Use case · Trades
Quotations in the trades
In the trades a quotation usually follows a site visit - from photos, measurements on a notepad and what the customer said. Which means days often pass between visit and sent quotation, days in which the customer already has two other offers.
Typical scope: one process, from €6,900
What is different here
What it actually turns on in the trades.
The basis is a measurement, not a document
Photos from a phone, dimensions on a scrap of paper, sometimes a voice note recorded in the van. That is unstructured but complete - and today's models cope with it considerably better than classic form logic does.
Line items come from service catalogues
Costing runs through standard items with time allowances from the trade software. The effort lies in hitting the right items, not in adding them up.
Speed decides the order
At a comparable price, whoever is there first almost always wins. A quotation that reaches the customer on the day of the site visit has a noticeably different hit rate than one that arrives four days later.
Systems we connect here
- Streit V.1
- pds
- Label
- Sander & Doll
- DATANORM catalogues
- Photo archive
If yours is not listed, that is not an exclusion. Where no interface exists, we build one - that is the most demanding part and it is our trade.
The rule that only applies here
Quote after a site visit and you lose orders by days, not by cents. The leverage is in the time between visit and quotation - not in costing accuracy.
The process
Where a person is needed - and where they no longer are.
- ClaudeLab from here
Step 01Person
Enquiry
Intake
Step 02ClaudeLab
Costing
Checking
Step 03ClaudeLab
Prices
Gathering
Step 04ClaudeLab
Quotation
Output
The difference
The same process, once as it is today and once with us.
Step 01 · today
Step 01 · with us
Step 02 · today
Step 02 · with us
Step 03 · today
Step 03 · with us
Step 04 · today
Step 04 · with us
What we build
- Component 01
- Attachments are read - PDF, drawing, spreadsheet, scanned bill of quantities.
- Component 02
- Comparable jobs are looked up in the ERP and proposed as the costing basis.
- Component 03
- The draft quotation is created in your existing template, not in some unfamiliar tool.
- Component 04
- Anything unclear is flagged rather than guessed - gaps stay visible instead of being filled in.
Degree of autonomy
The draft is produced independently; the release is always a person. A quotation is a binding document - it never leaves the building unseen.
Where it does not fit
If every enquiry is a one-off and there are no comparable jobs, there is little to gain here. The benefit comes from repetition, not from intelligence.
Frequently asked
Is this worth it in the trades?
Quote after a site visit and you lose orders by days, not by cents. The leverage is in the time between visit and quotation - not in costing accuracy. Whether it pays for you depends on your volume - the audit establishes that.
We use a different system from the ones listed. Does it still work?
Yes. The ones listed are those we most often meet in the trades - a list, not a precondition. Where no interface exists, we build one.
What do we have to provide?
Read access to the quotations closed over the last twelve months - that is where the system learns your costing logic, not from a formula. Access to the ERP, or at least a regular export of jobs and prices. A contact in sales who has two to three hours a week for questions during the first weeks. Nothing more is needed to start.
How will we know it works?
Across 30 real past enquiries the draft falls within your usual price tolerance in at least 80 % of cases. Every unclear item is flagged - nothing is quietly guessed. No quotation leaves the building without a person releasing it.
How long does implementation take?
4 to 6 weeks to the first productive run.
Does the AI decide on its own?
The draft is produced independently; the release is always a person. A quotation is a binding document - it never leaves the building unseen.
When is this not worth it?
If every enquiry is a one-off and there are no comparable jobs, there is little to gain here. The benefit comes from repetition, not from intelligence.
The same process, in general
This page shows the fit in the trades. The process itself is sector-independent - what matters is whether it repeats.
Quotations in generalTell us where your time goes.
In the audit we record the process, work out what is worth automating, and you get a plan with fixed prices - credited against the build if you go ahead.