An AI assistant can draft a quote quickly. It can also quietly get the price, the scope or the terms wrong. Run these five checks before you hit send.
Who this checklist is for
This is for small business owners who use an AI chat assistant to draft quotes and want to catch mistakes before the customer sees them. You might be a builder in Hamilton, a caterer in Napier or a photographer in Nelson. You know your work well. You just want the writing done faster.
The AI only works from what you tell it, and it can get things wrong. So treat its draft as a first draft, and keep a person (you) in charge of anything that goes to a customer.
The checklist
1. Did you give AI the full job details?
What to check: scope, location, materials, timeline and any special requests.
How to check: re-read exactly what you pasted or typed into the AI. Pretend you're seeing it for the first time. Could someone price the job from that alone?
What good looks like: the AI had enough to price accurately. If you left out that the site is up a long driveway outside Whangarei, or that the customer wants it done before a family event, the quote won't reflect it.
2. Is the price right?
What to check: your labour rate, materials costs and any add-ons.
How to check: open two or three recent, similar quotes you've sent and compare. Check each line, not just the total. AI often rounds numbers, makes up a rate if you didn't give one, or adds items you don't offer.
What good looks like: the price sits within your normal range for that kind of job. Illustrative example: if a Tauranga painter's usual interior job lands between NZ$3,000 and NZ$4,000 and the draft says NZ$1,900, something has been missed.
3. Does the scope match what the customer asked for?
What to check: what's included, what's not, and any assumptions the AI made.
How to check: put the customer's original message next to the quote and read them line by line. Tick off each request. Then look for anything in the quote they didn't ask for, such as extra work, a different material or a changed timeframe.
What good looks like: no surprises. Every request is covered, and anything you've left out is clearly stated as not included.
4. Are the terms clear?
What to check: payment terms, timeline, cancellation, and any warranty or guarantee you offer.
How to check: compare the draft to your standard terms. AI tends to invent friendly-sounding terms, like a deposit percentage or a workmanship promise, that you never agreed to. Delete anything that isn't yours.
What good looks like: the customer knows when to pay, how long the quote is valid, and what happens if plans change. Nothing in it commits you to something you wouldn't do.
5. Does the tone sound like your business?
What to check: language, formality and jargon.
How to check: read it aloud. If you stumble, or you'd never say a phrase to a customer's face, change it. Watch for stiff openers and trade jargon your customer won't know.
What good looks like: it sounds like you, not a template. A Dunedin plumber's quote should read like a Dunedin plumber wrote it.
Scoring: what your answers mean
Give yourself one tick for each item you can honestly say yes to.
- Five ticks: send it.
- Three or four ticks (one or two items need work): fix those items by hand, then run the checklist again on the changed parts. Edits can introduce new errors, so don't skip the re-check.
- Two ticks or fewer (three or more items need work): don't patch it. Go back to the AI and ask for a redraft with better instructions. Give it the full job details, your actual rates, your standard terms and a sample of a past quote you liked. Then start the checklist again.
If you're getting three or more misses every time, the problem is usually the instructions, not the AI. Save a short template of your rates and terms so you can paste it in with each job.
Fix the worst one first
If more than one item needs work, don't start with whichever is easiest. Start with the one that costs you the most if it goes out wrong.
- Price wrong? Fix that before anything else. A wrong price either loses you the job or loses you money on it. Tone can wait.
- Scope unclear? That's your next priority. Vague scope is how a simple job turns into an argument about what was included.
- Terms off? Fix these third. They protect you when something changes.
- Job details missing? If this is the root cause, go back to the start and redraft rather than fixing the symptoms one by one.
- Tone last. It matters, but a friendly quote with the wrong number is still a wrong quote.
Once the price and scope are right, the rest is quick polishing.
Try the checklist on your next quote. If you'd like to explore AI Content Writing, or just have a question, get in touch through our contact page.
