Voice quotes: how dictating your quote on site works

The problem it solves

Several days often pass between visiting the client and sending the quote. That delay costs you: you forget an item, you're unsure about a floor area, and in the meantime the client has received another quote. A voice quote doesn't change your trade; it removes the step where you have to type everything up again.

How it works in practice

1. You dictate. During or just after the visit, you describe the work out loud, as you would explain it to a colleague: “remove the old tiles in the bathroom, six square metres, waterproofing under the tiles, lay 60 by 60 porcelain stoneware at 55 euros per square metre”.
2. The quote is written up. Each piece of work becomes a line, with a professional description, a unit and a quantity. The work is set out in the actual order of the job — removal before laying — and room by room when you've described several.
3. You check it and price it. Prices you stated while dictating, excluding tax and in euros, are carried over to their line and flagged “Prix dicté” (dictated price) so that you check them. The others come from your price list; any line still without a price is flagged, and you fill it in.
4. The client signs. On the spot, with a finger on your phone, or later after you send it by email.

What the app does — and what it doesn't

It writes

MonDevisIA draws on twenty libraries of descriptions, one per trade, totalling more than 1,900 reference items. That's what turns “I'm redoing the waterproofing” into a description that your client, their insurer or an expert will all read the same way.

It doesn't make up your prices

This is a design rule, not a technical limitation. A price is a commitment: it comes from you — from what you stated while dictating, or from your price list — never from an estimate. An amount is only carried over if it was spoken, in euros; an item without a price is flagged “à compléter” (to be completed), not guessed. You stay in control of what you sell, and at what rate.

It doesn't decide for you

The generated quote is a draft. You can edit every line, add lines or remove them — using the keyboard, or by voice: “add removal of the washbasin”, “change the bathroom to eight square metres”.

Dictating well: five habits

• One room at a time. “In the kitchen… then in the bathroom…”: the quote follows the same breakdown.
• Quantities. Areas, lengths, number of units. An item without a quantity defaults to “1”.
• What actually changes. “I'm replacing the tiles” implies removing the old ones; “I'm laying tiles” doesn't. Say what you're doing.
• Your trade vocabulary. Levelling compound, skirting boards, screed, render: building terminology is recognised, so there's no need to simplify it.
• Your prices, when you have them in mind. State them excluding tax and in euros, item by item: “wall tiles at 45 euros per square metre”, “the shower for 3,200 euros”. They are carried over to the line. A price stated including tax, a price range, or a number said without “euros” is not carried over: you'll enter that price yourself.

No signal, any language

A basement or stairwell with no signal won't stop you: the dictation is saved on the phone and processed as soon as the connection returns. And you can dictate in your own language — fourteen are recognised: the quote comes out in French. We've devoted a whole article to this.

A compliant quote, without having to think about it

The document produced includes the required information: company details, TVA (French VAT) status, insurance, statutory guarantees, consumer mediator, and the withdrawal form annex when the quote is signed at the client's home. The full list is in our article on mandatory quote information.

And after the quote

An accepted quote opens a job file: the pre-work condition report, photos, handover report (procès-verbal de réception), deposit and final invoices are all filed there in order. Nothing is re-entered from one document to the next.

Frequently asked questions