Many small service businesses still send quotes the slow way: typed into a chat, copied from an old message, or written up in a document every single time. Once the quote is sent, it disappears into WhatsApp. Nobody remembers who said yes, who never replied, or which quote is about to go stale.

I work in operations and administration in Doha, so I see how much of a business runs on these small follow-ups. I wanted a tool that a cleaning company or any service business could open on a phone, send a clean quote in a few taps, and always know who to chase next. No monthly subscription, no new software to learn.

That became QuoteDesk, a quotation app built on Google Sheets and Google Apps Script.

I started building it to make quotations simpler: one place to create a quote for any kind of service, send it, and keep track of it until the client says yes or no.

What QuoteDesk does

The app has four screens: Home, Quotes, New quote and Price list.

1. Price list. Every service lives in one place, grouped by type (hourly, deep cleaning, post-construction, upholstery, add-ons), each with a rate and a unit like per job, per sqm or per hour. You set prices once.
2. New quote. Pick the client, add services from the price list or a custom line, set a discount and a valid-until date. Totals add up on their own.
3. Sending. The quote becomes a clean, branded quotation. It can go out on WhatsApp or as a client link, and the client sees a proper document, not a chat message.
4. Tracking. Each quote moves through clear statuses: Draft, Sent, Viewed, Accepted, Booked, Declined or Expired. The app shows when a client opens the link.
5. Follow-ups. The Home screen lists who to follow up today: quotes with no answer after 3 days, or about to expire. It also shows the amount won in the last 30 days, the win rate and how much is still waiting.

How it is built

QuoteDesk has no paid hosting and no database to manage. Everything runs inside the business owner's own Google account.

• Google Sheet as the data store. The price list, the quotes and the business details all live in a sheet the owner can open anytime.
• Apps Script behind the scenes. Scripts save quotes, update their status and keep the numbers on the Home screen current.
• An Apps Script web app on the phone. The app is built for mobile, so the owner can add it to the home screen and use it like a normal app.
• A client link for each quote. The client sees a clean quotation instead of a chat message, and the owner can see when it has been opened.
• A simple PIN screen in front of the app, so it is not open to anyone who has the link.

The flow in one line: price list in the sheet, quote built in the app, link sent on WhatsApp, client opens it, status updates in the sheet, follow-up shows on Home.

What I learned

• Start from the daily habit, not the feature list. Business owners already quote on WhatsApp, so the app sends to WhatsApp instead of asking them to change.
• Google Sheets is enough for a small business. It is free, the owner already understands it, and they can always see their own data.
• The follow-up list matters more than the quote itself. A good-looking quote helps, but knowing who to chase today is what saves the deal.
• Every lead deserves to be tracked. Big job or small, each quote is a possible client. Keeping all of them in view, not just the big ones, is what turns quotes into bookings.

What is next

QuoteDesk is one of several small apps I build at Marca Studio, alongside a shop catalog with an order form, an inventory tracker and planners. You can try a live demo at marcastudio.qa.

If you run a service business, what is the one part of quoting or follow-ups that still takes you the most time?