Guide
Grok Bot for contractors and remodelers: your first 3 bots
Updated · by Rosh Perera
If you run a contracting, remodeling or flooring business and already have Grok Bot, start with three bots, not a big team: estimate drafts from the photos customers send, follow-ups for estimates that went quiet, and a Friday update for each client with a job on. Each one writes drafts, and nothing reaches a customer until you approve it. Grok Bot facts here come from xAI's Grok Bot docs and changelog and Cursor's Grok Bot help, checked 18 Oct 2026. Plumbing, HVAC, roofing, electrical, cleaning or landscaping? See the first 3 bots for your trade instead. Want a pick for your exact business? Try our free What should my bot do? planner. We're an independent site, not part of xAI.
Pick your first 3 bots in 5 quick questions →The first 3 bots for your trade →What to hand to an agent first
Bot 1: estimate drafts from customer photos
When a customer sends photos of a job, the Bot describes the likely work, matches it to your price list and drafts a quote range for you to approve before the customer sees it. That's our quotes from photos template. Grok Bot can read images, PDFs, and Word and Excel files you attach, so give it your price list as a file (xAI's Files and results docs). On iPhone, you can share a photo from another app straight into a Bot chat (xAI's Files and results docs). You set the final price. Site visits, measurements and anything structural stay with you.
Bot 2: follow-ups for estimates that went quiet
Once a day, the Bot finds leads who haven't heard from you in 3 or more days, in your email or CRM, and drafts a short follow-up with one clear next step, listed for your approval. That's our lead follow-up template. Connect only the inbox it needs and keep drafts on: an email draft waits on a card for Send or Discard (Grok Bot changelog). Our Gmail guide walks through the connection, drafts only.
Bot 3: a Friday update for each client with a job on
Every Friday, the Bot drafts one email per active client: what got done this week, what's next and anything you need from them, such as a decision on finishes or a site-access date. That's our weekly client update template. Give it your job notes and photos to work from, and tell it never to promise dates or prices you haven't given it.
Run all three through one daily list
Have each Bot hold its drafts, and add our daily approval list template so you approve, edit or reject them in one numbered list. An approval raised by a routine expires after about 10 minutes, and the action doesn't run (xAI's Approvals docs), so a list you check after work is safer than cards you might miss on site. Our Grok Bot approvals guide covers the rest.
Set the schedules on purpose
Ask the Bot that owns the job to create the routine, and confirm the schedule and time zone (xAI's Skills and routines docs). Each run spends usage, and an hourly schedule or a Slack trigger on a busy channel can use a week of usage in a day (Grok Bot help: Routines). Our templates run the follow-ups daily, the client updates on Fridays and the approval list on weekday afternoons.
Test each one before it runs on its own
Use Test run after you create or edit a routine. A test run does real work, so test with a finished job, not a live customer, and check it stopped at the approval point (xAI's Skills and routines docs). Run each Bot for a week, approve every draft and add each edit to its instructions. Then add the next one.
Later: invoices and posts from job photos
Once the first three run clean, two more templates fit project work: an invoice chaser that drafts polite reminders for unpaid invoices every Monday, and social posts drafted from your own job photos. Both stay drafts-first. Letting a friendly first reminder go out without review is an optional upgrade, not the default.
Estimates going quiet while you're on site?
The pack has quotes from customer photos, estimate follow-ups and an invoice chaser pre-written, copy-paste, no code. Drafts only: nothing reaches a customer until you approve it.
Get the contractor routines · $29$29 one-time, plus local tax where it applies.
14-day money-back guarantee: reply to your receipt within 14 days for a full refund.
Quotes are ranges from your own price list. You confirm the final price, and permit, code and safety questions stay with you.
Rather have the estimate bot set up for you? $149 setup →Ready-made use cases
- 01Quotes from customer photos
Customers text photos; the agent drafts a quote range from your price list for you to confirm.
~4h/week · estimate - 02Never miss a lead follow-up
The agent checks your CRM or inbox for leads that went quiet and drafts the next follow-up.
~4h/week · estimate - 03Weekly client status updates
The agent writes each client a clear progress update from your tasks and messages.
~3h/week · estimate - 04One daily list of drafts to approve
Your bots hold every email, message and post they write as a draft. Once a day (or once a week) you get one numbered list and answer approve, edit or reject for each. Nothing goes out unapproved.
~1h/week · estimate - 05Invoice chaser, with your OK on every reminder
Every Monday the agent lists unpaid invoices and drafts polite, escalating reminders. You approve each one before it sends. Sending friendly first reminders without review is an optional upgrade.
~2h/week · estimate
Example: Grok Bot setup
Grok Bot routine: Quotes from customer photos Schedule: On new photo request When a customer sends photos of a job, describe the likely work, match it to my price list and draft a quote range with what's included. Send it to me to approve before the customer sees it. Rules: draft first, never send or post anything external without my approval. Keep summaries short.
Grok Bot, ChatGPT, Claude and n8n versions: all templates
Setup steps
- Make Bot 1 with a short name and one primary job (xAI's Get started docs), and tell it the job in your first message (Grok Bot help: Onboarding): draft quote ranges from customer photos and my price list, for my approval.
- Attach your price list as a PDF or spreadsheet, then test the Bot on photos from a finished job.
- Make Bot 2 for estimate follow-ups. Connect only your work inbox and keep drafts on.
- Make Bot 3 for Friday client updates from your job notes.
- Add the daily approval list, run all three for a week and approve every draft before you add anything else.
Keep these human
- Quotes are ranges from your own price list. You confirm the final price, scope and schedule, and you do the site visit.
- Keep permit, code, structural and safety questions with you. A Bot can draft a holding reply, never the answer.
- Your Bots share one cloud computer, and browser sessions on it are available to every Bot, so a site one Bot is signed in to is open to the others (xAI's Approvals docs). Keep bank and supplier payment logins off it at the start.
- Never paste a password or one-time code in chat. Sign in yourself with Take over, then choose I'm done (xAI's Approvals docs).
- Customers should always be able to reach you. Tell every Bot to pass complaints, damage claims and money disputes to you with the original message.
- Start in draft mode: the agent prepares, you approve, then you loosen the leash routine by routine.
Estimate drafts, follow-ups and invoice chasers, pre-written. Get the contractor routines · $29 →
Want the whole system pre-written?
The One-Person AI Business Pack: CEO agent + workers, all 46 routines in 4 formats, your role pack.
$29 one-time, plus local tax where it applies.
Next: Whop checkout. $29 one-time, plus local tax where it applies, paid by card on Whop. Files arrive by email.
14-day money-back guarantee: reply to your receipt within 14 days for a full refund.
Built by Rosh Perera, who has set up AI automations for more than 40 businesses over about 3 years.
FAQ
What should a contractor use Grok Bot for first?
Three drafts-first jobs: estimate drafts from customer photos, follow-ups for quiet estimates, and a Friday update for each client with a job on. Run them through one daily approval list so nothing reaches a customer without your OK.
Can Grok Bot read the photos customers send?
Yes, as attachments. Grok Bot accepts images, PDFs, and Word and Excel files, and on iPhone you can share a photo from another app into a Bot chat (xAI's Files and results docs). It drafts a quote range from your price list; you set the final price.
Will it send estimates to customers on its own?
Not if you keep drafts on. Email drafts wait on a card for Send or Discard (Grok Bot changelog), and you can add an Ask first rule for external email in Settings → General → Auto-review (xAI's Approvals docs).
How often should these bots run?
Less often than you might think. Each run spends usage, and an hourly schedule can use a week of usage in a day (Grok Bot help: Routines). Our templates run estimate follow-ups daily, client updates on Fridays and the approval list on weekday afternoons.
I run a plumbing, HVAC or cleaning business. Is this for me?
Those trades have their own pages: see the first 3 bots for your trade, which cover plumbers, HVAC, electricians, cleaners and landscapers. This guide is for general contractors, remodelers, flooring and similar project work.