Turn site-visit notes into a scope and quote email

The job

You talked your walk-through notes into your phone. This 3-prompt chain turns them into a scope of work, a "not included" list and a short quote email. You set the prices, not the AI.

Who it's for

• Remodelers, handymen, plumbers and painters who quote from a walk-through.
• Small jobs with a short price list.

The prompt

Run all three in the same chat, in order. Start a new chat for each job.

Prompt 1: summary and gaps

I'm a contractor. Below is my voice memo from a site visit, transcribed. Do two things:
1) Write a short internal summary of the work, room by room.
2) List every detail that's missing or unclear that I need to decide or ask the customer before I quote.
Do not add any work I didn't mention. Do not give prices. Do not state building code or permit requirements as fact; if something might need a permit or code check, list it as a question for me.

Memo:
[PASTE MEMO]

Prompt 2: scope and exclusions

Now write the customer-facing scope of work: a numbered list of included work in plain English, then an "Not included" list, then "Questions before we start" for anything still unclear. Only include work from my memo. Keep it under 250 words.

Prompt 3: prices and cover email

Here are my prices. Put each one on the matching scope line, add a total, and write a short cover email (under 150 words) to send with it. Use my prices exactly. Do not add any prices, discounts, deposits, payment terms, warranties, or dates that I haven't given you.

Prices:
[PASTE OWNER PRICES]

Paste your notes where it says [PASTE MEMO], and your own line prices where it says [PASTE OWNER PRICES]. Keep the step 1 gap list. You'll need it later.

Worked example

Input (fake)

Memo:
living room and main bedroom at the 4th street house denton. walls only no ceilings. couple nail holes, one bigger patch behind the door knob in bedroom. colors she has, sherwin williams, she'll text me. trim stays. furniture, uh, they said they'd move stuff, not sure about the big dresser

Prices:
living room walls $850; bedroom walls $650; drywall patch $95.

The memo leaves things out on purpose: who moves the furniture (and the big dresser), the paint sheen and number of coats, and who buys the paint.

Output

Gemini · "3.6 Flash" · not shown (Upgrade button visible) · tested 2026-10-28 · run 2, memo C (paint job).

Steps 1 and 2 are excerpted; [...] marks each cut. Step 3 is in full.

Response 1 (summary and gaps), excerpt

[...]

Missing Details & Items to Confirm Before Quoting
[...]

Paint Colors & Sheen: Which specific Sherwin-Williams colors and paint sheens (e.g., eggshell, satin, flat) go in which room?

[...]

Furniture Moving: Who is moving the heavy main bedroom dresser, and will it stay in the room (moved to the center) or be moved out entirely?

[...]

Response 2 (scope and exclusions), excerpt

[...]

Not Included

[...]

Moving heavy furniture (such as the main bedroom dresser)

[...]

Response 3 (prices and cover email)

Subject: Estimate for Painting – 4th Street

Hi,

Thank you for the opportunity to work on your home! Attached is the estimate for the wall painting and wall repair at your 4th Street property in Denton.

Please review the scope of work below. If you have any questions or when you are ready to move forward, let me know.

Best regards,

[Your Name]

[Your Company Name]

Scope of Work & Pricing

Living Room Wall Painting: Prep and paint the living room walls — $850

Main Bedroom Wall Painting: Prep and paint the main bedroom walls — $650

Wall Repairs (Main Bedroom): Patch minor nail holes and repair the wall damage behind the bedroom door handle prior to painting — $95

Total: $1,595

Not Included

Ceiling painting

Trim, baseboard, door, or window casing painting

Moving heavy furniture (such as the main bedroom dresser)

Paint materials (pending exact product/color details)

Questions Before We Start

Paint Colors & Finish: Could you confirm the specific Sherwin-Williams paint colors and sheens (e.g., eggshell, satin) for each room?

Heavy Furniture: Will the main bedroom dresser be moved out of the room prior to start, or pushed to the center with space to work around it?

Paint Supply: Would you prefer to purchase and supply the paint directly, or should we supply it?

This clean pass still needs your checks. The email says "Attached" with nothing attached, and it ends with "[Your Name]" and "[Your Company Name]" placeholder lines.

Tool scores

Six chains per tool: 3 fake jobs, 2 runs each. Runs that didn't pass were partial or failed.

ChatGPT doesn't show which model answers; tested on the High setting.

The main finding: every tool got the prices and math right. On every tool, gaps raised in step 1 (waterproofing, haul-off, the soft drywall) often vanished from the customer's copy. ChatGPT and Gemini sometimes put unagreed add-ons into the total.

How we tested

• Date: 2026-10-28, about 10:05 to 11:44 AM CT.
• Route and runs: each tool's website, signed in, a new chat for every chain; 6 chains per tool.
• Tools, model labels and plans (as the apps showed them):
  • Claude: "Fable 5.1 High", mode "Auto", plan Max.
  • Copilot: "Auto", plan Personal.
  • ChatGPT: Thinking effort: High. No plan label shown. ChatGPT doesn't show which model answers; tested on the High setting.
  • Gemini: "3.6 Flash". Plan not shown (Upgrade button visible).

A pass means usable as-is or after one small edit.

• Pass criteria. Each chain was scored on six criteria. A small miss an owner can fix in one pass (like pasting back a dropped gap) counted as "with small edit"; bigger misses made it partial or fail.
• Criteria (S1-S6): every memo item in the scope; no added work; a "Not included" list; every planted gap left as a question or option; prices and total exact; email 150 words or less with no invented terms.
• Fake data only. All test data was made up. No real customers, jobs or prices were used.