12d • Business & Strategy 🧠
quoted $900 for quote comparison - took 11 hours and learned expensive lesson about vendor formats 🙏
Client: "automate comparing vendor quotes. we get 5-8 monthly. just extract to spreadsheet"
me: "yeah extraction and logging. $900"
THE REALITY:
opened their email. vendor quotes in completely different formats:
- excel screenshots converted to pdf
- scanned faxed quotes (yes in 2024 lol)
- multi-page with pricing buried on page 3
- handwritten quotes from local suppliers
took 11 hours rebuilding extraction 4 times. made $81/hour when i thought 3 hours easy money.
THE PAINFUL PART:
had to rebuild logic 4 times:
- attempt 1: failed on scanned (too faded)
- attempt 2: failed on multi-page (wrong totals)
- attempt 3: failed on handwritten (couldn't read names)
- attempt 4: finally worked on everything
WHAT I LEARNED:
vendor quotes have ZERO standard format:
- pricing: per unit vs total vs volume discounts
- delivery: "3 weeks" vs "21 days" vs calendar dates
- payment terms: buried in footnotes, headers, separate emails
"simple quote extraction" is a lie.
THE TURNAROUND:
built it as reusable template. deployed to 3 more clients at $1,800 each.
first client: lost $900 underpricing
next 3: earned $5,400
net: $4,500 profit from painful lesson
THE PRICING FIX:
don't quote document count ("5-8 quotes monthly")
quote format variations ("how many different vendors?")
5 vendors identical formats: $1,200
5 vendors different formats: $2,500+
now i ask for 3 messiest quotes first. show live extraction on THEIR chaos. sold immediately.
workflow: email → extract vendor/items/pricing/terms → comparison sheet → confirmation
json attached
what project did you severely underquote that taught valuable lessons?
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quoted $900 for quote comparison - took 11 hours and learned expensive lesson about vendor formats 🙏
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