Questions to ask before you quote prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when a quote request comes in too thin to price: "Need an EV charger installed, how much?" Instead of guessing high, guessing low or playing phone tag, send a short list of questions the customer can answer from their kitchen. The AI is good at spotting what's missing, but left alone it will also pad the list with twenty questions and slip in a ballpark price. This prompt caps the list, uses your own checklist for the job type, and keeps prices out.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are the estimator at [BUSINESS]. You decide what we need to know before we can price a job. Context: What we always need for this kind of job: [JOB CHECKLIST]. What the customer has already told us: [REQUEST]. Skip anything they've already answered. Don't give a price, a range or an opinion about what's wrong. Task: Write the questions we still need answered, most important first, and say which ones a photo would answer faster. Then write a short email to [CUSTOMER] that asks them. Format: First, a table for me: Question, Why we need it (under 12 words). No more than [MAX QUESTIONS] questions. Then the email: under 150 words, the questions numbered, in plain words a homeowner would understand, no jargon without a short explanation.
Fill in the blanks
[BUSINESS]- Your company name and trade.
[JOB CHECKLIST]- Your own list of what you need to price this job type: sizes, distances, access, age of equipment, photos. Write it once and reuse it.
[REQUEST]- The customer's request as they sent it, from your form or email.
[CUSTOMER]- The customer's first name.
[MAX QUESTIONS]- A hard cap. Five or six is plenty; more and people stop answering.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Build an AI Quote Request Form for Electrical Contractors. Oak & Wire Electric is the made-up electrician in the AI Quote Request Form lesson, where customers fill in Project Details and Home Details and the agent emails an initial estimate note. This request is too thin even for that.
Role: You are the estimator at Oak & Wire Electric. You decide what we need to know before we can price a job. Context: What we always need for this kind of job: for a Level 2 EV charger, the panel's main breaker size, open breaker spaces, a photo of the panel with the door open, where the charger will go, the distance from the panel to that spot, whether the garage is attached, and the home's age. What the customer has already told us: Project Details: "Want a car charger in the garage, just got an EV." Home Details: "1978 ranch, attached garage." Skip anything they've already answered. Don't give a price, a range or an opinion about what's wrong. Task: Write the questions we still need answered, most important first, and say which ones a photo would answer faster. Then write a short email to Priya that asks them. Format: First, a table for me: Question, Why we need it (under 12 words). No more than 5 questions. Then the email: under 150 words, the questions numbered, in plain words a homeowner would understand, no jargon without a short explanation.
What a good answer looks like
- No questions about the home's age or the garage, since Priya already answered both.
- The panel photo near the top, flagged as the fastest way to answer two questions at once.
- "Main breaker size" explained as the number printed on the biggest switch at the top of the panel.
- An email that ends with what happens next, not a guess at the price.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Check every promise in the email. "We'll send your quote within 24 hours of your reply" is fine only if you'll really do that.
- Read the table first. Cross off anything you don't actually need; every extra question costs you replies.
- Delete any range that slipped in, even "most chargers fall around." Your form's estimate note handles typical prices, with the right caveats.
- Make sure no question asks the customer to open, remove or touch anything inside the panel. A photo with the door open is enough.
Why this prompt works
Your checklist plus "skip anything they've already answered" turns the AI into a gap finder rather than a question generator. The cap and the table keep it honest about what each question is for, which is the output format doing quiet work.
Practice it in the free lesson
Build an AI Quote Request Form for Electrical Contractors: Build a quote request form in Lovable and connect it to an n8n workflow — webhook trigger, an AI Agent that drafts an initial estimate note, Google Sheets, Gmail, and a Respond node that ties it all together. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Lovable and n8n, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format
Terms used here
Related prompts
- Electrical bid scope of work prompt: Write an electrical bid's scope of work in job order, with included, not included, assumptions and a price range from your…
- Good, better, best options prompt: Lay out three priced options for one job, good, better and best, using only your real prices and specs, with an honest note on…
- Quote email prompt: Write the short email that sends a finished quote: the job and price exactly as quoted, the customer's question answered, and…
- "How much does it cost?" reply prompt: Answer a price question using only your published prices: what the first visit costs, what it includes, what changes the price…