Yes, AI can write a domestic electrician quote you can send, but only the words: scope lines, assumptions, exclusions, validity and a cover email. You supply every price, and you check each one before it goes out. Give it a clear job description and your own figures, then review the draft as if a stranger had written it.
Blank templates are everywhere, and they share one weakness: they leave the thinking to you. A good domestic quote is mostly about what it says is included, what it assumes and what it leaves out, because that is where disputes start. That is the part AI is good at drafting quickly, and the part the filled-in example below puts on the page.
What a domestic quote has to say
A homeowner reads a quote differently from a contractor. They want to know what they get, what they pay, when, and what could change. Eight blocks cover it.
- Job summary: one or two sentences in plain English.
- Scope lines: numbered items, each one specific enough to be checked afterwards.
- Price: labour, materials and any allowances, with tax shown the way you are required to show it.
- Assumptions: what you have taken to be true to arrive at the price.
- Exclusions: what is not included.
- Programme and access: likely duration, power-off periods, access needs.
- Terms: payment, deposit, variations, validity.
- Next step: how to accept.
A model can draft blocks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 well from your notes. Blocks 3 and 7 are yours: they carry the money and the legal terms. Keep your own standard terms and paste them in verbatim, and have them checked once by a qualified adviser rather than letting an assistant rewrite them for every job.
A filled-in example: a consumer unit replacement
Take an illustrative job. A homeowner has an old fuse board in a hallway cupboard, and wants a new consumer unit fitted in a three-bedroom house. You visited, noted the details and photographed the board. All prices below are made up for the example. Use your own.
Your site notes (the input)
"Old rewirable fuse board, 6 ways, hall cupboard. Mostly twin and earth, some old rubber cable seen at board, not tested. Gas and water bonding not visible. Customer wants new board with RCD protection, 10 way. Cupboard shelf in the way. Power off about 4 hours. Customer has a freezer, wants to know about timing. Parking fine."
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Buy nowThe prompt
You are helping a domestic electrician write a quote. I give you site notes and my prices; you write the wording. Do not invent prices, regulations or technical claims. If anything is missing, put it in square brackets as a question for me.
Write: (1) a two-sentence job summary in plain English, (2) numbered scope lines, (3) a list of assumptions, (4) a list of exclusions specific to this job, (5) programme and access notes. Do not include prices or terms; I will add them. Keep a friendly, professional tone and avoid jargon.
Site notes: [paste notes]
Standard exclusions I always use: [paste your list]A fair draft (illustrative output)
Summary: "We will replace the existing fuse board in your hallway cupboard with a new 10-way consumer unit with RCD protection, then test the circuits and give you the paperwork. The power will be off for around four hours."
Scope: 1. Isolate the supply and remove the existing fuse board. 2. Supply and fit a new 10-way consumer unit with RCD protection to the circuits. 3. Reconnect the existing circuits, using suitable connections where the cable is too short. 4. Test each circuit and the installation. 5. Provide the electrical installation certificate on completion. 6. [Q: Is the shelf to be removed by you or by the customer?]
Assumptions: existing cables are in a condition suitable to be reconnected; main protective bonding is present or can be provided as part of the price [Q: confirm]; supplier's isolation is not needed; parking is available on site.
Exclusions: making good plaster and decoration; replacing or rerouting existing cables found in poor condition, quoted separately after testing; work to the meter or the supplier's equipment; repairs to the cupboard or shelf unless stated.
What you fix before sending
Read the draft like a customer. First, the bracketed questions: answer each. Second, "Supply and fit a new 10-way consumer unit with RCD protection": is that really the specification you intend? Say exactly what you mean, such as the make and the type of protection, because "RCD protection" can mean different things. Third, the line about rubber cable: you saw it but did not test it. The honest wording is a clear assumption plus an exclusion, which the draft has. Fourth, the assumption that "supplier's isolation is not needed" appears nowhere in your notes. The draft made it up, and it is exactly the kind of line that reads as reasonable and slips through. Whether you can isolate on site or need the supplier to remove the main fuse is a decision from your visit; if there is no isolator, say so and add the arrangement to the programme. Finally, check the electrical installation certificate line against your scheme's practice.
The price block (you write it)
Illustrative figures only. Labour: 6 hours at your rate. Materials: consumer unit and devices, sundries, as costed from your supplier. Allowance: none. Subtotal, tax if applicable, total. A deposit if you take one, balance on completion. The assistant should never be the source of any number here. If you want it to help, ask it to format your figures into a neat table, then compare every figure with your own sheet.
Exclusions that stop arguments
Exclusions are where an assistant helps most, because it will list ten sensible ones you did not think of, and you pick the right five. Compare these before-and-after versions.
| Vague | Specific |
|---|---|
| "Making good not included." | "Making good of plaster, paint and wallpaper after cable chasing is not included. We will leave chases filled flush where noted in the scope." |
| "Additional work extra." | "If testing shows existing circuits need repair or alteration, we will tell you and quote the work separately before starting it." |
| "Subject to survey." | "This price is based on a visual survey. Hidden conditions in walls, floors or the loft may change the work. We will stop and discuss before continuing." |
| "Access required." | "We need clear access to the consumer unit and any areas being worked on. Moving furniture and clearing the cupboard is the customer's job unless agreed." |
The pattern: say what, say when you will tell the customer, and say who does the next step. Customers rarely mind exclusions. What upsets them is finding out about one after the work is done.
Allowances, fault-finding and other drafts that need care
A sockets and lighting quote with an allowance
Take an illustrative job: four new double sockets in a kitchen extension, six downlights, and one outdoor socket. The tricky part is the fittings. Customers choose their own lights and often change their minds. The scope should say "Allowance of [amount] per downlight for supply of the fitting. Any difference is added or deducted at cost." Ask the assistant to draft allowance wording and then compare with your own policy. See setting fitting allowances and provisional sums for how to price them. An assistant should never choose the allowance figure: it comes from your supplier prices and the customer's taste.
A fault-finding quote that cannot be fixed-price
When a customer says "half the sockets are dead", you cannot fix a price. A good quote offers a first-visit fee for diagnosis and says what happens next. A draft might read: "We will attend, find the fault, and tell you what is needed and what it will cost before we repair anything. The first visit is charged at [your rate] with a minimum of [your minimum]. Repairs are quoted separately." Notice that it commits you to nothing beyond diagnosis. The assistant can write the wording. You decide the rate and the minimum.
The cover email
A short cover email makes the quote feel personal. Ask the assistant for one using the customer's first name and one thing they mentioned. Illustrative output: "Hi [first name], thanks for showing me the hallway cupboard today. I have attached the quote for the new consumer unit. The main points are on page one: the work takes about a day, the power is off for around four hours, and the price is valid until [date]. If you have a freezer, we can plan the timing around it. Let me know if you would like to go ahead, or if any part is unclear. Kind regards, [your name]." You edit it, because it should sound like you, and check that the attachment, the date and the figures all match.
A realistic mistake: the price that came from nowhere
Here is an illustrative case. An electrician asked an assistant to "write a quote for a 10-way consumer unit". The assistant added a price line with a figure that looked plausible. It was sent unchecked and was well under the electrician's real cost. The fix is rule one in the prompt: never ask for prices, and have the assistant leave a placeholder where a price goes. If a number appears on a draft that you did not give, delete it and find out why the assistant wrote it. Treat that as a sign the prompt is not tight enough.
A one-line check on the sums
Whatever the tool, recompute the total on a calculator before sending. For example, 6 hours at $65 is $390, materials at $410, a deposit of 30 percent of the $800 total is $240, leaving $560 on completion. If the document says anything else, fix it. Models are unreliable at multi-step sums, see why AI is bad at maths.
Validity, deposits and variations
Three lines of terms matter more than a page of small print. Validity: "This quote is valid until [date]. After that, prices may change with material costs." Deposit: state the amount or percentage, when it is due and what it covers. Variations: "Any change to the work will be agreed in writing, with the price, before it starts." Write these once in your own words and reuse them. Do not ask an assistant to improvise terms for each job, because the wording of terms has legal effect and a consistent version is easier to review. Have a qualified adviser check your standard terms once, and then lock them.
Offering options without confusing the customer
Customers often want a choice, and a quote with two clear options is easier to decide on than one with a long list of extras. Take an illustrative job to add a circuit for a new oven and hob. Option A is the minimum: a new circuit from the consumer unit, the cable run through the loft and wall, a cooker outlet, testing and a certificate. Option B adds a second dedicated circuit for a future outdoor socket, run alongside the first, so the wall is only opened once.
Ask the assistant to lay the two options side by side in a table with identical scope lines, and mark the differences in bold. Then you add the prices. The structure makes the choice obvious: the customer sees what the extra money buys. The mistake to avoid is an "optional extras" list buried at the bottom, because customers skim it and then ask for the extras after the work has begun, at the worst moment for pricing.
A prompt for the side-by-side layout
Here are two versions of a domestic electrical job: A (minimum) and B (minimum plus a second circuit). Write the scope for each as numbered lines using identical wording wherever the work is the same, so the differences are easy to see. Then produce a three-column table: item, included in A, included in B. Do not add prices. If any item is unclear, put a question in square brackets.A usable result lists perhaps eight shared lines and two extra lines under B. You check that nothing shared has been silently changed in B, which is a common slip when an assistant rewrites text instead of copying it.
Writing the assumptions section properly
Assumptions are different from exclusions. An exclusion says "we will not do this". An assumption says "we have priced on the basis that this is true", and if it is not, the price may change. Good assumptions are checkable and short.
- "The existing circuits are in sound condition and can be reconnected. If testing shows otherwise, we will tell you and quote any repair separately."
- "There is a clear route for the new cable through the loft. If the route is blocked, the price may change."
- "The work can be done during normal working hours with the power off for no more than four hours."
- "The customer will provide access to the property on the agreed day."
Ask the assistant to read your site notes and propose assumptions by looking for anything you saw but could not confirm. In the consumer unit example, the notes mention rubber cable seen at the board that was not tested, which becomes the first assumption. An assistant is good at this: it turns scattered notes into explicit statements. You then delete any that you cannot stand behind and add any it missed.
Making the quote easy to accept
A quote that is hard to accept stays unaccepted. Put the next step in one clear sentence on the first page: "To go ahead, reply to this email with the word Yes and your preferred date, and I will confirm the booking." Keep the quote to two pages for typical domestic work. Put the price and key dates on page one, the detail on page two and your terms at the end. If you quote in software, use the template feature to keep the layout the same every time, and let the assistant draft only the text blocks.
Finally, keep the draft and the sent version. If a customer later says "you never said that", the dated copy settles it. A few minutes of tidy filing is the cheapest insurance in the business.
A checklist before you press send
- Every price is mine, and the sums were rechecked on a calculator.
- The scope lines match what I saw on site and what the customer asked for.
- Anything I did not test is an assumption or an exclusion, not a promise.
- Exclusions are specific to this job, and say who does the next step.
- Validity date, deposit and variations wording are on the quote.
- No technical claim is in the draft that I would not make myself, and every regulation reference has been checked by me.
- Name, address and contact details are right, added by me and not pasted into a chat tool.
- Attachment is the latest version, and the cover email matches it.
Following up when the quote goes quiet
Most quotes are not accepted or rejected. They just go quiet. A short follow-up three or four days later is polite and effective. An assistant can draft it: "Hi [first name], just checking you received the quote for the consumer unit. Happy to answer any questions, or adjust the date if the timing is awkward." Send it from your own account and stop after two nudges. The follow-up playbook for silent quotes covers timing and wording in more depth, and the same ideas work for electrical jobs.
Quoting remedial work after an inspection
An inspection report often leads to a quote for remedial work. That is where assumptions matter most, because the report lists defects and not the price to fix them. Quote each observation as a separate line, so the customer can see what each costs, and say clearly which items were seen but not opened up. For the inspection side, see what AI can and cannot draft in an inspection report.
Setting up a template you can reuse
Build the quote once in your word processor or quote software, with fixed headings and your standard terms in place. For each new job, give the assistant the notes and the prompt above, paste the scope, assumptions and exclusions into the template, add your price block, and run the checklist. Keep a folder of past quotes with a note of what the job actually cost. After a few months you can ask the assistant to compare quoted and actual hours across similar jobs, which is the best way to improve your prices. If you would like a template and drafting routine built around your own jobs and price list, that is the kind of thing an AI implementation consultation can cover. The method above works without it, as long as every price remains yours.
Quote questions from domestic electricians
Should AI set the prices on my quote?
No. Give it your own price list, labour rate and materials costs, and ask it to arrange them. A model has no idea what your suppliers charge this month or how long a job takes in your hands, and a confident wrong price is worse than a blank. You check every figure before the quote goes out.
How long should a domestic quote stay valid?
There is no fixed rule. Pick a period, such as 14 or 30 days, that suits your supplier terms and diary, shorter when material prices move quickly, write the date it expires on the quote, and say prices may change after that. Do not leave validity unstated.
What exclusions should every domestic quote carry?
Making good and decorating, hidden or unforeseen defects, work to other trades' items, access problems, and any remedial work the testing turns up. List what applies to the job in front of you, and agree extra work in writing before you do it.
Is it fine to send customer details into a chat assistant?
Keep it to the job description. Leave out names, addresses, phone numbers and access details, and add them in your own quote software afterwards. Business plans from the main vendors do not train on your content by default, but you gain nothing by pasting personal details.
Further reads
- 10 ChatGPT Prompts for Electricians: Quotes, Emails and T&Cs — Ten ready prompts for quotes, emails and terms.
- How to Price Electrical Jobs: Build a Guide From Your Past Jobs With AI — Build the price list the assistant must never invent.
- How Electricians Use AI to Count Fittings From Drawings — Count points from drawings before you price them.
- Tradify for Electricians: Quotes, Jobs and AI SmartTools Set-Up — Quote inside job-management software instead of Word.
- AI Receptionist for Electricians: Call-Outs vs Quote Requests — Separate call-outs from quote requests when the phone rings.
- Can AI Write Your Electrician Terms and Conditions? — Write the standard terms you paste into every quote.
- AI Electrical Quoting Software: Build Three-Option Upgrade Packages — Turn one job into three priced upgrade options.
- AI Software for Electricians: Monthly Cost in the UK and the US — UK and US monthly prices for electricians' job apps, AI features, receptionist add-ons and ChatGPT, added up for a solo, three-person and five-person firm.
- AI App for Electricians: Do You Need One or Is ChatGPT Enough? — A decision rule by quotes, supplier bills and team size, with Tradify SmartRead for Bills, Jobber's AI and ChatGPT priced and compared.
- Data Cabling Quote: Count Drops, Cable Runs and Test Lines With AI — A contractor-side data cabling quote for a 12-drop office: drop schedule, cable metres, test and label lines, exclusions and a count check done with AI.
- EICR Report Cover Note Template: Plain English With AI — A cover note template for landlords, plus a prompt that explains an EICR in plain English without re-coding or softening a single finding.
- EV Charger Site Survey Checklist: Consumer Unit, Cable Run and AI Summary — A grouped checklist for the EV charger survey, with why each item matters and how to verify it, plus a prompt that turns photos and notes into two summaries.
- Electrical Change Orders Written With AI: Ask for Extra Work Clearly — How to write an electrical change order with price, time impact and a clear approve-or-decline line, and how AI drafts it from rough site notes.
- Electrical Contractor Proposals: Scope and Exclusions With AI — Draft an electrical contractor proposal with AI: scope, clarifications, exclusions and payment terms, plus a check that AI hasn't changed your figures.
- Electrical Permit Application: Track Permits and Inspection Dates With AI — A contractor's permit tracker: one job record for applications, a dated sheet for inspections, and AI for scope summaries, chase lists and correction notices.
- Garage Door Quote Template: Itemised Spring and Opener Wording With AI — A worked garage door repair quote: spring pair or single, safety checks, opener options and a clear call-out fee, drafted from technician notes with AI.
- How to Use AI as an Electrical Contractor: Admin Yes, Code Answers No — A green, amber and red table for electrical contractors: which jobs AI can draft, which need a qualified person's edit, and which it must never answer.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: common domestic quoting practice; ChatGPT and Claude plan pages. All prices are illustrative and must be replaced with your own.