A Simple Tool to Track Jobs and Quotes (Without the Bloat)

The notebook in the van, the Sunday-evening spreadsheet, and your memory for the rest: it holds, until the job where a quote goes out late or a follow-up slips. You do not need one more piece of software with 50 modules. You need 5 features that work.

The limits of notebook + spreadsheet + memory

The classic trio has three flaws: information lives in three places (the notebook knows what the spreadsheet does not), nothing alerts you (the quote with no answer for 15 days does not remind you of itself), and nothing is shareable (your apprentice or partner cannot find their way around it).

The 5 features you actually need

• One record per client: contact details, jobs, documents, conversations in one place
• Job tracking by stage: request, site visit, quote sent, in progress, done, invoiced
• Automatic quote follow-up: no answer in 7 days, the client gets a message, you do not get the mental load
• Quotes and invoices linked: the accepted quote becomes the invoice, no re-typing
• A "today" view: who to follow up, which job is moving, what is stuck

Why big CRMs fail on job sites

Generalist CRMs are designed for sales teams: "leads", "opportunities", reports everywhere. On the ground, that means too many fields, too many clicks, and the tool ends up abandoned after a month. A job-site tool must be fillable in 30 seconds from a phone, between two interventions.

Simple custom-built, concretely

The right approach: start from your actual process (how a request comes in, how you price, how you invoice) and build only that. Your stages, your words, your documents. We covered the follow-up side in automating quote follow-ups, and the real budget in custom CRM pricing.