ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Grok? How they work, and how to make them work for you.
They’re more alike than the ads suggest. What makes the difference is what you give them: your information, clear direction and a framework to stay inside. Here’s the plain-English version.
Start with the job, not the engine
Every use of AI in a business comes down to the same six questions. Answer them first and the right tool, or no AI at all, gets obvious.
What goes in
A phone call, an email, a photo, your site notes? AI is good with messy input that's different every time.
What comes out
A reply, a summary, an estimate, a booking? The clearer the finished thing, the better it does.
How often
Something you do twice a year isn't worth building. Something you do ten times a day is.
What a mistake costs
A typo in a reminder is nothing. A wrong price is real money. That decides how much checking it needs.
Who checks it
Every job needs a person who signs off, at least until it's earned trust.
Where your information lives
Price lists, service areas, past jobs. If it's only in your head, that's the first thing to get out.
We go through these with you for each job in your business, and tell you straight when AI isn't the answer.
Pick by testing on your own work, not by the ads
The four you hear about most are made by different companies, but they work the same way and share the same strengths and weak spots.
ChatGPT
by OpenAI
Claude
by Anthropic
Gemini
by Google
Grok
by xAI
What they have in common
They read and write
Text for all of them, and most also take photos, documents and voice.
They predict, they don't look things up
Answers come from patterns learned in training. That's why they can sound sure and still be wrong.
They don't know your business
Not your prices, your services or your rules, until you give them that information.
They forget unless set up to remember
Most conversations start fresh. A system built around your information doesn't.
They have privacy settings
Business plans and settings decide whether what you type is kept or used for training. Check before you paste customer details.
They keep leapfrogging each other
The best one for a job this month may not be next month. Test them on your own work, not the ads.
We test the engines on your real messages and jobs, and use the one that does each job best.
It understands a lot. It fills the gaps with guesses.
It has read an enormous amount of writing and learned how words and ideas fit together. When you ask it something, it writes the most likely good answer, word by word. That’s why it can follow what you mean, and why, when you leave something out, it fills the gap with whatever sounds right.
Good at
- Reading a long, messy message and pulling out what matters
- Writing a first draft in your tone
- Following clear rules and a checklist
- Answering from information you've given it
Where it goes wrong
- Filling gaps with a confident guess
- Making up a price, a date or a policy you never gave it
- Drifting off the job when the request is vague
- Treating every customer the same when they aren't
Everything on the right has the same fix: give it your information and clear rules, and keep a person checking.
Give it a framework so it stays on the job
A prompt is just what you tell it. The more direction you give, and the more of its questions you answer, the more it stays inside the lines instead of going its own way.
Vague
Write a reply to this customer.
It has to guess your prices, your tone, what you offer and what to say next. It will, confidently.
With a framework
You’re the office manager for a fence company in Maple Ridge. Reply to the customer below. Only use the prices and service areas in the list I’ve pasted. If they ask about anything not on it, say we’ll call them back. Keep it under 80 words and friendly, and end by offering two times for a site visit. Ask me if anything’s unclear before you write it.
The parts of a good prompt
- 1Who it is“You’re the office manager for a fence company in Maple Ridge.”
- 2What you want“Reply to this customer and offer a site visit.”
- 3What it knowsYour price list, service areas and hours, pasted in or connected.
- 4The rules“Only use the prices below. If they ask about anything else, say we’ll call them back.”
- 5What good looks likeAn example of a reply you were happy with.
- 6The format“Under 80 words, friendly, end with two times we could come by.”
One more: tell it to ask you questions before it starts. Answering three questions up front saves rewriting the whole thing after.
We write these frameworks for each job in your business and test them on your real messages before they go live.
Close the gap between the site visit and the estimate going out
Yes, AI can help build estimates, once it knows your numbers. An estimate is your costs, your rules and your judgement. Get the first two written down and it can follow them; you keep the third.
What we work out with you
- Materials and what they cost you
- Labour rates and how long each task takes
- Access, travel and disposal
- Minimums, markups and margins
- What changes the price: size, height, condition, extras
If some of it isn’t written down anywhere, or there’s no system for it yet, we help you find it and fix it. The same goes for scheduling, ordering and every other system in your business.
You set how much it does
- 1You build it, it tidies itYou price the job yourself, the way you do now. It writes the scope and the cover note around your numbers.
- 2It drafts, you checkFrom your site notes, your costs and your conditions, it drafts the whole estimate. You adjust anything and press send.
- 3It sends the routine ones, you get the restStandard jobs that fit every rule you set go out on their own. Anything outside the rules lands with you.
We sit down with you, map what goes into your estimates, and build the conditions it follows. You decide how far it goes.
The tools do the paperwork. You still run the job.
Contractor, cleaner, shop or office: it works the same way. AI takes the copy-and-paste off your plate, and a person stays on everything that matters.
You set how much it does
Nothing at all, a first draft, or the routine ones start to finish. Change it any time.
It works from your information
Your prices, your rules, your wording. Nothing made up.
Anything outside the rules comes to you
With the conversation or the job so far, so you can pick it up.
You can see everything
Every message and every draft in one place. Step in whenever you want.
A real person set it up
We're local. When something needs changing, you call us, not a help desk.
We build the hand-offs to you in from day one, so nothing goes out that you wouldn't say yourself.
See where it fits in your business
Most of the busy work in a business doesn’t need AI at all. These show which parts do, for your kind of business.
Small business
Automated workflows or AI? Where to start →
Contractors
Automated workflows or AI? Where to start →
Or skip the reading: one conversation, and you'll know your first step.