What is a quote app and how does it work
Still writing quotes on paper or in Excel? See how a quote app changes the way you present prices, close jobs, and get paid.
What a quote app actually is
A quote app is a tool for creating, sending, and managing professional quotes straight from your phone or laptop. Instead of scribbling a price on the back of an invoice book, opening Excel, or texting loose figures, you've a platform that organises everything: materials, labour, quantities, unit prices, and the total.
For tradespeople, electricians, plumbers, painters, builders, a quote app solves one specific problem: the time lost between finishing a site visit and actually getting the quote to the client. The longer that gap, the lower your chance of landing the job.
The idea is simple: instead of getting home after a long day and sitting down to type up quotes, you sort it on your phone between jobs. The client gets a professional document with your branding, materials itemised, and clear payment terms.
This isn't just a spreadsheet with extra steps. A proper quote app has things Excel will never do: sending via a WhatsApp link, a notification when the client opens it, acceptance online, and clear payment instructions built in.
How it works in practice
The process is straightforward. Open the app on your phone, start a new quote, and fill in the details: client, materials, quantities, prices. Some apps make you type it all in by hand. Others, like Prummo, let you dictate it by voice instead. Say "15 metres of 2.5mm cable at 3.80 a metre" and Prummo turns it into a quote line with description, quantity, unit price, and total.
Once the quote's built, you send it on. With older tools, that usually means generating a PDF and attaching it to an email. With Prummo, you tap "Send via WhatsApp" and the client gets a link that opens on a professional page. No PDFs, no downloads, nothing to install.
The client opens the link, sees the full quote laid out clearly, and can accept it directly. You get a notification the moment they do, and payment is arranged between you, by bank transfer or cash.
The whole process, from dictating the quote to the client seeing it on WhatsApp, takes about a minute. Compare that to the 30 or 45 minutes you'd normally lose to Excel at the end of a long day.
What changes compared to paper and Excel
The most obvious difference is time. A quote that takes half an hour in Excel is ready in about a minute by voice. But there are other differences that matter more to your business.
First, speed of response. The first tradesperson to send a polished quote usually wins the job. If a client's asked three different people for prices, whoever gets back first with something professional-looking has a real edge. With an app, you can send the quote while you're still on site or driving to the next job.
Second, presentation. A quote scrawled on paper or sent as a rough text message looks amateurish. A proper page with your branding, materials itemised, and clear pricing conveys confidence. The client feels they're dealing with someone organised.
Third, clarity around payment. With paper and Excel, the client says yes over text and then you have to sort payment separately, often a bit awkwardly. With an app like Prummo, the client accepts the quote and sees exactly how to pay, by bank transfer or cash, in the same place.
Fourth, tracking. You know when the client's opened the quote, whether they've accepted it, or if it's still sitting there unread. No more ringing up to ask "did you get a chance to look at that quote?"
Why Prummo is built differently
Most quote apps were designed for office-based businesses: long forms, dashboards with fifty different options, monthly plans at €20 or €30. None of that suits someone who's on site all day and needs to fire off a quote between jobs.
Prummo was built from the ground up for tradespeople. It works by voice: talk through the job and Prummo sorts it into a proper quote automatically. Nothing to install, it runs directly in your phone's browser. And it costs €0 a month, forever.
Quotes go out over WhatsApp, where your clients already are. They get a link, open it, and see a professional page with your branding. They accept it directly, and payment is settled between you by bank transfer or cash, whichever you've agreed. You keep the full amount, there's no processing cut taken out of your quote.
Prummo makes its money from optional paid plans, not from a slice of your payments. What you quote is what you get.
If you've ever lost a job because the quote took too long to reach the client, or because it looked scrappy next to a competitor's, Prummo fixes that in about a minute.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to install an app?
No. Prummo runs in your phone's browser, like a website. Just open it and start using it. The client doesn't need to install anything either to view and accept the quote.
Does a quote app replace my accountant?
No. The app handles building, sending, and getting quotes accepted. Your VAT, invoicing, and Revenue filings still go through your accountant or you sort them yourself, but having your quotes organised digitally makes that job easier.
What if I'm not great with phones or apps?
If you can talk, you can use Prummo. Press a button, describe the job, and the quote's ready. Nothing to configure, no menus to learn. Within a couple of minutes you'll have sent your first quote.