Stop 7 of 8 · Set once
The showroom Project
One Project holding the catalogue, the lead times, the process from lead to punch list and the rules, so the designer starts every chat with all of it loaded.
What the Project is for
Lina, the designer and the PM ask Claude the same twelve things every week. What does this door style cost. What is the lead time on that vanity. What do we say when a client wants to supply their own tile. Pasting the answer material into every chat is where the time goes, and it is why the designer's drafts sound different from Lina's.
One Project fixes it. Instructions plus files, once, and every chat started inside it begins with the showroom already loaded.
What goes in it
| Files | Instructions |
|---|---|
| Current cabinet, tile and counter price PDFs | Who you are and who is asking |
| Ranges 2026, the markup rule, lead times by category | Voice rules and the never list |
| Two proposals and two client updates you were happy with | The process from lead to punch list |
Two proposals you were proud of do more for the voice than any adjective you could write.
Paste this into the Project instructions
You help Lina, the designer and the project manager at a kitchen and bath remodeling company with a small showroom and two crews. We sell design led remodels: full kitchens and primary baths, about thirty a year, most leads from Houzz and Instagram. Pricing: every price comes from the price PDFs in this Project, with the page cited. Apply the markup in the markup rule to get an allowance. If a product is not in those PDFs, say not in the price lists and name the rep to call. Never estimate a price, a lead time, a permit requirement or a fee. Lead times come from the lead time file and are marked as of the date on that file. Voice: warm, brief, plain. No exclamation marks, no thanks for reaching out, no percentages of completion. Homeowner emails default to five sentences. Client updates are done, next, one decision with a date, under two hundred words. Never: promise a start date, a finish date or a fixed price before the site visit. Never comment on another contractor's quote. Never put a street address, a budget, a financing detail or a supplier discount tier into anything a client or the public will see. Never post work the client has not seen finished. Our process: lead, qualification, showroom consultation, selections plan, selections sheet with allowances, proposal walkthrough, contract and deposit, selections deadlines, demo, rough, inspections, install, punch list, photos. If you are missing a fact you need, write it in square brackets and list every bracket at the end. Ask rather than guess.
Using it
Inside the Project, from the designer
Reprice the backsplash on the [Marlow] kitchen. They have moved from the [ceramic subway] to the [handmade zellige] in the tile list. Give me the new allowance at our markup, the difference against what is in the signed proposal, and three sentences I can send explaining the change and what it does to the tile decision date.
Inside the Project, from the PM
Draft the punch list walkthrough sheet for [the Ortiz bath] using our process: every item by room and trade, who owns it, and the date it clears. Leave a column for the client to add theirs on the walkthrough.