Saunders Wood Works Monday Automation Strategy
Monday.com as the single source of truth—live health on every job, crew and schedule in one place, AI on email and meeting notes, and milestone invoicing into QuickBooks. Built for how high-end cabinet work actually moves, not a generic playbook.
Six pain points costing
real money every week.
No real-time project visibility
No single view showing which projects are on track, behind schedule, or burning margin. Problems surface too late.
Linear-foot pricing leaves money behind
Flat LF rates don't account for hardware costs, finish complexity, or design time. Hardware as overhead quietly erases profit on high-end jobs.
Appliance packets derail design timelines
PDFs arrive mid-project. Model numbers and cut-out specs get manually hunted, and the designer waits. Every delay costs install-date credibility.
Builder time isn't tracked to profitability
You can't know if the most-worked project is your most profitable. A smaller job could be silently eating your best crew hours.
No daily operating system for Matt
No structured morning view of what's at risk, who's idle, which quotes need follow-up — and no automated way to stay ahead of it.
Communication runs on memory and calls
Email threads, verbal updates, missed follow-ups. The company's "seamless" promise is hard to keep without systems supporting it.
One platform.
Four automation layers.
Monday.com as the system of record, n8n for four precision workflows, a custom appliance-extraction app, and an AI email assistant — all connected, all phone-accessible in three taps.
Monday.com Pro
4-board workspace — Customers CRM, Projects with Gantt, Leads & Intake, and Matt's CEO Command Center dashboard.
n8n Workflows
QuickBooks milestone invoicing, Gmail draft assistant, and Otter action-item capture — all with human approval gates on money and measurements.
Appliance Extractor
Upload a PDF appliance packet — AI extracts model numbers and cut-out W/H/D, then emails Matt and the designer for review before touching AutoCAD.
Email Draft Assistant
Incoming client emails are matched to the right project in Monday, and a context-aware reply appears in Matt's Gmail for one-tap approval and send.
Meeting Intelligence
Otter.ai transcribes every on-site meeting. AI extracts tasks, owners, and due dates. Monday items created automatically — no one takes notes.
Revenue-Per-Hour KPI
Every project surfaces its revenue-per-labor-hour in real time. Matt finally knows which projects deserve the most crew attention.
Project Health Score —
automatic, always on.
Every project self-scores every time it's updated. No manual check-ins, no spreadsheets — a live formula that tells Matt exactly where to look before the day starts.
IF(OR({Sched Var%} > 10, {Budget Var%} > 10), "🔴 At Risk", IF(OR({Sched Var%} > 5, {Budget Var%} > 5, {Open Tasks%} > 20), "🟡 Watch", "🟢 Healthy")) // Numeric score 100 − ({Sched Var%}×2) − ({Budget Var%}×2) − ({Open Tasks%}×1) − ({Days Stale}×1)
🟢 Healthy
All variances under 5%, tasks on track, board updated within 3 days. No action needed — Matt's morning view stays green.
🟡 Watch
One metric is drifting. Project owner gets an auto-notification. Matt reviews at next morning check-in — still recoverable.
🔴 At Risk
A variance exceeded 10%. Matt is alerted immediately. If red persists 2 days, a "Fix Project Risk" task is auto-assigned.
Four boards.
Zero double-entry.
Every customer, project, lead, and task in one Monday workspace. Search a last name and see every project, past and future, for that family in one click.
Subitems represent phases: Design → Materials → Build → Install. Each phase has Owner, Status, Due Date, Dependency, and Notes. Finish-to-Start dependencies auto-cascade dates when a phase slips.
Mirror columns pull live revenue and status from the Projects board. One search surfaces every project, past and future, for any household.
This form lives on your site. A prospective client fills it out — and the moment they submit, the automation stack fires: a new lead appears in your Monday Leads board, Matt gets a notification, and the system queues a follow-up task. Once qualified, a single status change promotes the lead to a full project with all four phase subitems auto-created and dependencies cascaded. No manual entry. No dropped leads.
15 minutes every morning.
Full operational control.
Projects at risk
See any 🔴 or 🟡 projects, click in, review the variance, assign a task to unblock it before the day starts.
Revenue / hour by project
Which project is eating the most hours proportionally? Reallocate crew to the highest-value work.
Pending email drafts
AI has pre-written replies to all incoming client and vendor emails with project context. Review, adjust, send in one tap.
Builder workload
Workload widget shows who's overloaded and who has capacity. Move idle builders to productive work immediately.
Quotes pending
Every sent quote and how long it's been sitting. No deal dies because a follow-up fell through the cracks.
Four n8n workflows.
Human-approved at every gate.
QuickBooks Milestone Invoicing
Project status change triggers the right invoice — 20% deposit, 30% pre-install, 50% post-install — calculated and pushed to QuickBooks automatically.
Email Draft Assistant
Incoming client email arrives, gets matched to the right project in Monday, and a context-aware reply draft appears in Matt's Gmail for one-tap approval.
Meeting → Monday Tasks
Otter.ai transcribes every meeting. AI extracts action items, owners, and due dates, then creates the right Monday tasks automatically — no manual notes.
Appliance Packet Ingestion
Email with spec PDF arrives. System extracts all model numbers and cut-out dimensions using AI, emails Matt and designer a review table. (Phase 2)
20 working days.
Five phases. One go-live.
Every phase has a defined deliverable and sign-off before the next begins. No open-ended sprints, no scope creep — just a clean handoff at day 20.
Frozen
Complete
Discovery
Align & baseline
Days 1–4
- Kickoff workshop: goals, roles, and “definition of done” for Phase 1
- As-is process map (sales → design → build → install → billing)
- Inventory of boards, tools, and integrations; risk & dependency list
- Scope freeze sign-off before design/build spend
Design
Blueprint before build
Days 5–6
- Monday workspace architecture: boards, groups, columns, views
- Automation blueprint (triggers, owners, failure paths)
- Health score formula spec + dashboard wireframe
- CRM / intake field mapping and quote-to-project handoff
Build
Configure & integrate
Days 7–11
- Monday configuration, templates, and permissions
- n8n workflows: email, tasks, follow-ups, milestone signals
- AI email draft path with approval; Otter → action items (if in scope)
- QuickBooks milestone hooks tested in sandbox or safe account
Test
Prove on real work
Days 12–13
- UAT on real or mirror projects: health score, dispatch, CRM
- Edge cases: overdue tasks, stalled quotes, failed automations
- Fix list triaged; build complete checkpoint
Train & launch
Adoption & cutover
Days 14–20
- Loom library: short clips per workflow (reference after we leave)
- Live working sessions with Matt + leads; cutover date agreed
- Go-live: production boards, monitoring, and rollback plan
- Handoff doc + 30 days post-launch support window
Phased to match
your growth.
Phase 1 delivers the core operating system. Every phase builds on a stable foundation — no rip-and-replace, no lost data, no starting over.
What it costs
after go-live.
No hidden fees, no proprietary lock-in. Every tool has a free tier or open-source alternative. The monthly total is less than a single missed change order on a $60K kitchen.
| Tool | Purpose | Plan | Monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday.com | System of record — boards, automations, dashboards | Pro, 10 seats | ~$190 | Annual billing; unlocks Gantt, Time Tracking, Formulas |
| Otter.ai | Meeting transcription + action-item capture | Business, 8 seats | ~$240 | Fireflies Pro (~$96/mo total) is the budget alternative |
| n8n | All automation workflows | Self-hosted on Railway | ~$5 | Full control, no per-task Zapier pricing |
| Supabase | Data persistence for future dashboard | Free → Pro | Free → $25 | Free tier covers Phase 2 launch volume |
| Claude API | Email drafts + task extraction + appliance extraction (Phase 2) | Usage-based | ~$100 | Pay-as-you-go; estimate for a small shop's volume (~75–100/mo typical). Scales with actual traffic. |
| QuickBooks Online | Billing (existing client expense) | Existing | Client pays | Native Monday integration + n8n handles milestone logic |
| Total (Phase 1 live) | Monday + Otter + n8n + Claude (est. usage) | ~$535/mo | Excludes QBO; Supabase often $0 until Phase 3 scale |
The system doesn't just
organize — it reveals.
Revenue / Hour (live)
A Monday formula on each project compares labor hours to revenue so you set your own target and see which jobs clear the bar. Figures in dashboards (e.g. Rev/Hour widgets) are illustrative—not a guarantee.
Matt's Daily Ops Time
One dashboard, five cards checked, tasks assigned. The full morning review on a phone if needed.
Missed Follow-Ups
Every sent quote creates an automatic follow-up task. No deal dies because of a forgotten check-in two business days later.
Email Response Time
AI drafts every client reply with full project context. Matt approves and sends. Clients feel white-glove responsiveness.
Appliance Specs Captured
Every appliance packet auto-extracted and reviewed before it ever touches AutoCAD. No more mid-project scrambles. (Phase 2)
Scalable Foundation
Everything lives in portable Supabase Postgres. The Phase 3 custom dashboard plugs straight in — no migration, no starting over.
Phase 1 proposal
Review the plan above, then generate a printable invoice for records. Edit bill-to and remittance details before saving as PDF.