Setting Up Rate Cards: Get AI Price Estimates for Every Lead

One of QuoteShield's most powerful features is AI-generated price estimates. When a customer submits a lead through your widget, the AI analyses the job description and photos, then cross-references your rate card to give both you and the customer an instant price range.

No more "I'll get back to you with a quote." No more driving across town just to confirm what you already suspected. The estimate is there the moment the lead lands.

But it only works if your rate card is set up properly. Here's how to do it right.

What Is a Rate Card?

A rate card is your pricing reference sheet. It lists your standard rates for common job types in your trade. Not exact quotes, but ranges that reflect your typical pricing.

For example, if you're a plumber:

| Job Type | Price Range | |----------|------------| | Blocked drain (standard) | $180-$350 | | Hot water system replacement (electric) | $1,800-$2,400 | | Hot water system replacement (gas) | $2,200-$3,000 | | Tap replacement (per tap) | $120-$200 | | Toilet replacement | $450-$700 | | Burst pipe repair | $250-$600 | | Gas fitting (per point) | $150-$250 |

Every trade has its equivalent. The rate card captures your pricing knowledge so the AI can apply it to new leads.

Why Bother?

Three big reasons:

1. Instant Qualification

When a lead comes in with a $15K renovation request but your rate card shows the job type typically costs $25K-$35K, the AI flags the budget mismatch. You know before calling that there might be a pricing expectation gap.

Conversely, when the estimate aligns with the customer's budget, you know the lead is worth pursuing.

2. Faster Quoting

The AI estimate gives you a starting point for every quote. You're not calculating from scratch each time. You're refining an existing estimate based on the specifics of the job. This ties directly into quoting faster without undercharging.

3. Customer Confidence

When a customer submits a lead and immediately sees a price range ("Based on your description, this type of job typically costs $3,000-$5,000"), it sets expectations and filters out people whose budget is wildly different. This reduces the cost of bad leads by eliminating budget mismatches before you invest any time.

Setting Up Your Rate Card: Step by Step

Step 1: List Your Common Job Types

Open your QuoteShield dashboard and navigate to Rate Card settings. Start by listing every common job type you do.

Don't overthink this. You're not trying to cover every possible scenario. Focus on the jobs that make up 80% of your work. For most trades, that's 10-20 job types.

Here are some examples by trade:

Electrician:

Switchboard upgrade
Power point installation (per point)
Ceiling fan installation
LED downlight installation (per light)
Safety switch installation
Full house rewire
EV charger installation

Painter:

Interior repaint (per room, standard size)
Exterior repaint (single storey house)
Exterior repaint (double storey house)
Deck stain/oil
Feature wall
Ceiling repaint (per room)
Cabinet painting (kitchen)

Fencer:

Colorbond fence (per metre)
Timber paling fence (per metre)
Pool fence - glass (per metre)
Pool fence - aluminium (per metre)
Gate (single pedestrian)
Gate (double driveway)
Fence demolish and remove (per metre)

Landscaper:

Garden bed installation (per sqm)
Retaining wall (timber, per metre)
Retaining wall (concrete block, per metre)
Paving (per sqm)
Turf installation (per sqm)
Tree removal (small)
Full landscape design and install

Step 2: Set Price Ranges

For each job type, enter a minimum and maximum price. The range should reflect the realistic spread for that job type in your area.

Tips for setting good ranges:

Don't be too narrow. A range of $5,000-$5,200 isn't useful. A range of $4,500-$6,500 gives the AI room to adjust based on complexity.
Don't be too wide. A range of $1,000-$20,000 is meaningless. If the range is that broad, break the job type into sub-categories.
Include materials. Your prices should be all-inclusive (labour + materials) since that's what customers see.
Account for your area. Pricing in Sydney is different from regional Queensland. Set ranges that reflect your actual market.
Review quarterly. Material costs shift, and your rates should too.

Step 3: Add Modifiers

Modifiers let you tell the AI about factors that affect pricing. Common modifiers include:

Access difficulty: +15-25% for steep blocks, tight access, or multi-storey
Urgency: +10-20% for emergency or same-day work
After hours: +50-100% for weekend or evening call-outs
Demolish and remove: +$X per unit for removal of existing materials
Premium materials: +20-40% for high-end product selections

You set these once and the AI applies them automatically when the lead description or photos suggest they're relevant.

Step 4: Set Your Service Area

Define your service area by suburb list or radius from your base. This helps the AI factor in travel costs and also filters out leads from outside your area.

For tradies who charge travel differently based on distance, you can set travel zones:

Zone 1 (0-15km): No travel charge
Zone 2 (15-30km): +$50
Zone 3 (30-50km): +$100

Step 5: Review and Activate

Once you've entered your job types, ranges, modifiers, and service area, review everything one more time. Then activate your rate card.

From now on, every lead that comes through your QuoteShield widget will get an AI-generated price estimate based on your rate card.

How the AI Uses Your Rate Card

When a customer submits a lead, here's what happens:

Job classification: The AI reads the job description and classifies it against your rate card categories. "I need my back fence replaced, about 20 metres of Colorbond" matches to "Colorbond fence (per metre)."
Photo analysis: If photos are included, the AI analyses them for additional context. Steep slope? Access issues? Existing fence condition? These factors trigger relevant modifiers.
Quantity estimation: The AI estimates quantities from the description and photos. "20 metres of Colorbond" is straightforward. For less specific descriptions, the AI estimates based on typical measurements and photo analysis.
Price calculation: Rate card price x estimated quantity + applicable modifiers = price range. The range is deliberately broad (usually +/- 20%) to account for estimation uncertainty.
Confidence score: The AI assigns a confidence level to the estimate. Detailed descriptions with clear photos get high confidence. Vague descriptions get low confidence, and the estimate range is wider.

Example in Action

A customer submits to a roofer's widget:

Description: "Tiles coming loose on the back section of the roof after the storm. About 15 tiles need replacing. Single storey house."
Photos: Three photos showing damaged ridge capping and displaced tiles

The AI:

Classifies as "Tile roof repair"
Analyses photos: confirms tile type (concrete), identifies ridge capping damage (not just tile replacement), notes single storey (no height modifier)
Estimates: 15 tiles + ridge capping repair
Calculates: $800-$1,400 (based on rate card for tile repair + ridge capping, single storey)
Confidence: Medium-High (good description, clear photos, but storm damage can reveal hidden issues)

The roofer sees this estimate alongside the lead score and knows immediately whether it's worth a call.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Setting prices too low to attract leads

Your rate card should reflect your actual pricing, not aspirational pricing to make estimates look attractive. Customers who proceed based on a low estimate will be disappointed by your actual quote, and you'll waste time on leads that never convert.

Forgetting to update

Material costs change. Your experience level and overheads change. Set a quarterly reminder to review your rate card. Takes 10 minutes and keeps your estimates accurate.

Being too specific

You don't need a separate entry for every conceivable variation. "Colorbond fence per metre" covers most fence jobs. You don't need separate entries for every colour or post spacing.

Ignoring modifiers

The base price is only part of the picture. If half your jobs involve steep blocks or difficult access, and you haven't set up modifiers, your estimates will consistently understate the real cost.

The Payoff

A well-configured rate card transforms your lead management:

Customers get instant feedback instead of waiting days for a quote
Budget mismatches are caught early before you waste time on site visits
Your quoting speed improves because you start with an AI estimate, not a blank page
Lead conversion increases because expectations are set from the start

Whether you're an air-conditioning installer, tiler, concreter, or any other trade, the process is the same. List your common jobs, set your ranges, add your modifiers, and let the AI do the heavy lifting.

Ten minutes of setup now saves you hours every week. That's a pretty good trade-off.