Workbench · Toolbox
Estimating prompts that refuse to guess
Method record status: hypothesis. These methods and prompts are not yet tested in a named shop or measured. Nothing on this page has been proven yet.
An estimate drafted by a machine is only as good as your walk notes. These prompts make the gaps show up as MISSING instead of as a number you did not choose.
The method
- Put the walk notes, photo list and your price list in one place.
- Paste them into the prompt for your trade. Ask for MISSING where a quantity is absent.
- Answer every MISSING line from the site, not from memory.
- Run the one check under the prompt.
- Send the number once, on the thread you already use.
Prompts by trade
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Rough-in estimate from the walk notes
Here are my walk notes and the photo list for one job: [paste]. Turn them into a line-item estimate using only the quantities I wrote. Where a quantity is missing, write MISSING, not a guess. Use my unit prices from this list: [paste price list]. End with three lines: what is in, what is out, and what would change the number.
Check before you send: Every quantity on the estimate appears in your walk notes.
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Replace-or-repair quote, two options
From this ticket and my price sheet [paste], write a quote with exactly two options: repair and replace. For each: price, what it includes, how long it takes. Do not rank them or call either one best. End with how to pick one by reply.
Check before you send: Both option prices come from your price sheet.
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Repipe estimate checklist
I am pricing a repipe. From my notes [paste], list every input I still need before I can price it (fixture count, access, wall finish, permit). Do not price it. Just tell me what is missing.
Check before you send: You can answer each missing input from a site visit, not a guess.
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Seasonal maintenance quote
From my property notes [paste] and my per-visit rates [paste], write a seasonal maintenance quote: visits per month, price per visit, season total, what is not included. One page. No upsell lines.
Check before you send: The season total is visits times the rate.
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Acreage clearing estimate inputs
I walked a lot for clearing. From my notes [paste], build an estimate table: acreage, vegetation density as I described it, equipment days, haul-off or mulch-in-place, access issues. Price only rows where I gave a rate. Mark the rest NEEDS RATE.
Check before you send: Every priced row uses a rate you wrote.
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Recurring clean quote
From the walkthrough notes [paste] and my rates [paste], write a recurring cleaning quote: frequency, rooms included, price per visit, what is extra. Keep it under 150 words.
Check before you send: Room count matches the walkthrough.
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Repair order explained for the customer
From this repair order [paste], write a plain-language explanation for the customer: what we found, what we recommend now, what can wait, price for each line as written on the RO. Do not add parts or labor.
Check before you send: Line prices match the RO.
The count
7 estimating and quote prompts here, across 7 trades. 3 of them tell the assistant to flag a gap or skip pricing instead of filling it. The rest price only from a price list, rate sheet or repair order you paste. None ask the assistant to supply a rate.
Method: counted from the prompt text behind the Toolbox (rows with task estimating or quotes; gap rule = prompt contains MISSING, NEEDS RATE, or “Do not price”).
Limits
This does not make your unit prices right. It keeps the machine from inventing them. If your price list is stale, the estimate is stale. Keep one dated price list and paste the current one every time.
Methods draw on published ideas from Dan Koe (focused one-person work) and Cal Newport (deep work, career capital). This page cites them as influences only. Neither author has reviewed or endorsed Today’s Worker.