Quoting assistant: from 9 days to 2 hours

This is a demonstration build that shows the pattern we deploy — illustrative numbers, not a specific client’s audited figures. We’ll swap in a named, anonymised case study once the first construction engagements close.

The problem

In most construction and field-service firms, quoting isn’t slow because the maths is hard — it’s slow because of everything around it. A typical path:

• Enquiry sits in an inbox or a notepad in the van.
• Site visit gets scheduled, then re-scheduled.
• Numbers are ready Tuesday; the actual document gets assembled at the weekend.

End to end, a quote that could go out same-day takes around nine days — and a chunk never goes out at all. That’s not a pricing problem. It’s revenue leaking through process gaps.

What we built

A quoting assistant that keeps the human judgement and automates the wrapper:

1. One intake. Every enquiry — web form, phone note, referral — lands in one place with the same fields captured.
2. Templated estimate. Common job types (bathroom refit, roof repair, X m² of screed) are reusable templates; the owner adjusts quantities, the figures assemble themselves.
3. AI-drafted cover. Claude turns the bullet points into a clean scope description, assumptions and terms — in the firm’s voice — for review, never auto-sent.
4. Instant, branded send. On approval, the client gets a professional PDF and a short human message in minutes, not days.

The result (modeled)

	Before	After
Quote turnaround	~9 days	~2 hours
Quotes followed up	rarely	every time (automatic)
Owner time per quote	scattered across the week	one short review

The compounding win isn’t just speed — it’s that every quote now goes out and gets a follow-up, instead of only the ones someone remembered.

How it stays trustworthy

• The owner still sets every number and approves every send.
• Templates encode the firm’s real pricing logic, not generic guesses.
• The AI only drafts language; it never invents figures.

This is the same shape as the KSeF invoice auto-assign guide: rules + one AI step for the messy part + a human on approval. Quoting is just the highest-visibility place to start.