Making a quote as a contractor: from first visit to signature

You're standing in a client's living room, with a tape measure and a scrap of paper. At home that evening you type it up, and a week later you hear whether it's going anywhere. It can be shorter: survey, calculate and get signed in the same visit.

Can I make a quote as a contractor during the first visit?

Yes. As a contractor you make the quote during the first visit when the survey and the quote sit in the same app. You dictate the measurements per room, the app calculates the m² and puts them into the quote with your prices. You show it to the client at the kitchen table.

The difference lies in the order. The old way you measure first, calculate later and send it even later. Every step is a moment when the client cools off or calls someone else.

In BorgAI it starts with Take on a job. You say "new job for De Vries, Kerkstraat 8" and a project is ready. The address goes through the BAG, so the build year and the floor area are there immediately.

How do I record a job with my phone?

You record a job with your phone by dictating or typing the measurements per room. Wall A is the wall you walk in through, then B, C and D. You place doors, windows and the finish on a wall, and the app calculates the floor, net walls, skirting and reveals itself.

For example, you say: "bathroom is three by two and a half, ceiling 2.40, door on A". Next to the chat a card fills in while you talk. You see at once what is still missing.

Prefer a visual? Take photos or a walk-around video of no more than sixty seconds. BorgAI suggests per room what it saw, with estimated measurements. Those measurements carry the label estimated until you save them yourself, and nothing enters the job without your click on Accept.

Every wall, floor and ceiling also gets a condition from 1 to 5. On the quote a poor condition becomes a line of its own, with a surcharge you set per job. That way you charge the extra sanding work and don't forget it.

How does a survey become a quote with my own prices?

A survey becomes a quote because the app multiplies the quantities from the survey by the prices in your company sketch. You set those prices once. Per line you get a quantity, a price and a margin you adjust with a slider, and your terms appear underneath automatically.

The company sketch is the list of what you do and what it costs: your hourly rate, your tasks and your times per m². When you sign up you choose your trade and get a list of indicative prices to start from. Then you adjust them to your own figures.

The VAT rate comes along from the build year. For work on homes separate rules apply; the Dutch tax authority explains which VAT rate applies to work on dwellings. The quote proposes the rate, you see it and change it if it should be different.

More about the steps from survey to quote is in making a quote as a contractor in the app.

How do I have the client sign on the spot?

The client signs on the spot on your phone or tablet. You open the quote, the client reads it on the screen and signs with a finger. The contract comes from the signed quote and is signed the same way. Digital signing is legally valid under art. 3:15a of the Dutch Civil Code.

If the client wants to sleep on it, he gets a link and signs at home. You receive a notification as soon as he agrees. You don't have to print, scan or email anything back.

You always send it yourself. The agent prepares the quote and the contract, but everything that touches a signature or money only goes out once you press the button.

What happens after the signature?

After the signature the agent prepares what comes next: a payment link for the deposit through your own bunq and the order list per wholesaler, with item numbers. Once the deposit is in, the job gets the go-ahead and proposes a start in your planning.

That way you only order material once the money is there. How that works you can read in Software for contractors: what should it do for your money?.

If extra work arises during the job, you make a variation order from a photo and one sentence, which the client signs on the spot. At the end the invoice follows from what has been signed: the quote, the work orders and the extra work.

You can try it for free with your next job. The trial account runs over five projects and has all the tools, including Take on a job. The packages after that are on the pricing page.