Confidential · SampleBusiness Automation Plan
Greenway Landscaping & Snow
01Executive summary
Greenway’s busiest months are held back by two jobs that AI can now do well: writing estimates and answering “when is my crew coming?” Dana writes every estimate from scratch at night, and Priya spends a large part of each day reading the whiteboard back to customers. Both can be handed to AI working from Greenway’s own estimates and schedule, with Dana and Priya approving the result instead of producing it. Two smaller fixes stop lost calls and cut the monthly snow billing from two days to an afternoon.
30 hrs
estimated saved a month in spring
$1,575
a month in time, at your rates
$80
a month to run it all
+12 hrs
estimated saved in winter months
| # | Recommendation | Hours / month | Running cost | Difficulty | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Estimates from site photos | 12 | $6 | 3 of 5 | Start first |
| 2 | Crew board and automatic answers | 15 | $25 | 3 of 5 | Start second |
| 3 | No more lost calls | 3 | $49 | 4 of 5 | Quick to set up |
| 4 | Snow billing in an afternoon | 12 | $0 | 4 of 5 | Before first snow |
02About Greenway
| What you do | Residential and small commercial landscaping (spring to fall) and snow removal (winter) |
|---|---|
| Team | 12 people: Dana (owner, estimates and sales), Priya (office manager), three crew leads, seven crew members |
| Customers | About 140 residential and 18 commercial accounts, plus 22 snow contracts |
| Busy season | March to June; snow from December to March |
| Your priority | “Get my evenings back in spring without losing jobs.” |
03What we heard
“Spring is chaos. I’m writing estimates at the kitchen table at 10 at night.”Dana, owner
- Estimates are the bottleneck: about 20 a month in spring, each started from a blank Word file, with prices from memory.
- Follow-up on estimates “just doesn’t happen,” and Dana believes some jobs go to competitors because of it.
- Priya’s inbox is dominated by scheduling questions; the only schedule is a whiteboard in the office.
- Rain days mean an hour or more of calls and texts to reshuffle the week.
- Calls to Dana’s cell go to voicemail during site visits; callers often don’t leave a message.
- Snow billing takes Priya about two days each month, matching crew texts to contracts.
- Dana is open to AI as long as nothing goes to a customer without a person checking it.
04How work gets done today
How a job moves through the business, with the problems we found numbered to match the recommendations:
- Lead comes inPhone, email or a text to Dana3
- Site visitDana measures and takes photos
- EstimateWritten from scratch at night1
- Follow-upUsually doesn’t happen1
- ScheduleWhiteboard and group texts2
- Customer asks “when?”Priya checks the whiteboard2
- InvoiceQuickBooks; snow typed by hand4
Where the time goes
| Task | Who | Volume | Each | Hours / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing estimates (spring) | Dana | 20 a month | 45 min | 15 |
| Answering “when is the crew coming?” | Priya | 15 a day | 3 min | 16 |
| Rain-day calls and texts | Dana, Priya | 4 days × 12 customers | 3 min | 2 |
| Returning missed calls | Dana | 20 a month | 10 min | 3 |
| Snow invoicing (winter) | Priya | Monthly | 2 days | 16 |
Figures are from the interview and are estimates. We check them with you before building.
05Your technology and readiness
| Microsoft 365 | Business Standard, 12 licenses: email, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint |
|---|---|
| Copilot Chat | Free with your plan; nobody uses it yet |
| Accounting | QuickBooks Online, run by Priya |
| Phones | Personal mobiles; Dana’s number is the business line |
| Scheduling | Whiteboard in the office and crew group texts |
Readiness checklist
| Item | Status | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Business files | Needs work | Estimates live in Dana’s personal OneDrive. We move them to a shared SharePoint library first. |
| Administrators | Needs work | Dana is the only admin. Add a second so you’re never locked out. |
| Two-step sign-in | To confirm | Dana wasn’t sure it’s on for every account. We check before building. |
| Teams on crew phones | Not yet | Crew leads install Teams; about 10 minutes each. |
| Copilot Credits | Not set up | Pay-as-you-go billing with a monthly cap, set up during the build. |
| Microsoft 365 plan | Ready | Business Standard covers everything here except the credits and one Power Automate Premium license. |
06Recommendations
Each recommendation starts with the AI solution we’d build, then the other options we weighed. Time is valued at $75 an hour for the owner and $30 for office staff; swap in your own figures if you prefer.
Sales · Start first
Estimates from site photos
Today
Dana writes about 20 estimates a month in spring, each from scratch in Word, about 45 minutes apiece, mostly in the evening. Prices come from memory and last year’s files. Estimates that get no answer are rarely followed up.
“I know I lose jobs just because I never call them back.”
Cost today: ~15 hrs a month of Dana’s time, plus unanswered estimates
Recommended
An AI agent that has read your past estimates and current price list drafts each new estimate from Dana’s site photos and notes. Dana checks it, taps approve, and a flow sends a branded PDF and follows up.
How it works
- Your past estimates, price list and standard terms go into one SharePoint folder, which becomes the agent’s knowledge.
- On site, Dana opens the Greenway Estimator in the Copilot app on the phone and adds photos, rough measurements and a few words (“front beds, mulch refresh, remove two shrubs”).
- The agent finds similar past jobs, prices each line from the current list, estimates crew hours and materials, and lists anything it couldn’t price.
- Dana reviews the draft in Teams and taps Approve, or edits a line first.
- A flow lays the approved estimate out on your letterhead, turns it into a PDF with OneDrive’s built-in Convert to PDF step (included, so no Premium Word template step), saves it in the customer’s folder, and emails it from Dana’s address.
- If there’s no reply after 3 and 7 days, Dana gets a personal follow-up draft in Teams to send with one tap. Accepted jobs are added to the Crew board.
What we build
| Part | What it does | License | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenway Estimator | AI agent (Copilot Studio) that reads photos and notes, prices from the list | Copilot Credits, about 30 per estimate | $6 |
| Estimating library | SharePoint folder of past estimates, price list and terms | Included in Microsoft 365 | $0 |
| Estimate delivery flow | Approval card, PDF (OneDrive Convert to PDF), filing and email | Power Automate, standard (included) | $0 |
| Follow-up flow | Checks for replies at 3 and 7 days, drafts follow-ups | Power Automate, standard (included) | $0 |
| Running cost | $6 | ||
- Time saved (estimate)
- 12 hrs a month
- Worth
- $900 a month
- Difficulty
- 3 of 5 (Medium)
- Build and test
- 2–4 days
- Setup
- Moderate. We build it; Dana tests it on real jobs
How we worked it out: 20 estimates × 35 minutes saved (45 today, about 10 to check a draft) = 12 hrs × $75. Confidence: High on time saved; medium on credits until the first month’s bill. Not counted: Jobs won because every estimate now gets a follow-up.
What we’ll need from you
- 20–30 past estimates you were happy with
- Your current price list, with a date on it
- Your standard terms and your logo
- Five real site visits to test with
Things to know
- The agent is only as good as the price list. Update it each season; the agent says which list it priced from.
- Photos give rough sizes. The agent asks Dana to confirm any quantity it estimated from a photo.
- Nothing is sent to a customer until Dana approves it.
- Copilot Credits are pay-as-you-go. We set a monthly cap so the bill can’t run away.
Other options we considered
| Option | Type | Per month | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot Business seat for Dana | Microsoft paid seat | ~$18 | Copilot in Word can draft from a past estimate, but Dana still prices every line and sends it. Worth adding later. |
| QuickBooks estimates | Software you have | Included | Clean estimates that turn into invoices, but no help with pricing. Our flow can create them from approved estimates. |
| A better Word template | Process change | $0 | Saves a few minutes an estimate. Not recommended on its own. |
Scheduling and customer service · Start second
Crew board and automatic answers
Today
Priya answers about 40 emails a day. About 15 ask when a crew is coming. Each one means walking to the whiteboard, finding the job and writing back. On rain days, Dana or Priya calls or texts every affected customer.
“Half my day is telling people what day it is.”
Cost today: ~18 hrs a month of Priya’s time
Recommended
The whiteboard becomes a shared Crew board. A flow spots “when are you coming?” emails, looks the job up and drafts the answer for Priya to send with one tap. Rain days reschedule and notify customers automatically.
How it works
- The whiteboard becomes a Crew board: a SharePoint list shown as a calendar in Teams. Crew leads see their day on their phones.
- When a customer emails, a flow uses AI to recognise questions about timing, finds that customer’s next job on the board, and drafts a reply with the day and crew.
- Priya gets the draft as a Teams card with Send, Edit and Skip. After the first month, plain date answers can go out on their own if you choose.
- When Dana marks a day as rained out, a flow moves those jobs to the next open day and emails each customer, with a link to reply if the new day doesn’t work.
- Every Friday a flow sends Dana and Priya next week’s board and any jobs without a date.
What we build
| Part | What it does | License | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crew board | SharePoint list with a calendar view, pinned in Teams | Included in Microsoft 365 | $0 |
| Customer reply flow | Reads incoming email with an AI prompt, drafts the answer | Power Automate Premium for Priya ($15) plus AI credits | $25 |
| Rain-day flow | Moves jobs and emails the customers | Power Automate, standard (included) | $0 |
| Friday look-ahead | Weekly summary to Dana and Priya | Power Automate, standard (included) | $0 |
| Running cost | $25 | ||
- Time saved (estimate)
- 15 hrs a month
- Worth
- $450 a month
- Difficulty
- 3 of 5 (Medium)
- Build and test
- 2–4 days
- Setup
- Moderate. We build it; Priya and one crew lead test it
How we worked it out: (315 emails × 2.5 minutes) + (4 rain days × 12 customers × 2.5 minutes) = 15 hrs × $30. Confidence: High.
What we’ll need from you
- Your customer list with email addresses
- A photo of a typical week on the whiteboard
- Crew names and who leads each crew
- A 2-minute end-of-day board update from each crew lead
Things to know
- The board only works if it’s kept current. Crew leads update it from their phones at the end of each day.
- Priya approves every reply for the first month, so we can see what the AI gets wrong.
- Customers without email still need a call; the flow lists them for Priya.
Other options we considered
| Option | Type | Per month | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot in Outlook for Priya | Microsoft paid seat | ~$18 | Summarizes and drafts replies, but can’t see the whiteboard, so Priya still looks up every date. |
| Field-service software (Jobber, Housecall Pro) | Outside service | Per-user plans | Scheduling, “on my way” texts and invoicing in one app. A bigger change; worth a look if you outgrow the Crew board. |
| Outlook auto-reply | Process change | $0 | Tells customers you got their email, not when you’re coming. Not recommended. |
Phone and new leads · Quick to set up
No more lost calls
Today
About 20 calls a month reach voicemail while Dana is on a site or driving. Some callers never leave a message and hire someone else. The rest turn into phone tag in the evening.
Cost today: ~3 hrs a month of phone tag, plus lost jobs
Recommended
Microsoft 365 can’t answer a phone call on its own, so this pairs an outside AI answering service ($49 a month) with a flow we build that turns every call into a lead in Teams.
How it works
- Calls Dana doesn’t pick up within four rings forward to Rosie, an AI answering service, set up with your hours, services and service area.
- Rosie answers common questions, takes the caller’s details and what they need, and emails a summary.
- A flow reads each summary, adds the caller to a Leads list, and posts it in Teams for Priya.
- Estimate requests get a Teams card for Dana with Book site visit, which adds the visit to Dana’s calendar and emails the customer a confirmation.
What we build
| Part | What it does | License | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI answering (Rosie) | Answers missed calls; 250 minutes a month | Outside service | $49 |
| Call forwarding | Forwards unanswered calls from Dana’s cell | Your phone carrier | $0 |
| Leads flow | Summary email to Leads list and Teams | Power Automate, standard (included) | $0 |
| Site-visit booking card | One tap to book and confirm the visit | Power Automate, standard (included) | $0 |
| Running cost | $49 | ||
- Time saved (estimate)
- 3 hrs a month
- Worth
- $225 a month
- Difficulty
- 4 of 5 (Complex)
- Build and test
- 4–7 days
- Setup
- Involved. We set it up with Dana
How we worked it out: 20 missed calls × 10 minutes of phone tag = 3 hrs × $75. Confidence: High on the service; medium on how many lost jobs it wins back. Not counted: Jobs from callers who used to hang up.
What we’ll need from you
- Your hours, services and service area in a few sentences
- Answers to the five questions callers ask most
- Your mobile carrier, to set up forwarding
Things to know
- The plan covers 250 minutes a month, about 83 three-minute calls. We check use after the first month.
- Callers are told they’re speaking with an assistant.
- The service doesn’t quote prices; it books the site visit.
Other options we considered
| Option | Type | Per month | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teams Phone | Microsoft | $10 per person plus a calling plan | Brings calls into Teams and emails voicemail transcripts, but callers still reach voicemail. Its AI answering agent is in preview only. |
| Quo | Outside service | $15 per person | A business number with texting, missed-call text-back and an AI agent. Better if you also want to text customers from a shared number. |
| Ruby | Outside service | from $250 | Real receptionists (50 minutes). More personal, about five times the price. |
Billing · Before first snow
Snow billing in an afternoon
Today
In winter, crews text Priya which lots they plowed and when. At month end Priya spends about two days matching texts to customers and contracts and typing invoices into QuickBooks.
Cost today: ~16 hrs a month in winter
Recommended
Crew leads log each finished lot on their phone. On the 1st, a flow totals every customer’s visits against their contract and builds a QuickBooks import file for Priya to check.
How it works
- Crew leads tap each finished lot on their phone (a form in Teams with your customer list), adding a photo and the time.
- Each visit is logged in an Excel table in SharePoint, with the photo saved in the customer’s folder as proof of service.
- On the 1st, a flow totals each customer’s visits against their contract terms and builds a QuickBooks import file.
- Priya gets a one-page summary to check, then imports the file into QuickBooks in one step.
What we build
| Part | What it does | License | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snow log form | Phone form with customer list, photo and time | Microsoft Forms (included) | $0 |
| Visit log | Excel table in SharePoint with photos | Included in Microsoft 365 | $0 |
| Month-end billing flow | Totals visits, builds the QuickBooks file and summary | Power Automate, standard (included) | $0 |
| Running cost | $0 | ||
- Time saved (estimate)
- 12 hrs a month in winter months
- Worth
- $360 a month
- Difficulty
- 4 of 5 (Complex)
- Build and test
- 4–7 days
- Setup
- Involved. We build it; Priya tests it with one crew before the first storm
How we worked it out: About 16 hrs today, about 4 with the log = 12 hrs × $30, in winter months. Confidence: High.
What we’ll need from you
- Your snow contracts (per push, per inch or seasonal)
- The customer and lot list
- An export of one month’s QuickBooks invoices, to match the import format
Things to know
- We match the import file to your QuickBooks settings and test it with one month of old data first.
- Crew leads need Teams on their phones; we set that up in the same visit as the Crew board.
Other options we considered
| Option | Type | Per month | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Time | Software add-on | Monthly fee plus per crew member | GPS time tracking for crews. More than you need for billing per visit. |
| Crews email one shared address | Process change | $0 | Keeps texts in one place, but Priya still builds every invoice. |
07Costs and savings
| Recommendation | Hours / month | Worth | Running cost | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimates from site photos | 12 | $900 | $6 | $894 |
| Crew board and automatic answers | 15 | $450 | $25 | $425 |
| No more lost calls | 3 | $225 | $49 | $176 |
| Monthly total | 30 | $1,575 | $80 | $1,495 |
| Snow billing in an afternoon (winter months) | 12 | $360 | $0 | $360 |
Running costs are what you pay each vendor every month, on top of the subscriptions you already have. One-time setup is quoted separately after our follow-up call.
08Build estimate and roadmap
Each recommendation is scored for difficulty from 1 (simple) to 5 (major), by how many parts it has, what it connects to, the data work it needs and how much testing it takes. The score sets the build time, including full testing.
| # | Recommendation | Difficulty | Why | Build and test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Estimates from site photos | 3 of 5 (Medium) | An agent and two flows; past estimates gathered into SharePoint first. | 2–4 days |
| 2 | Crew board and automatic answers | 3 of 5 (Medium) | Several flows, and rain-day notices go to customers without a check on each one. | 2–4 days |
| 3 | No more lost calls | 4 of 5 (Complex) | An answering service outside Microsoft 365 plus a lead flow, and the AI talks to callers on its own. | 4–7 days |
| 4 | Snow billing in an afternoon | 4 of 5 (Complex) | A log and a billing flow, a QuickBooks import, and the contract and lot lists set up first. | 4–7 days |
| Whole plan, one after another | 12–22 days (about 3–5 weeks) | |||
Working days. Some parts can be built side by side, so the calendar time can be shorter.
Roadmap
| When | What happens | Your part |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Move estimate files into SharePoint, add a second admin, set up call answering and the Leads flow. Try the free Estimator starter. | Gather past estimates and the price list; 30-minute call to set up answering. |
| Week 2 | Build the Estimator with photos, PDF delivery and follow-ups; test it on real site visits. | Dana tests on real jobs and flags anything off. |
| Week 3 | Crew board, customer reply drafts and rain-day notices; crew leads install Teams. | Priya approves every reply for the first month. |
| Weeks 4–5 | Snow log and month-end billing, tested with one crew and last winter’s data before the first snow. | Priya checks the first import. |
| After a month | Review hours saved and credit spend; decide on Copilot seats. | 30-minute review call. |
09Try this week, free
A starter version of the Estimator takes about 30 minutes, uses what you already have, and shows you what the full version will do:
- In SharePoint, make a folder called Estimating. Move in 20–30 past estimates you were happy with, your current price list and your standard terms.
- Open the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, choose Create agent, and name it Greenway Estimator.
- Under Knowledge, add the Estimating folder.
- In the instructions, paste: “Draft estimates the way our past estimates do. Price only from the price list, show quantities and crew hours, and list anything that isn’t on the list.”
- After your next site visit, describe the job to it and compare its draft with what you would have written.
Without a Copilot seat, each answer from your files costs about $0.12 in Copilot Credits. The full version adds photos, the approval step, the PDF and the follow-ups.
10Questions before we build
- Is the current price list the one you’ll use next spring, or is an update due?
- Are snow contracts billed per push, per inch or per season, and does that vary by customer?
- After the first month, may plain “your crew comes Tuesday” replies go out without Priya approving each one?
- Besides Dana, who can approve an estimate?
- Which mobile carrier is Dana’s number on?
11Next steps
- Read the plan and note anything we got wrong about how your business works.
- Tell us which recommendations you’d like built, using the “Send me a quote” link in the email this plan came with. We’ll answer the questions above on a short follow-up call.
- We send a fixed quote for the build. You can also build any part yourself.
12Appendix: method and sources
How we estimate
- Volumes and times come from the interview. Time saved is the time today minus the time the new way takes, including checking the AI’s work.
- Hours are valued at your own rates when you give them; otherwise $75 an hour for owners and $30 for office staff.
- Jobs won back and revenue from faster answers are listed but never added to the totals.
- Usage-based costs (AI credits, automation tasks) are estimated from published rates; the first month’s bill replaces the estimate.
Sources
- Microsoft 365, Copilot, Copilot Studio and Power Automate prices: Microsoft’s pricing and licensing pages
- Outside services: each vendor’s pricing page
- Microsoft prices verified September 25, 2026; other services checked September 25, 2026.
Prices can change. Time savings and costs are estimates, not guarantees.