Inspection sheets and photos, drafted into repair quotes for your service writer.

A machine comes in for service, a trade-in needs appraising, or a rental unit is due back in the fleet. A technician walks it, fills in an inspection sheet and takes photos. Then a service writer turns those findings into a quote: which repairs, which parts, how many hours, at what rate, and who pays.

For the test, AI reads the same sheets and photos from jobs already quoted and drafts each quote. Every line shows where it came from: the finding, the part, and the time guide entry or past repair order behind the labor. Nothing is sent. Your reviewer checks each draft against the quote that went out.

Inspections differ in depth. At Cat dealers, a TA-1 is a visual inspection: fluid levels and condition, leaks, seals, visible structure, noise, and broken, loose or missing parts. A TA-2 adds measured checks such as pressures, cycle times and cylinder drift. A planned-maintenance walk-around, a trade-in appraisal and a fleet check-in each have their own sheet. A finding like "leak at swing motor" can mean a seal kit or a whole motor, so the draft quotes what the sheet supports and puts the rest to the technician as a question.

Each finding becomes its own job, with its own payer. Dealer management systems split a work order into parts. In IntelliDealer, a work order holds up to 50 repair segments, each with a job code, its hours, and a status that prices it as customer, warranty or internal work. One inspection can produce all three: repairs the customer pays for, a failure that may still be under coverage, and reconditioning on a trade-in that your dealership pays for itself. The draft quotes the customer's lines, marks a possible warranty line for the warranty desk, and keeps internal work apart.

Labor comes from your guide, or it doesn't come at all. Customer-pay hours come from your shop's time guide or job code hours, or from what the same repair took on your own past repair orders. Where neither covers a finding, the line reads "needs a time" and goes to the service writer with the evidence. Rates carry traps of their own. Shop and field work bill at different rates, travel may apply, and in IntelliDealer a quote falls back to a default labor rate only when no rates are loaded, so a default rate on a draft deserves a second look. The quote also prints an expiry date.

Safety items can't read as optional. For forklifts, OSHA's rule at 29 CFR 1910.178 says a truck that isn't in safe operating condition must be removed from service, and that trucks are examined before being placed in service, at least daily, or after each shift when they run around the clock. A failing brake or a steering fault belongs at the top of the quote, marked as keeping the machine out of service, not tucked in among recommendations. Measured wear, such as undercarriage readings, becomes a quote line only once it is read against the wear limits for that model.

What your reviewer will watch. Does every finding on the sheet turn into a quote line, a question, or a stated reason it was left off? Can every labor time be traced to your guide or your history? Are the part numbers right for that serial number, supersessions included? Are customer, warranty and internal work kept apart? Are safety items at the top, and is nothing quoted that the inspection didn't find?

Once your reviewer says yes, new inspection sheets go through the same drafting for about 30 days.

Every draft waits for a service writer to check, change and send it. Nothing reaches a customer without that person, and no labor time appears that your guide or history doesn't back.

Your reviewer keeps comparing drafts with what the writers would have sent, and nothing else is added until the 30 days are up.