What's inside
AI tools default to retail pricing, retail labour rates, and custom-build benchmarks. None of those are your numbers. This guide gives Claude the five inputs it needs to quote accurately — and explains exactly why each one matters.
01
Labour Cost Rate
Use your blended cost: $65–$75/hr (owner + apprentice on the job).
Never feed Claude your charge-out rate — $95/hr is your sell price, not your cost.
Charge-out belongs in your margin, not the labour line.
Most common error
02
Spray Finish Rate
Use $130–$160/m² trade rate. Count sprayable face area only:
doors, visible end panels, bulkhead facings, drawer fronts.
Carcass internals are white melamine — they are never sprayed, zero cost.
03
Sheet Pricing
HMR board: $65–$75/sheet trade. MDF: $65–$75/sheet trade.
Claude pulls retail from online. No trade account yet?
Deduct 20–25% from hardware store pricing as a working estimate.
04
Hours Benchmarks
Raked/slanted ceiling scribing: 3–4 hrs added, not 8–10.
Production drawer boxes: 30–40 min each, installed.
Repeatable standard runs are 15–20% faster than one-offs —
tell Claude which build type before it counts hours.
05
Margin by Job Type
Competitive tender: 28–32%.
Standard quote: 32–35%.
Premium/complex: 35–40%.
Never apply maximum margin on a job you need to win.
How to use this file: Copy the text from the PDF and paste it at the top of your Claude conversation — before your job brief. Claude reads it as context and applies your real numbers to every calculation. Update the figures as your costs change.
Who it's for
- Joiners and cabinet makers quoting with Claude or ChatGPT
- Anyone who's had AI return a wildly wrong labour or materials figure
- Trade businesses building their first AI quoting workflow
- Apprentices learning to cross-check AI output against real trade numbers