How to quote a job in 30 seconds (voice-first workflow for AU tradies)

Most AU tradies burn 30–45 minutes per quote. Not because the job is hard to price — you already know what it's worth — but because typing up line items in a laptop at 10pm is slow, fiddly, and eats into the evening you wanted to spend with the family. Voice-first quoting kills that tax. Here's the exact workflow that produces a sent quote in under 60 seconds, and the half-dozen things first-time users get wrong.

The 30-second script

Talking to the app works best when you say four things, in any order: who the customer is, where the job is, what you're doing, and what it costs. Everything else is optional and auto-inferred.

"Quote for Sarah on 0412 345 678 at 14 Crown Street Wollongong. Hot water system replacement — Rheem 250L electric — nine hundred for the unit, four hundred labour, one-fifty callout."

That's 11 seconds of dictation. Whisper transcribes. GPT-4o extracts: customer name, mobile, address, job description, three line items, adds 10% GST, drafts an SMS + email + WhatsApp message in your brand voice. Total elapsed: about 4 seconds after you stop talking.

What to say — and what to skip

• Say the customer's first name and mobile number — "Sarah on 0412…". The AI formats it correctly.
• Say the street address in full. Suburb and postcode are helpful; state is auto-inferred from postcode.
• Say the job. Use the words you'd use to a mate — "hot water swap", "split system in the living room", "bathroom retile 8 square metres".
• Say the prices like money. "Nine hundred for the unit" is fine. "One-fifty callout" is fine. You don't need to say "dollars".
• Don't say GST, ABN, or quote number — those are auto-filled.
• Don't spell the customer's name unless it's unusual. The AI handles common AU names well.

The five mistakes first-timers make

1. Overthinking the phrasing. Speak like you would to your apprentice, not like you're dictating a contract.
2. Stopping mid-sentence to check the screen. Let the full thought out, then review. The AI is better at parsing a complete idea than a fragment.
3. Forgetting to say who the customer is. Without a name, the draft has a blank customer field — 5-second fix but it happens.
4. Mumbling the price. This is the one thing the AI can't guess. Say prices clearly.
5. Sending without a glance. 99% of drafts are right, but the 1% where you said "Mike" and the AI heard "Bike" is worth a 5-second read before you hit Send.

What happens after Send

Customer gets an SMS and email with a short link. They tap it on their phone, see the quote on a mobile-optimised page, tap Accept, and sign with their name or finger. You get a push notification. If they don't open it within a couple of days, an automatic follow-up nudge goes out in your voice — so you don't have to chase.