Situation, approach, outcome.
Situation
The principal of a small architecture and permit design practice spent hours each day in the inbox: new enquiries, permit questions, estimate requests and consultant threads. Replies slowed down when site work was busy, and scope details were easy to miss.
Approach
We timed a sample of real enquiries, then chose lead-to-estimate as the first workflow. A coordinating agent reads the inbox on a schedule and hands work to specialists: one sorts and drafts replies in the firm’s voice, one drafts fee estimates from the firm’s own fee rules, one prepares building-code and zoning notes, and a reviewer checks every draft. It runs inside the firm’s existing Microsoft 365 and workspace tools. Agents only draft; the principal approves every fee, proposal and code opinion, and their edits feed a learning loop.
Outcome
Enquiries are sorted and draft replies are waiting before the principal opens the inbox. Estimate drafts arrive with a missing-information checklist, nothing goes out without approval, and tool costs stay at a small monthly subscription level.