# Turn a phone or walk-in inquiry into a written quote draft

Paste your rough call notes and your own price list, and AI drafts a clean quote plus the questions you still need to ask, so you can send a quote the same day after you check every line.

- Category: Customers and sales
- Difficulty: Easy
- Setup: about 10 minutes
- Time saved: about 15 minutes a use (our estimate, not a measurement)
- Works with: Any AI chat, QuickBooks Online, Square Invoices
- Test status: Run once on made-up data on 21 Oct 2026 with Claude Opus 5.5. One run, not proof.
- Approval: Draft, not yet approved by the owner
- Version: 1
- Last checked: 2026-10-21
- Canonical URL: https://hoursaved.com/guides/phone-inquiry-to-quote-draft/

## What this does

Paste your call notes and your own price list. AI drafts a quote, lists what it could not price, and writes a short cover message. You check every line before sending.

## Before you start

- Any AI chat (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot).
- Your price list, quote terms and call notes, as plain text.
- Setup: about 10 minutes the first time (our estimate).
- Privacy: leave out the customer's name, phone number and street number.

This is not financial or legal advice. Check your quote terms with your accountant or lawyer.

## Steps

1. **Type** your call notes right away, including what the customer was unsure about.
2. **Paste** the prompt with your notes and price list filled in.
3. **Settle** the "Questions to confirm" with the customer.
4. **Check** every line and total against your price list. Fix anything marked UNCLEAR.
5. **Build** the real quote in your own tool. In QuickBooks Online: **+ Create**, **Estimate**, add customer and items, **Review and send**. In Square: **Invoices**, **Estimates**, **Create estimate** (Square says this needs an Invoices Plus or Premium plan).
6. **Send** it yourself.

## The prompt

```
You are helping me write a quote draft for my business. Use only the price list and notes I give you. Do not invent prices, services, discounts or dates. Do not send anything.

My price list and quote terms:
[paste your services, prices, fees and terms]

My notes from the customer's call or visit:
[paste your notes]

Today's date: [date]

Please give me:
1. A quote table: item, quantity, unit price, line total. Then a subtotal and any deposit my terms require.
2. If a quantity, size or fee is unclear, write UNCLEAR in that cell and show the total both ways if it changes the price.
3. "Assumptions": anything you assumed, one line each.
4. "Questions to confirm": what I must ask the customer before sending.
5. A short, friendly cover message (under 100 words) that does not promise a date or price I have not confirmed.
```

## Try it with made-up data

Harbor Lane Window Cleaning (fictional). Price list: exterior windows, one-story $180; exterior windows, two-story $260; interior windows, add $120; screens $4 each; gutter clearing up to 150 feet $210; travel fee beyond 15 miles $35. Terms: quote good for 30 days; 50% deposit on jobs over $500.

Call notes, March 4, 2030: "Homeowner on Ridgeway Ave. Two-story. Outside windows plus inside, first floor only. 'Around 20 screens maybe.' Gutters too, house about 40 ft long. Asked about week of March 18. Lives about 20 min away, not sure on miles. Wants it done before her open house."

## What the AI gave us

> | Item | Qty | Unit | Total |
> |---|---|---|---|
> | Exterior windows, two-story | 1 | $260 | $260 |
> | Interior windows (first floor only) | 1 | $120 | $120 (UNCLEAR: your list has one interior price, not a first-floor price) |
> | Screen cleaning | 20 (estimate) | $4 | $80 |
> | Gutter clearing, up to 150 ft | 1 | $210 | $210 |
> | Travel fee | UNCLEAR | $35 | UNCLEAR |
>
> Subtotal: $670 without travel fee, $705 with it. Deposit (job over $500): $335 or $352.50. Valid until April 3, 2030.
>
> Questions to confirm: exact screen count; total gutter length (40 ft long suggests about 80 ft front and back, under 150 ft, but sides unknown); distance in miles; whether a partial interior gets a lower price; the open house date.

(Cover message trimmed here.)

The math and the 30-day date were right, and it did not guess the travel fee. But it made a mistake you should not copy: it priced gutters at a firm $210 and put that into the subtotal and deposit, though the notes only give the house length. The screen count is a guess too. Treat the gutter line, subtotal and deposit as provisional until you confirm both. A person also had to set the first-floor interior price and confirm the miles.

## Check before you send

- [ ] Every price matches your current price list.
- [ ] Quantities match what the customer said.
- [ ] Every UNCLEAR item is settled or removed.
- [ ] The valid-until date and deposit follow your terms.
- [ ] The cover message promises no unchecked date.

## Don't paste

- Card or bank numbers.
- Gate codes, alarm codes or key locations.
- Full home addresses and phone numbers.
- Health details ("he can't climb stairs"). Permission to write it down is not permission to share it with an AI. Describe the job need instead: "work must be done from outside".

## When not to use this

- Jobs that need a site visit or measurement first.
- Licensed work where a quote has legal weight (electrical, structural). Have your contract reviewed.
- An out-of-date price list.
- Don't assume a quote email is exempt from marketing-email rules, even if the customer asked for it. The FTC judges each email by its main purpose, and "transactional" covers only narrow cases, such as a deal the customer already agreed to. A quote that mainly sells your service can count as marketing, so when in doubt, follow CAN-SPAM (honest subject line, postal address, a way to opt out).

## Questions owners ask

**Can AI set my prices for me?**
No. This guide only applies prices you already chose, and you check its math.

**Is it safe to paste customer notes into ChatGPT or Claude?**
Paste only the job details, with names, numbers and addresses taken out. Privacy settings don't make confidential details safe to paste, and removing a name doesn't hide sensitive facts, so leave those out too.

## Sources

- [QuickBooks Help - Create and send estimates](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/estimate-costs/set-up-and-use-estimates/00/186122)
- [Square Support Center - Create and send invoice estimates](https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/7215)
- [FTC - CAN-SPAM Act, A Compliance Guide for Business](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business)

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From HourSaved (https://hoursaved.com/), a brand of Momentum Elevation LLC. Web page: https://hoursaved.com/guides/phone-inquiry-to-quote-draft/