The General Contractor playbook
Covers remodels, additions, punch-out, small commercial
Professional, phased quotes with the allowances and exclusions clients expect. A free starter setup: the intake questions Studio asks, structure-only starter quotes, and the nudges that make pricing learn from your own books.
Free to start · no credit card · structure only, never prices
What slows General Contractor quoting down
Clients expect a phased, professional bid — demo, rough-in, finish — with allowances and exclusions spelled out. A flat list of lines reads like an amateur estimate.
What is NOT included is where disputes start — and exclusions usually live in your head, not in the document.
Change orders handled over text messages turn into free work. Added scope needs its own structure, or it never gets billed.
What the playbook sets up on day one
All structure, no numbers — the scaffold your quotes hang on.
- ✓Intake guidance for Studio: it walks the scope by phase (demo, rough-in, finish), separates allowances from fixed scope, and asks who supplies materials, permit and inspection requirements, subcontracted trades, site conditions, and how change orders will be handled.
- ✓Three starter quote structures, by name: Renovation — Phased (lines grouped under Demo, Rough-in, and Finish sections with permits kept visible), Small Job / Repair, and Change Order (so added scope stays auditable). Structure only — every price field starts unset.
- ✓Exclusions treated as first class: the guidance pushes Studio to make what is NOT included as explicit as what is — the cheapest dispute prevention there is.
- ✓A payment-terms suggestion (“Deposit at signing, balance on completion”) plus integration nudges: QuickBooks so Setell learns your real sub and material costs, inbound email so bid requests land as drafts, and the Deal Room for signatures and deposits.
What Setell learns from your own data
The playbook is the scaffold. The pricing comes from you.
- ✓Your real sub and material costs from QuickBooks history — mined from your recent invoices and estimates before your first Setell bid goes out.
- ✓Your accepted bids — every signed job sharpens your per-customer baselines, so suggestions converge on what you actually win work at.
- ✓Your revision patterns — which allowances get negotiated and where change orders actually land, learned from your own history.
- ✓The receipts behind every number — suggested prices show their work, line by line, which is exactly the posture a professional bid should have.
Structure on day one. Your prices, not ours.
A playbook never includes prices. Day one it gives you your trade’s structure; connect QuickBooks and Setell learns from what you actually paid and charged — and shows its work on every line.
See how the pricing engine learns →General Contractor playbook: FAQ
Does the playbook come with pricing?
No — structure only. It sets up intake questions, phased starter structures, and profile hints; every price field starts unset. Pricing comes from your own data: connect QuickBooks and Setell learns from what you actually paid and charged — and shows its work on every suggested line.
Is the playbook free?
Yes. Applying a playbook is free — it is the starting scaffold for your account, not a paid add-on.
Does it handle phased bids?
Yes — that is its center of gravity. The Renovation — Phased structure groups lines under Demo, Rough-in, and Finish sections, keeps permits visible, and the intake guidance walks scope phase by phase.
What about change orders?
The playbook ships a dedicated Change Order structure — added-scope labor and materials on their own lines — so mid-job changes stay auditable and get billed instead of absorbed.
How do I apply it?
Three ways: pick it during onboarding, ask Studio in the app (“set me up with the contractor playbook”), or call the setell_apply_playbook MCP tool from your own agent.
What happens if I apply it again later?
Re-applying is safe. Setell returns a report of what it applied and what it skipped — and it never overwrites structures or settings you have edited.
Start with the structure
Apply the General Contractor playbook during onboarding and send a structured quote today — the pricing gets smarter with every job you close.