Repair quote app for workshops: send quotes from your phone so customers know the cost

Send repair quotes to customers from your phone so they know what work will cost before they agree to it.

Who it's for

You run a small engine repair shop in an outer suburb. Mowers, blowers, chainsaws and the odd generator. It is you, an apprentice, and someone who answers the phone when it gets busy. The problem bites on a Saturday morning with fifteen machines on the bench and a customer at the counter asking what the carby job on their mower is going to cost, and the only answer you can give is that you will ring them back.

The problem today

Machines get booked in on the docket book and the details go on a tag tied to the handle. If a job needs parts I write the price on the back of the docket and ring the customer, and half the time they do not pick up. I leave a message and the machine goes on the shelf. Some of them sit there for weeks because nobody ever said yes or no. Then I am typing invoices into a spreadsheet at nine at night, emailing them, and chasing the same three people for money a month later. There is no one place that tells me which jobs are waiting on a quote and who still owes me.

What the app does, screen by screen

1. Book a machine in — Staff use this at the counter to take the customer's name and mobile, the make and model, and what the customer says is wrong, so the machine never gets separated from its details.
2. Build and send the quote — Staff and the owner put parts and labour lines against the job from the shop's own price list and send the quote to the customer's phone as a link.
3. The customer's quote page — The customer reads what the work will cost, line by line, and taps approve or decline without having to ring the shop.
4. Jobs board — Staff and the owner see every machine in the shop and which stage it is at, so the jobs waiting on an answer are obvious at a glance.
5. Invoice and pay — The customer sees what was actually done and what it came to, and pays by card before or at pickup.
6. Who owes what — The owner sees every unpaid invoice, oldest first, with the polite reminders that have already gone out.

Who uses it and what it keeps track of

• Customers — Name, mobile, email, address and the machines they have brought in before. Staff can look a customer up. Only the owner sees what a customer owes across all their jobs.
• Jobs — The machine, its make and model, what the customer says is wrong, who booked it in, the date, where it is up to and whether it is held waiting on approval. Staff and owner see all jobs. A customer sees only their own.
• Quotes — Parts and labour lines with a price against each, the total, when it was sent, and whether the customer approved or declined and when. Staff and owner see them. The customer sees their own.
• Invoices and payments — What was charged, what has been paid, what is still owing and when the last reminder went out. Owner only.
• Price list — The parts and labour the shop quotes most often, with a price against each. Staff pick from it. Only the owner can change a price.

What it changes for the business

Quotes go out while the machine is still on the bench, not that night, so customers answer while they still remember dropping it off. The shelf of machines waiting on an answer clears, because every held job shows on the board until someone chases it. No more arguments at pickup about what was agreed, because the customer tapped approve on the lines they were shown. Invoices go out the day the job is finished and the reminders do the chasing, so the owner is not ringing the same three people a month later.

The one decision that matters

The decision is whether the customer has to tap approve before anyone touches the machine, or whether a verbal yes on the phone is enough to get started. Starting on a verbal yes is quicker on a busy morning, but it is exactly where the arguments at pickup come from, because nobody can show what was agreed. Make the approval the gate. The job stays held until the customer taps approve on the quote, and if they would rather say yes over the phone, whoever took the call records it against the quote with their own name on it. Work still starts quickly, and you have something to point at when someone says they never agreed to a new carby.

What to build first, and what can wait

Build the book-in, the quote, the approve or decline link, the invoice and the who owes what screen. That is the whole loop from counter to payment. Leave stock counts, supplier orders, warranty tracking and full service history for later. The phone app can wait too if the website works on the tablet at the counter. Get the quote going out while the machine is still on the bench first, because that is the part costing you work.

How BooDoo builds it

You describe the shop and the way you quote in plain words, and BooDoo builds it. You get a real database and sign-in, so you see the money, your apprentice sees only the jobs, and a customer sees only their own quote. The same request gives a website on its own live address, with your own domain connected if you want, and an Android app you can publish to Google Play under your own account. Card payments and text messages come in through ready integrations, plus a WhatsApp button on the quote. Want the quote laid out differently later, you describe the change.

How you'll know it works

By Friday afternoon there are no machines sitting on the shelf waiting on an answer, and the who owes what screen is short enough to read in one go.

Build it

Paste this in and it gets built.

I run a small engine repair shop, mowers and chainsaws mostly, and I want a website with an Android app for me and my apprentice. At the counter we book a machine in with the customer's name, mobile and what is wrong with it. Then I want to build a quote with parts and labour off a price list I can edit, and send it to the customer by text as a link they can read on their phone and tap to approve or knock back, with the job held until they answer. When the work is done I want that quote turned into an invoice they can pay by card, and one screen that shows me who owes what and sends a polite reminder on its own. My apprentice should see the jobs but not the money, and put a WhatsApp button on the quote so they can ask a question instead of ringing.