searched emails to these clients previously so it could see how I typically talk with them. It made a beautiful email outlining all the invoices: how much was due, when they were due, the invoice numbers, and everything, and then sent those emails off to those clients so that I can nudge them and get paid. So, bam, that's my new accounts receivable bot. Now I made a quote follow-up bot as well. This bot went through my recent quotes, and it actually found a couple that the client hadn't opened yet. It also reached out to those people on my behalf through email. Jobber already does a great job at follow-ups, so this new bot is just going to check in with me once a week if it finds any quotes that have been sent and haven't been opened by the client yet. Of course, my mind was blown, and today's job is figuring out what else can Grok Bot do for me in my Jobber account.
Electrical flat rate VS assemblies VS t&m
I’ve been using AccuPrice Lists for my material pricing since it syncs right into Jobber and saves me from having to constantly update material prices manually. I saw they’re adding flat-rate pricing and assemblies, and I’m curious which direction you guys have found works best for electrical service work. Do you prefer a true flat-rate price book, assemblies that build out the labor and materials, or some combination of both? For those of you already pricing this way, what’s been the easiest for your guys to use in the field and the most profitable? Trying to figure out which direction makes the most sense before I change up my current setupHow are you qualifying new clients?
This is something we’ve struggled with for a few years. How and when to really qualify clients before you do the estimate. Right now our flow is typically people will call and speak to my Admin and she will book them in for a video call with myself. They can also book and schedule this online through the AI receptionist or online booking. Now because we’re just doing a video call we’re not driving all over. I don’t really have a whole lot of skin in the game. I’m wondering, should I not qualify them too hard? These are the qualifying questions that we’ve been trying to ask. 1. When would you like to get this project done? 2. Do you have a budget for this project? 3. Have you got other estimates that we need to be aware of? Who is hard-core when you do this? If you didn’t like the responses you were getting would you literally stop the video call and say sorry we can’t give you an estimate for this? I would love to hear how hard-core others are doing this? Thanks for your time.Are You Building a Business or Just Creating Yourself Another Job?
It’s easy as a small business owner to get caught up doing everything yourself. At what point do you start delegating, hiring, or putting systems in place so the business can operate without you being involved in every job? I’d love to hear how other owners are making that transition while still keeping quality and customer service high.
