The Problem That Kept Getting Pushed to Next Week - Until I Fixed It (Before My Client Asked)
Some of the most useful things I do for clients never appear on a to-do list.
Jennifer, the founder and interior designer behind Feioi, had always done her own quotes. It made sense - she knew her rates, her variables, her work better than anyone. But over time, that meant the quoting process sat entirely with her, every time. She was the bottleneck, and she knew it. She'd even blocked time in her diary for a few weeks running to sort it out. But each time, client work took priority instead. That's not avoidance. That's just what it looks like to run a client-facing business well, where your own back-office keeps finishing last.
On Monday morning, she mentioned it in passing on our weekly call. By Monday afternoon, she had a tool.
The Problem
Jennifer's quoting had got complicated in ways that crept up on her gradually. Her work isn't always just handing over a design - sometimes she works alongside a Project Manager, and that changes everything. More involvement. More back-and-forth. A longer relationship with the project. And she hadn't been properly accounting for that in her quotes, which meant she was absorbing that time silently.
On top of that, some projects include a survey as an add-on - either completed by Jennifer herself if it's local, or via a third party if the project is further afield. Each option carries different costs, including VAT implications that need to be handled consistently.
None of this was impossible to calculate. She knew the variables. But holding all of them in her head every time, for every quote, was the kind of low-level cognitive load that quietly costs founders more than they realise - in time, in accuracy, and in the energy spent on something that should just be a process.
What I Built
A custom Google Sheets quoting tool. Clean, fast, built around how she actually works.
It has two tabs.
The Quote tab is where a job starts. Client name, project description, survey type, and a dropdown for whether a Project Manager is involved. That last one matters - it's the variable that changes the scope and cost of Jennifer's time most significantly, and it now gets accounted for from the very first line.
The Line Items tab is where the detail lives. Tick boxes for each relevant item in the project scope. As she checks them off, the tool auto-populates a total, pulling from standard hours averaged across Jennifer's real client quotes - so every line item starts from a consistent, informed baseline rather than a fresh calculation each time. Pricing is standardised across the board, but individual figures can still be adjusted where a specific project calls for it. Survey costs calculate conditionally based on whether it's a local job or third-party, with VAT handled automatically.
When a quote is done, a small script resets all the checkboxes so the sheet is clean and ready for the next one.
The Detail That Matters Most
I made two decisions Jennifer didn't ask for.
The first: the standardised line item pricing is set above her current rates. The tool is built around where she should be heading, not just where she is now - so when she's ready to raise her prices, the groundwork is already done.
The second: I built my own time into the tool at Jennifer's rate. If a project ends up needing more of my input than expected, her quote already accounts for it. No shortfall. No awkward revision conversation with a client after the fact. It just works.
Neither of those things were on the brief. They were just what I noticed needed to be true for the tool to actually protect her.
The Bigger Unlock
Here's what the tool actually made possible, beyond just being faster.
Because the logic is now standardised and documented, Jennifer no longer has to be the one who runs every quote. I can prepare them on her behalf - she just reviews and sends. The bottleneck isn't just smaller. It's optional.
That's the difference between improving a process and removing yourself from it entirely.
Jennifer said it better than I could:
"Quoting is one of my least favourite tasks. It used to take me far too long, and I always felt like I was getting it wrong. To say this quoting tool has changed my life would be an understatement! I couldn't see a way around it but Sadie, who is so brilliant at proactively spotting and solving problems like this, created a solution I couldn't even have imagined. Not only has my quoting become faster and easier, but it also feels more accurate, allowing me to feel confident about my pricing. It has been a huge time saver and taken a significant weight off my shoulders. Thank you, Sadie!"
- Jennifer, Feioi
Why This Matters
A few weeks of blocked-out diary time. One thing she kept meaning to fix and kept not fixing, because it required a kind of focused thinking that's hard to give to your own back-office when clients are waiting.
I heard it on a Monday call, recognised what it actually was - not just an admin task but a pricing and capacity problem that was costing her money - and built the solution the same day.
That's not because I'm particularly fast. It's because this is what I was already paying attention to. Noticing the thing that hasn't been named yet, and then doing something about it, is what I mean when I say I'm More Than Admin.
