The Exterior Envelope playbook
Covers siding and cladding, windows and doors, roofing, gutters, trim
Whole-exterior scopes — roofing, siding, windows — quoted without losing a line. 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 Exterior Envelope quoting down
Roof, siding, windows, gutters — one house, four systems, and a bid that has to hold them all without dropping the flashing line where two systems meet.
Whole-exterior scopes sprawl: what is included per elevation, what is phased, what is excluded — and when that lives in your head instead of the document, the disputes start at the tie-ins.
Generic tools quote one trade at a time. An envelope bid needs per-system structure — and the water-management lines between systems are exactly the ones a flat list loses.
What the playbook sets up on day one
All structure, no numbers — the scaffold your quotes hang on.
- Intake guidance for Studio: it establishes which envelope systems are in scope and whether the job is phased, then asks what moves the price — measurements per system or per elevation (Setell can pre-fill measured roof values from the job address for you to confirm), substrate and sheathing condition, window and door count by opening, the material system for each surface by name, water management where systems meet, and access and staging.
- Three starter quote structures, by name: Full Exterior — By System (roofing, siding, windows and doors, water management, and labor as grouped sections), Siding Only, and Windows & Doors Package (per opening). Structure only — every price field starts unset.
- Crew-and-equipment profile hints for an exterior outfit — lifts, staging, brake, the systems you sub out like gutters and painting, the siding and window lines you install — so Studio speaks your setup from the start.
- A payment-terms suggestion (“Deposit at signing, balance on completion”) plus integration nudges: QuickBooks so Setell learns your real material and labor costs, inbound email so project inquiries land as drafts, and the Deal Room so owners approve and sign from their phone.
What Setell learns from your own data
The playbook is the scaffold. The pricing comes from you.
- Your real material and labor costs from QuickBooks history — siding, windows, roofing, crew time — mined from your recent invoices before your first Setell quote goes out.
- Your accepted quotes — every signed exterior sharpens your per-customer baselines system by system, so suggestions converge on your numbers, not a generic remodel average.
- Your revision patterns — which systems get phased or cut when the number lands and where you actually hold, learned from your own history.
- The receipts behind every number — suggested prices show their work on every line, so a whole-exterior bid reads as built, not bundled.
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 →Exterior Envelope 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.
We do siding and windows but sub out the roof. Does the playbook still fit?
Yes. The cluster covers the whole envelope — siding and cladding, windows and doors, roofing, gutters, and trim — and the profile hints ask which systems you self-perform and which you sub, so Studio drafts the scope either way. Subbed systems still get their lines; your bid stays whole.
How does it keep a whole-exterior bid organized?
By system. The default Full Exterior structure groups lines under Roofing, Siding, Windows & Doors, Water Management, and Labor & Finish sections — and the intake guidance makes exclusions as explicit as inclusions, which is where envelope disputes usually start.
How do I apply it?
Three ways: pick it during onboarding, ask Studio in the app (“set me up with the exterior envelope 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.
Can I change the starter structures?
Yes — they become your templates the moment they are applied. Rename them, add or remove lines, change units, or set a different default.
Start with the structure
Apply the Exterior Envelope playbook during onboarding and send a structured quote today — the pricing gets smarter with every job you close.