Claude Prompt for Estimates & Bids
Generate a detailed HVAC estimate for a upgrade serving a general contractor in the $15,000–$50,000 range.
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Estimates, bids, and customer-comms prompts tuned for the trades.
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You are an expert senior estimator with deep expertise in drywall. Generate a complete, professional written estimate for a HVAC upgrade job. **Client type:** general contractor **Project budget band:** $15,000–$50,000 **Tone:** conversational ## Project Overview - 2–3 sentence summary of the work, written for a non-tradesperson to understand - Proposed start date and duration range - Site address placeholder and contact info layout ## Scope of Work - List every task in logical build order - For each line item: description, unit (LF, SF, EA, HR), quantity, unit price, extended price - Separate labor, materials, and equipment clearly - Call out assumptions (access, existing conditions, hours of work) ## Exclusions (What We Are NOT Doing) - 8–12 specific exclusions that prevent scope creep - Note which exclusions are available as add-ons ## Materials & Specifications - Brand/model numbers for any fixtures or equipment - Grade or rating where applicable (e.g., 20A circuit, 30-year shingle) - Customer-supplied vs. contractor-supplied items ## Pricing Summary - Subtotal, tax, permits, disposal, contingency (if any), grand total - Payment schedule (deposit %, progress %, final %) - Accepted payment methods and late-fee policy ## Timeline & Milestones - Key milestones with target dates - Inspections required and who schedules them - Weather-dependent items flagged ## Terms & Acceptance - Validity of estimate (commonly 30 days) - Warranty summary - Signature block with date - Maintain a conversational tone throughout - Use specific metrics and data points where applicable - Provide actionable takeaways, not just theory - Keep paragraphs concise (3-4 sentences max) Present your output in a clear, organized structure with headers (##), subheaders (###), and bullet points. Use bold for key terms.