How to Start and Grow Boring Businesses Using AI Agents

1. List what you can deliver today. Write down your skills, equipment, transport and available hours, and the work that needs another qualified person. Then write your exclusions — for painting, things like hazardous-material disturbance, specialist coatings or heights beyond your access equipment.
2. Pick one buyer and one buying situation. A homeowner refreshing a room, a property manager readying a vacant suite and a general contractor buying a painting package all buy differently. For a first job, favour a reachable decision-maker, a manageable site and a short approval process.
3. Draw your service area by travel time and cost, not city limits. A distant job must pay for the extra travel and still fit your schedule.
4. Have five short conversations through introductions, local networks or business enquiry routes. Try: I’m starting a painting business in this area and learning how people choose contractors. How do you handle small repaints, what do you need in a quote, and what makes a contractor difficult to work with? Ask about the last real purchase, who approved it and what went wrong. Write down their exact words.
5. Write a one-line offer with a specific outcome. For example: We repaint vacant small offices in Regina, with a written preparation scope and a joint handover inspection. Price and dates come after assessment. Test the offer in your next conversation before buying any contact list.

Done when You have a one-page offer (buyer, buying trigger, area, included work, exclusions, capacity limit), your own interview notes, and a named person and date for the next conversation or site visit.

1. Check what applies to your work. In Canada, start with the federal starting-a-business and permits resources [S1, S2], then your province and municipality. In the US, start with the SBA’s launch and licensing guides [S8, S9], then your state, county and city. Look for registration, business licences and trade requirements. A home-based service may have different rules from a storefront.
2. Choose your structure with an accountant or lawyer using real facts: who owns the business, who does the work, likely contract size, borrowing needs and personal exposure.
3. Create a master facts sheet — legal name, trading name, address, service area, signatory, contact details and registration numbers — with a source and checked date for each. Use it for every quote, insurance form and application so the same identity appears everywhere.
4. Open business banking and a simple bookkeeping routine. Capture receipts when you spend, tag each to a job or overhead, reconcile regularly and record owner contributions and withdrawals separately.
5. Get your sales-tax position in writing. In Canada, CRA treats exceeding the $30,000 small-supplier threshold in a single calendar quarter differently from exceeding it over four consecutive quarters, and associated businesses can count [S3]; provincial sales tax, such as Saskatchewan PST, needs its own review [S4]. In the US, there’s no federal sales tax: each state (and sometimes the city or county) sets its own rules, and states differ a lot on whether cleaning, landscaping or repair services are taxable. Check with your state revenue department, and get an EIN from the IRS if you’ll hire staff or your bank asks for one [S10, S11]. Either way, keep taxes out of revenue in your estimates and invoices.

Done when Legal identity, signing authority, banking and bookkeeping are in place; required permits are resolved; your first quote can show the correct tax treatment; and an obligations calendar lists filings and renewals with an owner for each.

Prairie Line is based in Saskatchewan. Elsewhere in Canada, swap in your province’s checks; in the US, your state’s. Outside both countries, build your own legal and tax foundation instead of copying this example.

1. Ask the next buyer what they need. Before we price or start this work, which insurance, safety and supplier documents do you require? Build a matrix: requirement, issuer, document held, scope covered, expiry, next action. A small office customer and a large contractor ask for very different things.
2. Brief an insurance broker on your actual work — heights, occupied buildings, vehicles, equipment, employees and subcontractors — and ask them to explain exclusions in plain language. Don’t call the business insured until the evidence exists.
3. Check workers’ compensation where you work. It’s run by each province in Canada and each state in the US [S12]. In Saskatchewan, for example, use WCB’s clearance process when paying contractors; a contractor’s account number alone doesn’t prove clearance [S5]. Wherever you are, confirm a contractor’s coverage with the board or their insurer, and build the check into onboarding and payment.
4. Write a site-safety plan for the work. For painting: access, ladders or platforms, ventilation, product safety sheets, occupants, protection, emergency contacts and suspect surfaces. Get a qualified assessment before disturbing suspect materials. Name a site lead and a stop-work route, and have the crew explain the plan back before starting.
5. Build proof honestly. Describe the owner’s earlier experience as such, not as business history. Get permission before using references or photos. Keep banking details separate and confirm any payment-detail change through a trusted contact.

Done when Every requirement for the next job has current evidence or a dated action. Names, activities and dates match across your certificates, capability sheet and public claims. Large-contractor requirements stay off the first-job critical path unless that contractor is your buyer.

1. Estimate from measured work. Break the scope into protection, preparation, repairs, coating, return visits, cleanup and inspection. Multiply realistic hours by a fully loaded labour cost, and include owner labour at what it would cost to replace you.
2. Add every direct cost — materials, consumables, equipment hire, disposal, subcontractors and job travel. Keep overhead (insurance, admin, sales time) in a separate monthly budget: gross profit has to cover it before you make any operating profit.
3. Use the margin formula, not a markup. Price = direct cost ÷ (1 − target gross margin). The table below shows why the difference matters.
4. Stress-test before you approve. If PL-001 needs six more hours at $40, direct cost rises to $2,040 and, at the same $3,000 price, margin falls from 40% to 32%. Resolve what you can inspect at the walkthrough and write scope-dependent changes into the proposal.
5. Build a 13-week cash forecast with opening cash, collections by expected date, payroll, materials, subcontractors, taxes, overhead and closing cash — plus a late-payment scenario. With $1,200 in the bank and $1,800 of costs due before the customer pays, you have a $600 gap to solve before accepting the job.

Teaching numbers only — not recommended painting rates. Owner labour at replacement cost belongs in profitability; only real payments belong in the cash forecast.

Done when Someone else can reproduce your quantities, hours, costs and margin. You know the cash needed before payment and your limit on discounts. After each job, you update the assumption that caused the biggest variance.

1. Register the domain in an account the business controls. Record the registrar, renewal date, billing owner and recovery contact. Use unique passwords and multi-factor authentication. A contractor can help set it up, but the business keeps ownership.
2. Create one monitored enquiry mailbox with a named responder and a backup. Add aliases (accounts@, jobs@) only when they have a clear purpose and a clear destination.
3. Follow your mail provider’s setup instructions. Incoming mail (MX), sending authentication (SPF, DKIM) and policy (DMARC) are separate records. Check existing records before changing anything, and ask for a plain-language handoff.
4. Write a short signature — name, role, business, phone, website — and test it: a new message, a reply and a forwarded quote with someone outside the business. Check it on a phone.
5. Moving from a personal address? Tell existing customers, update your quote template and listings, and keep access to old conversations during the switch.

Done when Someone outside the business can email you and get a reply from the right person. You can recover the account and you know the renewal date. A quick daily check of spam and bounce notices is part of the routine.

1. Start with one page: who you serve, what you do, where you travel, how to request an assessment and what happens next. A clear offer and a working phone number beat a large portfolio of generic pages.
2. Answer the buyer’s questions. Which surfaces are included? How are preparation and repairs assessed? Can the space stay occupied? What does the customer need to clear? What happens at handover? Make only claims you can support, and label illustrative images.
3. Keep the form short: name, contact route, location, a short description and timing. Link a privacy notice, offer a phone alternative and never ask for sensitive documents.
4. Give whoever builds it acceptance tests: accessible labels, works on a phone, rejects unusable input, limits abuse, shows a helpful message if delivery fails and keeps service credentials on the server.
5. Test the live site: open it in a fresh browser, tap the phone link, submit a labelled test and have the owner find it. Record the URL, date and result, and keep a way to roll back if an update breaks enquiries.

Done when A new visitor can explain your offer, and the owner can show the matching test enquiry that arrived. More pages come later, when buyers ask questions the first page doesn’t answer.

1. Use one simple opportunity register before buying sales software. Each potential job gets an ID, customer, property, source, date received, contact, stage, owner and next action. Recruits and supplier registrations live in separate lists.
2. Define stages by events, not feelings (see the table below). Track follow-up dates as a field so a reminder doesn’t overwrite the stage.
3. Qualify with a short reply: Thanks for getting in touch. Which property and rooms are involved, what condition are the surfaces in, and when would you like the work done? Who will approve the scope and arrange access? Ask only for what’s missing. If the job is outside your area or skills, say so promptly and close the record with a reason.
4. Name a response owner and a backup. Set an internal response target your staffed hours can meet and check for new enquiries at fixed times. Merge a phone call and web form from the same buyer into one opportunity; keep tests and spam out of your counts.
5. Run a daily review. For each open row ask: what event are we waiting for, who acts next, and when?

Done when Every open opportunity has one accountable person, one dated next action and evidence for its stage. Each week you review lost reasons — fit, speed, clarity, price or capacity.

1. Define a good prospect before collecting names: buyer type, area, property or project fit and the purchasing route you need. A Regina property manager with office buildings beats a fully populated contact at an irrelevant company.
2. Start with ten organizations from official websites, property portfolios, supplier pages and local directories. Treat search snippets and directory listings as leads to verify, not facts.
3. One row per buying organization: ID, official name, domain, buyer type, reason for fit, purchasing route, source URL, checked date, gaps and next step. Link multiple jobs to one organization instead of duplicating it.
4. Check against what you already have — existing research, applications, customers and suppression lists. Label contact evidence precisely: a published general mailbox is not a named buyer’s address, and a valid-looking email says nothing about permission.
5. Score fit, geography, route and readiness from 0 to 2, with a reason beside each number, and open a few sources yourself. If only six of ten candidates qualify, keep six and note why four didn’t.

Done when Each priority organization has a current official source, a concrete reason for fit and a next action that matches its published route. You report researched, contactable, engaged and qualified as separate counts.

1. Start where the buyer invites contact: genuine enquiries, introductions, requested information and published supplier intake. A list of addresses is research, not a campaign.
2. Know the rules before sending. In Canada, commercial electronic messages generally need a consent basis, sender identification and an unsubscribe mechanism. The CRTC notes that “conspicuous publication” has conditions — the message must relate to the person’s business role, and they mustn’t have said they don’t want such messages [S6]. In the US, CAN-SPAM requires honest sender details and subject lines, your physical mailing address and a working opt-out that you honour within 10 business days [S13]. If you email people in both countries, building to the stricter Canadian consent rules usually meets the US basics too, but check both. Check your email provider’s acceptable-use policy too. Switching channels doesn’t fix an uncertain basis.
3. Write around a real reason to contact them. For an invited supplier introduction: Your supplier page invites painting contractors to contact this team. We provide assessed small-office repaints in Regina. Which documents do you require, and is your local office accepting applications?
4. Review before sending: recipient, purpose, route, contact basis, prior contact, suppression, claims, links and attachment version. Keep volume within what you can answer and deliver.
5. Log results separately — sent, bounced, replied, qualified, declined. Apply stop requests across all records, and when replies are weak, change the audience or offer rather than the volume.

Done when Every message has a clear purpose, a documented route, accurate content and an owner for replies. You count useful conversations and qualified work, alongside the time spent.

1. Prepare the walkthrough. Confirm who approves the job, the property, access, timing and the purpose of the visit. Ask: What would a good handover look like, and what has to keep operating while we work?
2. Measure and describe each area: dimensions, substrate and condition, repairs, coatings, colours, protection, furniture, access equipment and cleanup. Ask before taking photos, and flag suspect materials for competent assessment.
3. Split the scope into included, excluded, optional and undecided. Say who clears rooms, provides access and approves colours, and how extra repairs or access changes affect the price.
4. Issue a numbered, dated proposal from your cost model: buyer and property, scope, assumptions, price, taxes, payment terms, validity, schedule conditions, change process and how to accept. Have the contract wording reviewed for your jurisdiction.
5. Walk the buyer through it: This price covers the listed walls, preparation and cleanup. Ceilings and trim are excluded. You arrange clear access, and we agree any changes in writing first. What needs clarifying? Record the version sent and store acceptance of that exact version.

Done when Another estimator could understand what’s included and reproduce the main costs. The buyer can see their responsibilities, the price, payment timing and how changes work.

1. Create the follow-up task when you submit or quote, with the response you expect and when the buyer said to check back. Keep applications, quotes and project discussions in separate queues.
2. Read the latest exchange before contacting anyone, and finish anything you owe first. If the buyer asked for an insurance certificate, chasing a decision before sending it just adds friction.
3. Keep the message narrow. Application: We submitted our painting supplier application on [date]. Could you confirm receipt and let us know if you need anything else? Quote: When we spoke, access timing was the open question. Has that been settled, or would a revised schedule help?
4. Set a follow-up limit and stop conditions. A decline, opt-out, closed project or “please wait” updates the queue immediately. Silence is an unknown, not a yes or a no.
5. Review a weekly due-action view — buyer, last exchange, purpose, next date — and make sure only one person contacts each buyer about each issue.

Done when Every active follow-up has a reason, a conversation reference and one owner, and the queue shows clearly what you owe the buyer. Measure questions resolved and decisions reached, not reminders sent.

1. Recruit against a defined need: trade, location, job type, dates, supervision and skills. Say whether it’s employment or a subcontract (subject to proper review), and describe pay accurately. A truthful small opportunity attracts better responses than a promise of unlimited work.
2. Keep candidates in a private roster, with self-reported claims separate from checked evidence. Ask everyone the same job questions: How do you prepare a damaged wall for repainting? How do you protect an occupied area? What do you do when the agreed scope changes?
3. Check references (with permission) and verify qualifications, safety readiness, insurance and workers’ compensation. Have the employment or contractor relationship reviewed on the actual arrangement — the label on a contract is only part of it. In the US, the IRS explains how that line is drawn [S14].
4. Confirm capacity for specific dates — transport, tools, supervisor and expected production — and plan a backup for absence or delay.
5. Put the engagement in writing: scope, rate, payment terms, quality standard, daily reporting, safety duties and who approves extra work. Inspect early on the first job.

Done when People move through Applicant → Screening → Documents pending → Approved for defined work → Assigned only when the evidence exists. After the job, you update the roster with actual performance.

1. Turn the accepted proposal into a job-start sheet — scope version, contact, access, crew, materials, equipment, safety and customer prerequisites. Hold a short kickoff with the buyer and record the starting condition.
2. Keep a daily log: hours by activity, materials used, areas finished, issues. Compare progress with the estimate while you can still react, and tell the buyer promptly if timing moves.
3. Document changes before doing extra work: what changed, why, price, tax, schedule effect and who accepted. For hazards, follow the site safety procedure first, then document.
4. Inspect together against the agreed scope. List deficiencies with an owner and date, check the fixes and record the handover. Leave care instructions for the products actually used.
5. Invoice the correct legal customer with invoice number, job reference, PO if required, scope, approved changes, taxes, due date and payment instructions. If it’s late: Our records show invoice [number] is outstanding. Could you confirm receipt and the expected payment date, or let us know about any issue? Mark it Paid only after the bank receipt matches.

Done when The job file supports the handover, invoice and payment status, and a cost review compares actual with estimate.

1. Use the same name, phone, service area and website everywhere customers look, and check for existing listings before creating new ones. For a Google Business Profile, confirm current eligibility and service-area rules, and describe honestly whether customers can visit you.
2. Complete profiles truthfully — closest real category, staffed hours, genuine photos — then check what the public actually sees. A pending edit isn’t live yet.
3. Verify your site in Search Console, submit the sitemap and check that important pages are indexed. Write useful content for the area you really serve instead of cloning a page for every nearby town.
4. Ask every customer for an honest review at handover: Thank you for working with us. If you’d like to share an honest account of your experience, here’s our review link. No incentives, pressure or asking only happy customers [S7].
5. Build case studies from real job records — problem, scope, constraints, work done and a documented result — with permission for names and images.

Done when Listings describe the real business, the enquiry route works and each proof item has a source and a permission record. You ask new customers how they found you and judge visibility by enquiries, not listing counts.

1. Pick topics from repeated buyer questions in enquiries and walkthrough notes: clearing rooms, comparing preparation, disruption, handover. Every two weeks is a fine start.
2. Write the useful answer before any sales message. Explain the decision, what to collect and a question to ask a contractor. Use primary sources such as product instructions for technical claims.
3. Prepare a complete package: title, text, source notes, a permitted image with alt text and one natural next step, such as Use this checklist before your walkthrough.
4. Adapt one idea to several channels — a full article, a short post with three questions, a linked email — and count them as one idea. Track topic, reviewer, destination, date and status (Draft, Scheduled, Published, Failed).
5. Check the live post and track useful responses — questions, resource use, enquiries. If content starts crowding out replies or delivery, publish less.

Done when Each published item answers a real buyer question, backs up its facts and has a working next step.

1. Create one resource that helps a real decision — a quote-comparison sheet, room-readiness checklist or scope planner — short enough to use in a conversation.
2. Keep access simple. An ungated download is fine when the goal is to help. If you collect details, explain why and keep marketing consent optional. Test the download on a phone.
3. Ask for introductions gently: If someone you know is planning a similar office repaint, would you be comfortable passing along our details? Let them choose, and record who referred whom.
4. Partner with providers who serve the same buyer at a different stage — cleaners, movers, fit-out firms. Start with the handoff: What would help your team before we paint, and what should we leave ready for you afterward? Agree privacy and any compensation before formalizing anything.
5. Explore repeat work once you know the property and your costs. Define frequency, included work, access, exclusions and price, and test one arrangement before offering a maintenance plan.

Done when One resource works from download to next step, and each referral or partnership has an accurate status: suggested, introduced, agreed or won.

1. Define the weekly scorecard first: genuine enquiries, qualified enquiries, walkthroughs, quotes sent, quotes accepted, jobs completed, revenue, direct cost, gross profit and cash collected. Write the rule, source and period for each. Mark missing data as unmeasured, never zero.
2. Calculate conversion rates within the same group. Quote-to-win = accepted ÷ issued for the quotes you’re reviewing; very recent undecided quotes distort it. Count each opportunity once, however many revisions.
3. Use the funnel for planning, not forecasting (see below). Test your real capacity and lead times before adopting any revenue target.
4. Measure the real contact route. Check analytics property, timezone and currency, and label internal tests. A phone-link click isn’t a call and a form event isn’t a qualified buyer — reconcile with your enquiry records.
5. Try paid ads only after response, quoting, delivery and measurement work. Write the hypothesis, audience, area, offer, landing page, budget cap and stop rule. A $300 test that produces two customers costs $150 in ads per customer — check that against your margin, and treat small samples as a hint.

Done when Every scorecard number reconciles to a source or a stated assumption. You name the weakest stage — fit, response, proposal clarity, capacity or collection — and run one experiment with a decision date.

1. Weigh the trade-offs first. A general contractor, restoration firm or facilities provider usually wants more paperwork, tighter schedules and slower or held-back payment than a direct customer. Compare that burden with small direct jobs.
2. Keep both sides of subcontracting separate. When a contractor hires you, you’re selling (buyer directory). When you hire a painter, you’re buying capacity (private recruiting roster). A list of available workers is not a sales pipeline.
3. Search official sites for “Trade partners”, “Subcontractors”, “Prequalification”, “Suppliers” and “Estimating”. Record whether intake is open, invitation-only or unclear, plus fees, trade categories and required documents. One purchasing group with several offices may be a single application.
4. Ask a focused question where the route allows: Does your Regina team buy small interior painting packages, and how do we get considered? For a named project, ask who handles the trade package and when subcontract quotes are due — often well before the owner’s tender closes.
5. Prioritize by fit, region, credentials and cash, and prepare a one-page capability sheet: exact services, area, relevant experience, how you assess scope and a monitored contact.

Done when A short ranked directory with each buyer’s official route, required documents, your readiness gaps and one next step. Supplier approval matters only if it leads to suitable invitations — it shouldn’t displace a profitable job you can do now.

1. Check for an existing profile first. Then open the buyer’s official route and list its fields, attachments and declarations. Confirm the office, trade and region before you start.
2. Map every field to your facts sheet or a document. Read the definition behind each declaration — ownership, safety, financial capacity, certifications. If a required answer has no evidence, name the missing record and who can supply it. Leave optional unknowns blank.
3. Tailor a one-page capability sheet: scope, area, project types, how you assess and hand over, verified credentials and contact details. Describe owner experience accurately and use only genuine project evidence.
4. Review the whole package together: matching names, dates, trade category, current coverage and file versions. Summarize any fee or commitment for the person signing.
5. Record Submitted, Acknowledged, Approved and Invited as separate events. If the outcome is unclear, check the portal and confirmation messages before submitting again.

Done when Another person can see exactly what you declared, which files supported it and how the buyer responded. An approved supplier profile is a partner milestone; it becomes a sales opportunity only when a real project appears.

1. Treat public procurement as a later channel. Municipalities, schools, housing bodies and other institutions use different portals and rules. Start at the buyer’s official supplier page; a platform account may not enroll you with each buyer.
2. Narrow categories and geography and review a sample of notices before switching on broad alerts. Record buyer, project ID, location, scope, official URL and checked date, and de-duplicate the same project across portals and contractor invitations.
3. Write a tender brief before estimating: closing date and timezone, question deadline, mandatory site visit, forms, submission method, bonds, insurance and qualifications — each marked mandatory or not, with who verifies it.
4. Decide: bid as prime, or price a trade package for a general contractor? Read the drawings and specifications that define your work, and confirm the contractor’s trade deadline separately from the owner’s close.
5. Track every addendum against your priced scope, then make a bid/no-bid call on fit, eligibility, crew, margin, working capital and complete documents. A no-bid is often the right answer.

Done when A reviewer can identify the current documents, acknowledged addenda, exact deadline and why you can deliver. You save the bid and receipt, and record the outcome and any debrief.

1. Keep one task register the owner can understand without reading agent conversations: ID, objective, owner, priority, dependency, next action, due date, status, output location and completion test. Link tasks to the related job or application.
2. Use a few statuses with clear meanings (table below). Store recurring work as a schedule plus a log of each run — not a task that’s permanently “done”.
3. Start each day with customers. New messages and deadlines first, then current jobs and overdue decisions. Ask the agent for a short queue with evidence, a recommended action and what you must decide.
4. Run parallel assignments only when their outputs are independent, each with its own output file and acceptance test, and have one coordinator update the shared register. Treat web pages and documents the agent reads as information, not instructions.
5. For recurring work, use the tool’s real scheduler with timezone, frequency and output location, then test a run and read the result. Give only the access needed, review permissions and costs monthly, and keep a simple way to switch automation off.

Done when You can trace any task from instruction to output, review and evidence. The daily report says what changed, what’s blocked and which decision matters next. Automation that produces files nobody uses gets switched off.

1. Days 1–7: choose the service, buyer and area; hold the first buyer conversations; resolve what you need to operate legally; cost a representative job; set up a monitored phone or email; open the opportunity sheet and walkthrough checklist.
2. Days 8–14: use introductions and enquiry routes to discuss real needs, qualify jobs and book assessments. Add a simple contact page if it helps, finish the credentials those jobs need and prepare proposals from the cost model.
3. Days 15–30: issue proposals, answer real objections and confirm acceptance. For an accepted job, check access, materials, crew, cash and safety, then deliver, inspect and invoice. If nothing is won, study your notes and change one weak part of the offer.
4. Days 31–60: compare estimated and actual costs, tighten handover and collection, ask for honest reviews and build one or two buyer resources. Look at subcontracting routes only if capacity and documents support them.
5. Days 61–90: grow repeat work and referrals, test one justified acquisition channel and build dependable delivery backup. Review pricing, cash, customer concentration and workload before taking larger commitments.

1. Days 1–7Offer, legal basics, cost model
2. Days 8–14Real conversations, assessments
3. Days 15–30Quote, deliver, invoice
4. Days 31–60Learn from costs, collect proof
5. Days 61–90Repeat work, one growth test

Done when Daily: enquiries, deadlines and job issues. Weekly: pipeline, capacity and cash. Monthly: profitability, tax, access and renewals. On day 90, decide to continue, narrow or change course based on real demand, quality, margin and collections.

1. Keep one approved master of each template with an owner, version and review date, and make a copy per job.
2. Replace every bracket with confirmed information, and leave genuine unknowns visibly marked while drafting.
3. Before sharing anything externally, fill required fields and remove private notes. Check the recipient, context and messaging rules before sending any message template.

Legal name: [ ]
Trading name: [ ]
Signatory: [ ]
Business address and public address treatment: [ ]
Service area: [ ]
Services and exclusions: [ ]
Phone and email: [ ]
Registration evidence: [ ]
Tax status and charging date: [ ]
Insurance scope and expiry: [ ]
Workers' compensation requirements and evidence: [ ]
Qualified capacity: [ ]
Source and checked date for each entry: [ ]
Open question, owner and due date: [ ]

Organization ID: [ ]
Official name and domain: [ ]
Buyer type and local fit: [ ]
Official purchasing route and source URL: [ ]
Checked date: [ ]
Primary contact and role: [ ]
Contact basis and suppression status: [ ]
Prior activity: [ ]
Next action, owner and date: [ ]
--- For supplier applications ---
Required documents: [ ]
Mandatory gaps: [ ]
Submitted version and date: [ ]
Acknowledged: [ ]
Approved: [ ]
Project invitation: [ ]

Opportunity ID: [ ]
Buyer and approving person: [ ]
Property and access: [ ]
Measured areas and surface condition: [ ]
Preparation and repairs: [ ]
Products and finishes: [ ]
Protection and furniture responsibilities: [ ]
Hazards needing assessment: [ ]
Exclusions: [ ]
Photo permission: [ ]
Labour hours and loaded cost: [ ]
Materials and equipment: [ ]
Direct cost: [ ]
Price before tax: [ ]
Gross profit and margin: [ ]
Cash needed before collection: [ ]
Open decisions and next agreed step: [ ]

INBOUND REPLY
Thank you for contacting [business]. To assess [work], could you share [missing details]? [Name] will then arrange [next step].

PROPOSAL FOLLOW-UP
When we discussed [proposal version], [issue] was still open. Has that been resolved, or would [specific clarification] help?

PAYMENT QUERY
Could you confirm receipt of invoice [number], due [date], and the expected payment date? Please let us know about any issue that needs attention.

REVIEW REQUEST
Thank you for working with us. If you'd like to share an honest account of your experience, here is our review link: [link].

Task ID: [ ]
Objective: [ ]
Approved source facts: [ ]
Allowed actions: [research / draft only unless stated]
Not allowed: [send, publish, spend, submit, commit]
Output location: [ ]
Completion test: [ ]
Time or usage limit: [ ]
Reviewer: [ ]
If blocked: record the exact missing item and continue [independent task].

Done when Someone else can pick the right template, see what needs fresh input and find the approved result next to its evidence.

1. Before launch: correct business identity; required registrations and permissions; tax treatment; suitable insurance; service boundaries and a costed offer; contact route tested from a customer’s phone to the responsible person; responder and backup named.
2. Before an application: exact buyer requirements compared with current facts and documents; trade, region and declarations checked; fees and commitments understood; submitted version and receipt saved.
3. Before a sales message: recipient, purpose, permitted route, suppression, previous contact, claims, links and attachments checked; reply owner assigned.
4. Before a job: current scope and terms accepted; access, materials, qualified crew, safety, customer responsibilities and working capital in place; change process and quality standard understood by the lead.
5. Before invoicing: accepted work, approved changes, legal customer, PO, taxes and due date reconciled.

Done when Each item is marked Pass, Hold or Not applicable with a reason. A critical Hold stays visible even if everything else passes, and has a precise remedy and retest condition.