Case 308 · Electrical trade
How does AI help write quotes in the trades?
Starting point: The boss writes the quotes — in the evening, after the site visit. Every set of measurements means an hour at the desk, long after concentration has gone. Quotes go out too late, and the odd job is lost before it even exists.
AuthorMatthias EgerCertified Manager for Applied AI Transformation (IHK)The solution: measurements in, draft out.
The master craftsman photographs the measurements and speaks a short note into his phone — the way he would explain it to an apprentice. Out of that comes a draft quote with line items, built like his previous quotes: same structure, same wording, same units. The AI has learned from the old quotes how this business calculates and writes.
Then comes the most important step — and it stays with the human: The master craftsman checks the prices and signs. He no longer types, he judges. That is exactly what he is needed for; typing is not.
20 minutes from site measurements to a finished draft — instead of an hour in the evening. At three quotes a week that adds up to more than 100 evenings won back each year.
Why this works — and where the limit is.
The AI delivers the draft, not the decision. Prices, discounts and the gut feeling for the customer stay the boss's business. The draft is deliberately marked as a draft: Nothing goes out without approval. That is not a technical restriction, it is a rule — the same rule my own business runs on.
“The business does not save on judgement. It saves on typing.”
Does this transfer to your business?
This case transfers to any business where quotes eat up the evenings. Whether plumbing and heating, carpentry, metalwork or landscaping: wherever quotes are built from measurements, experience and standard text blocks, the road there can be shortened — with your data, in your system, without any costings leaving the building.
Does your case sound similar?
30 minutes, three starting points in writing — free and with no sales pressure.