Use your existing tools or build custom automation?

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Write a single sentence with a trigger, an input, an action, and a finished state. For example: when an estimate is marked sent, create an approved follow-up task, stop it when the customer replies, and show the owner the current outcome. Keep promising ideas for other workflows on a separate list.

Then add the cases that change the answer: a duplicate, a late reply, missing information, a manually edited record, and an unavailable connection. A demonstration of the normal case is useful, but it does not establish that the whole workflow is covered.

• Name the record that determines current status and who owns it.
• Specify the required action and the evidence that it finished correctly.
• Name decisions a person must make, such as price, eligibility, availability, or an exception.
• List the ways the process must pause, stop, and recover.

Check the current documentation and the features available in your actual account and plan. Search for the trigger and outcome, not just the word AI: reminders, assignment rules, templates, approval steps, workflow builders, imports, and reports may solve the task. Ask the vendor to demonstrate your exception cases if the documentation leaves them unclear.

Record what works, what requires an upgrade, and what remains manual. A small manual review can be a good trade when it happens rarely. A limitation matters most when it blocks a required business action or repeatedly makes someone rebuild the same context.

For example, Jobber documents quote reminders and a custom automation builder. If that is your team's system, start with the official guides below and confirm the features available in your account. Treat reply handling and failure recovery as behaviors to test, rather than assuming a product includes every possible case.

Official documentation: Jobber: Automations · Jobber: Custom Automation Builder

Do not buy a custom copy of a feature until you have checked whether the current product can do it. Product capabilities and plan limits change; verify the account you will actually use.

Use the following as evaluation questions, not a ranking of technologies. A connector can be enough for a simple handoff. A custom build may be justified when the required logic, review experience, or recovery process cannot be expressed reliably with the available settings.

Compare the setup cost alongside recurring software, usage, monitoring, human review, and changes when a connected system moves. Include training and the time required to investigate a failed run. An option with a lower initial quote may still require more attention from your team.

Use your own observed volume and handling time. Estimate time saved only for steps the proposed workflow actually removes, then subtract review and exception time. If you translate that time into a dollar estimate, label the labor rate and assumptions. Reclaimed time is not automatically cash saved, and a faster reminder is not automatically a new sale.

• One-time configuration or build price and the acceptance checks it includes.
• Required subscription tier, connector fees, usage charges, and how limits are monitored.
• Owner of access, credentials, billing, records, and the finished configuration.
• Support arrangement, failure alerts, and the manual fallback.
• Cost of future changes, plus export and handoff options if you stop using it.

Before approving a custom phase, describe the exact behavior your current setup cannot deliver. Ask for a small demonstration or acceptance plan that covers that gap, including an interruption and a retry. Agree on what will count as done and what the provider will leave in your control.

For an estimate follow-up workflow, the test might be: detect a reply that arrived in the connected inbox, stop the pending message, assign a human response, and retain the source link. If a native feature already passes that test, configuring it may be the whole project. If a connector can satisfy the missing step, scope that step alone.

• Normal case produces the correct action and a visible record.
• Duplicate input or a retry does not create duplicate customer-facing work.
• Changed source data and stop conditions are respected before action.
• A failed connection creates an actionable alert and recoverable state.
• A teammate can run, pause, and review the workflow using the handoff instructions.

Download the plain-text template and paste it into a shared document, or copy the version below. Fill it in with your team. No email address or account is required.

Download: Configure, connect, or build decision worksheet (.txt) ↓

CONFIGURE, CONNECT, OR BUILD DECISION WORKSHEET

Workflow / decision owner:
Decision date:

1. THE JOB
When [trigger]:
Use [input and source of truth]:
To [required action]:
Done means [observable result]:
Human decisions:
Exceptions and stop rules:

2. CURRENT PRODUCT CHECK
Product / account plan:
Official documentation checked / date:
Built-in feature tested:
Works today:
Requires a different plan:
Specific required behavior still missing:
Manual work we are comfortable keeping:

3. COMPARE OPTIONS (COPY FOR EACH)
Option: built-in / connector / custom
Required behavior covered:
Behavior not covered:
One-time cost:
Recurring subscription and usage costs:
Human review and exception time:
Failure alerts / manual fallback:
Support and maintenance owner:
Accounts, data, configuration ownership:
Exit / export / handoff:

4. PROOF BEFORE APPROVAL
Normal case:
Duplicate and retry:
Changed source data / reply before scheduled action:
Connection unavailable:
Run, pause, and review by a teammate:
For each: expected result / observed result / pass or fix.

5. DECISION
Smallest option that passes required checks:
Specific reason for this choice:
Estimated time removed per run:
Review and exception time added:
Observed monthly volume / observation period:
Assumptions that still need testing:
Next review date and owner:

Send the task, your current tools, and the one behavior you cannot get working. Adam can review whether configuration is enough and scope custom work only around an actual gap.

A one-on-one AI setup session is $295; team working sessions start at $950. Full custom automations start at $2,500. Scope, fixed phase pricing, and completion checks are agreed before custom work starts; software subscriptions and usage charges are separate.

Review a configure-or-build decision ↗

See scope and pricing · See setup sessions

Related capabilities

• AI setup and working sessions
• Scope, pricing, and payment approach

Keep planning

• The inquiry-to-estimate handoff checklist
• Plan your first small-business automation