Deptly
Workflow Demonstration

Estimate follow-up

A design-build landscaping company sends a homeowner an estimate for a paver patio with planting beds and a fire pit. The owner is running two crews through the busiest stretch of the season, and following up on sent estimates is exactly the kind of work that slips — not because it doesn't matter, but because the visible work always shouts louder.

What does this demonstration show?

This demonstration follows a landscaping estimate from the moment it is sent to a decision. Deptly nudges the homeowner at owner-approved intervals, brings a budget question to the owner instead of negotiating on its own, sends the revised estimate the owner approves, and turns the yes into a booked site visit. Every step is annotated so you can see exactly where approval happens.

The workflow, step by step

Real product behavior with example names and details. The notes beside each step explain what is happening — including where Deptly asks instead of acting.

  1. Day 0, 4:52 PM

    Deptly

    Patio and planting estimate sent to the homeowner from the quoting tool. Follow-up cadence started.

    Deptly notices the estimate leaving the company's own quoting tool. Every sent estimate enters a follow-up cadence the owner approved — nothing depends on anyone remembering to chase.

  2. Day 3, 10:05 AM

    Deptly

    Hi — just checking the patio estimate reached you, and whether any questions came up. Happy to walk through the options whenever suits.

    The first nudge lands while the homeowner is still actively comparing quotes. The wording is the owner's approved tone — helpful, not pushy — and the cadence stops immediately if the homeowner opts out or decides.

  3. 20 minutes later

    Homeowner

    We love the design, but it's a bit over budget. Could we do it without the fire pit?

    A scope change touches price, and price is never Deptly's call. Instead of negotiating, Deptly packages the question with context and sends it to the owner.

  4. Day 3, evening

    Deptly

    Needs your OK

    The homeowner asked about dropping the fire pit to bring the price down. Want me to send a revised estimate at the number from your quoting tool, or would you rather call them?

    This is the approval point. The owner sees the request, the original estimate, and a proposed next step in one place — a ten-second decision instead of an evening of catch-up.

  5. Day 4, 8:05 AM

    Owner

    Needs your OK

    Send the revised version without the fire pit — use the updated total from the quoting tool.

    The owner approves in one reply. The revised number comes from the owner's own quoting tool — Deptly never sets or changes a price itself.

  6. Day 4, 8:20 AM

    Deptly

    Here's the revised estimate without the fire pit — the patio and planting plan are unchanged. Any questions at all, just reply here.

    The revision goes out the same morning the owner approves it, while the homeowner is still engaged. Speed here is the whole game — most estimates die of silence, not rejection.

  7. Day 5, 6:40 PM

    Homeowner

    That works for us. Let's go ahead.

    The decision arrives. A yes isn't closure yet — an accepted estimate with no scheduled next step is still an open loop.

  8. 15 minutes later

    Deptly

    Wonderful — you're on the schedule. Next step is a quick site visit to confirm measurements. Here are two times that work this week.

    Acceptance triggers the next workflow instead of ending the conversation. The site visit options come from real openings on the company calendar.

  9. Friday

    D

    Owner brief

    inbox

    Patio estimate: homeowner asked to drop the fire pit, revised per your approval on day 4, accepted on day 5, site visit booked for next week.

    The weekly brief shows the full arc — sent, questioned, revised, accepted, scheduled. Estimates still waiting on a decision appear in the same brief, so nothing drifts quietly past two weeks.

What the owner brief says

You don't watch this workflow run. It rolls up into your weekly brief alongside everything else that was handled — what closed on its own, and the few things waiting on you.

A full sample brief lives on the proof and examples page.

D

Your weekly brief

deptly · weekly summary

Example
  • Patio and planting estimate: revised without the fire pit per your approval, accepted the next day, site visit booked for Tuesday morning.
  • Two other open estimates are in cadence — one had its first nudge Thursday, one is approaching the two-week mark and is flagged for your call.
  • No prices were changed without you: the one scope question this week came to you first and went out with your number.
  • The cadence closed one loop as declined — the homeowner chose another company, was thanked, and the estimate was marked closed rather than left open.

Example — how this workflow appears in your weekly brief

Verified closure

The estimate was revised with the owner's approval, accepted by the homeowner, and converted into a scheduled site visit on the company calendar — a closed decision loop, not an estimate left hoping in an outbox.

Closure means the loop is confirmed done — not that a message was merely sent. That standard, and everything behind it, is explained on trust and control.

The boundary this workflow ran inside

The steps above where Deptly asked instead of acting are the point, not a limitation. Every workflow runs within rules you approve — anything outside them waits for you.

Deptly handles

  • Routine steps like the ones above — replies, follow-ups, reminders, status updates, scheduling holds
  • Logging every action so the weekly brief writes itself
  • Chasing the open loop until it verifiably closes

Deptly asks first

  • Anything that touches price, scope, or an exception to your rules
  • Messages that fall outside the wording you approved
  • Situations the rules don't cover — flagged to you, not guessed at

Always human

  • Pricing, hiring, and how the work gets done
  • Sensitive customer conversations
  • Final say on anything Deptly flags

How those rules get set up in your first weeks is on how it works.

See this loop in context

Questions owners ask

If you use quoting or invoicing software, Deptly watches for sent estimates there. If your quotes go out ad hoc — email, PDF, a text with a number — setup establishes one simple habit, like a shared folder or a copied address, so every estimate enters the cadence without changing how you quote.

The cadence, spacing, and wording are yours, and there are hard stop rules: a decision, an opt-out, or the end of the cadence stops all messages immediately. The tone is helpful and specific — checking on questions, offering to walk through options — never pressure. Most homeowners experience it as a company that stays on top of things.

Anything touching price or scope goes to you with the context attached — the request, the original estimate, and a proposed next step. Deptly drafts; you decide. Revised numbers always come from your own quoting tool, never from Deptly.

Sending scheduled nudges is typically an approved routine, so the cadence runs on its own. Any price change, scope change, discount, or unusual request always comes to you first. You set that boundary during setup and can adjust it anytime.

Acceptance triggers the next step in your process — a site visit, a deposit request, a start-date confirmation — rather than ending the thread. A yes without a scheduled next step is still an open loop, and the workflow doesn't close until that step is booked.

Deptly records the decision, sends a gracious thank-you, and closes the loop. If you want, it can ask one light feedback question — pricing, timing, scope — so declined estimates still teach you something. What it never does is keep chasing a decided customer.

Your workflows next

What would this look like in your business?

Answer a few questions about where work waits in your week and get an honest read on which loop Deptly should close first.

See What Deptly Could HandleTalk Through My Business