# Create and send Service Autopilot estimates from site visit notes

> Turn site visit notes into a Service Autopilot estimate with the right services and prices, then email the proposal link once you approve it.

Source: https://cotlet.dev/integrations/service-autopilot-api-mcp-server/create-and-send-estimates

The salesperson walks the property, writes "cleanup, 6 yards mulch, maybe edging" in a notes app, and the estimate only reaches the customer that evening, after someone rebuilds it line by line in CRM > Estimates.

Cotlet does it in your own Service Autopilot account with search\_clients, add\_client, list\_estimates, create\_estimate and send\_estimate, called by your AI agent, an n8n workflow or a script.

[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=service-autopilot) [All Service Autopilot tools](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/service-autopilot-api-mcp-server)

Hosted · nothing to install or maintain

Official options

## Can Service Autopilot do this on its own?

Service Autopilot has no public API for estimates, and the QuickBooks sync does not carry them (checked 12 Oct 2026). In the app, the View My Proposal page handles online approval, and on Pro Plus an Automation on the Estimate was sent trigger can follow up. Both cover what happens after sending. Turning loose field notes into line items from your own service list is still typed by hand.

By hand

## How you do it in Service Autopilot today

1. Go to CRM > Estimates (toggle to Beta at the top if needed), select Add Estimate, pick the account, and choose an Estimate Template if you use one.
2. On the Line Items tab, pick each Package, Service or Product from the dropdown, set the quantity, and add another Option section for a Good, Better, Best choice.
3. Check the Preview tab, which follows your Estimate Settings, and select Finish.
4. Open the estimate number from the list and send it by Email or Print; the client email carries the \[quotelink\] merge tag that opens the View My Proposal page.
5. The notes and the price list live in different places, so every estimate is retyped, and a busy week leaves several sitting in Draft.

With an agent

## How to create and send Service Autopilot estimates from site visit notes

Prompt

```
Build an estimate for the Hendersons at 12 Oak Lane from my site visit notes: spring cleanup $250, 6 yards of mulch at $35 a yard, and offer edging at $60 as an option. Show it to me, then email it.
```

1. 01  
### Find the account, or create a lead  
Your agent searches by street address first, since site visits are booked by property, then by name. A new prospect is added with add\_client as type lead, because Service Autopilot estimates work for leads and a lead is only converted once the work is won.
2. 02  
### Check for an open estimate  
list\_estimates for that account shows whether a draft or a sent estimate for the same work already exists. If one does, the agent asks whether to replace it rather than sending the customer a second, different price.
3. 03  
### Translate the notes into your services  
Each note becomes a line item on a service from your account: "6 yards mulch" becomes your Mulch service with quantity 6\. Optional work goes into the estimate message as a separate choice. Anything without a matching service or a price is listed as a question, never priced by guess.
4. 04  
### Show the total before it goes out  
create\_estimate saves the estimate without sending it, and the agent reports the line items and total so you can catch a wrong quantity while the estimate is still a draft.
5. 05  
### Send on your word  
send\_estimate emails the client with your estimate email template once you approve. A lead with no email address on file is reported instead, so you can print the estimate or add the address.

### What you get back

Example data

```
Estimate E-20418 for Dana Henderson, 12 Oak Lane (client)
Spring cleanup: 1 x $250.00
Mulch: 6 yards x $35.00 = $210.00
Optional, in the estimate message: Edging $60.00
Total: $460.00, saved as a draft, emailed after your OK to dana@example.com
Open question: "trim the hedges?" has no matching service, left out
```

### Other ways to ask

- Make estimates for the four properties I visited today from these notes and keep them all as drafts until I look.
- Resend every estimate from the last two weeks that is still in Estimate Sent, with a short note that spring slots are filling.
- Copy last year's fall cleanup estimate for the Parks and raise each price by 5 percent before sending.

Before you automate it

## What Service Autopilot allows, and what to know first

- Service Autopilot moves an estimate through the built-in stages Draft, Estimate Sent, Closed - Won and Closed - Lost on its own, and you can rename them, for example to Won - Needs Scheduling.
- The Service Autopilot client email for an estimate must include the \[quotelink\] merge tag, which opens the View My Proposal page where the client picks services, approves and can sign.
- Service Autopilot can send an automatic confirmation email after a client accepts an estimate online, set up as a separate Confirmation Email document under Settings > CRM > Documents.
- Service Autopilot Automations, part of the Pro Plus plan, have Estimate was created, Estimate was sent, Estimate was won and Estimate was lost triggers, which is how native follow-up emails and texts start.
- The Service Autopilot help center advises against deleting lost estimates: bulk edit them on the Estimate List to a stage such as Lost - Re-contact and reach out again in a month or a quarter.

send\_estimate asks for your OK by default. To run it on a schedule without you, switch confirmation off for that tool in your dashboard.

Sources: [Service Autopilot Help: Beta New Estimates, Add an Estimate](https://support.serviceautopilot.com/s/article/Beta-New-Estimates-Add-an-Estimate) · [Service Autopilot Help: Estimate Stages](https://support.serviceautopilot.com/s/article/Estimate-Stages-1730407312326) · [Service Autopilot Help: Create Estimate Emails](https://support.serviceautopilot.com/s/article/Create-Estimate-Emails-1730407302708) · [Service Autopilot Help: Automation Trigger Categories](https://support.serviceautopilot.com/s/article/Automation-Trigger-Categories-1730407314853)

REST

## Call create\_estimate from a script

curl

```
curl https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/service-autopilot/create_estimate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"client_id":"4410382","items":[{"service":"Spring cleanup","quantity":1,"price":"250.00"},{"service":"Mulch","quantity":6,"price":"35.00"}],"notes":"Optional: edging along the front beds, $60.00."}'
```

Example response

```
{
"estimate_id": "E-20418",
"client_id": "4410382",
"total": "450.00",
"status": "created"
}
```

MCP: add https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1 with the same key; the tool is service-autopilot\_create\_estimate. Example data.

[Schedule it in n8n, Make, Zapier or cron](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/service-autopilot-api-mcp-server#automations)

Tools

## Service Autopilot tools this automation uses

__Cotlet Service Autopilot tools used to create and send Service Autopilot estimates from site visit notes__
| Tool | Parameters |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| search\_clients | query, type, limit |
| add\_client | name, address, email, phone, type, notes |
| list\_estimates | client\_id, since, limit |
| create\_estimate | client\_id, items, notes |
| send\_estimate | estimate\_id |

[All 14 Service Autopilot tools with descriptions](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/service-autopilot-api-mcp-server#tools)

## More Service Autopilot automations

- [Add a Service Autopilot client and set up recurring mowing](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/service-autopilot-api-mcp-server/add-client-and-recurring-job)
- [Reschedule Service Autopilot jobs after rain](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/service-autopilot-api-mcp-server/reschedule-jobs-after-rain)
- [Service Autopilot API and MCP server: every tool](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/service-autopilot-api-mcp-server)
- [All use cases](https://cotlet.dev/use-cases)

## Give your agent access to Service Autopilot.

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[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=service-autopilot)