AI vs Spreadsheets: Which Actually Protects Your Margins?

Spreadsheets are familiar.

But familiar doesn't mean reliable.

Most quoting spreadsheets fail because:

• pricing isn't updated
• items are missing
• labour assumptions change
• templates get copied incorrectly
• the quote takes too long to build

The real question

It's not "AI vs spreadsheet."

It's:

Do you have a repeatable system that holds under pressure?

Where AI actually helps

AI helps when it:

• turns job descriptions into structured line items
• matches those items to a pricing library
• standardises the output
• reduces forgotten items

AI isn't useful if it guesses prices.

It's useful when it uses your pricing as the source.

The takeaway

If spreadsheets are making quoting slow and inconsistent, margins will suffer.