AI reminders for materials, deadlines and certificates: a tradesperson's setup

The job goes wrong in small ways. The plaster is still at the merchant when you are stood in the room. The start date was in a text you cannot find. The card a site asked to see ran out last month. A chat tool will not watch the calendar for you. It will turn a messy note into a list you can put on your phone, if you give it the dates yourself.

Shaun, 20+ years in UK construction, keeps those dates in the phone, not in a chat history. We search the AI world every week so you don't have to. This is a setup for materials, deadlines, and the tickets and policies that expire. It is not a claim about how much time it saves. That depends on the week you are having.

What goes on the list

Three piles, and they do not mix.

Materials are things you have to buy or book before the day: boards, skim, beads, fixings, a hire tower, a skip the customer is paying for. Write the job name, what you need, and the day you need it on site. If you have not counted the quantity, leave the quantity blank. Do not ask the tool to guess how many bags.

Deadlines are dates a person is waiting on: the day you said you would start, the day the decorator is booked after you, the day a quote runs out, the day an invoice is due. Use the date you actually agreed. If the text from the customer says "sometime next week", that is not a deadline until you name a day.

Certificates and similar dates are the ones that sneak up: public liability insurance, the van MOT, a CSCS card if a site has asked to see one, a first-aid certificate, a hire agreement that ends. A chat tool does not know which of these a particular site requires. If the site rules are in an email, copy the requirement into your note. Do not ask the tool whether the law forces you to hold a card. Check the site, or the scheme's own page, for that.

Where the reminder should live

The chat is a bad place to leave a reminder. Threads get long, apps log you out, and you will not open ChatGPT at 6am to see whether the boards were ordered. The list belongs in a calendar you already look at. The phone calendar, a notes app you pin, or a paper week-to-view in the van. Pick one. Two systems means you will trust the wrong one.

A useful reminder has a day, a time, and one action. "Order moisture-resistant board for the Meersbrook job, merchant closes at 5" is a reminder. "Think about materials" is not. Set it for the day you need to act, not the day you need the material on site. If the merchant is a day out, the reminder is the day before.

Materials, without invented quantities

Walk the job, or read your own measure, and write the lines. Then ask for a clean order and a reminder sentence. The prompt below refuses to fill quantities. That is the point. A guessed quantity is how you come back for a second load, or how you over-order and argue about it later.

Turn these notes into a materials list and a reminder I can put in my phone calendar. UK English. Do not invent quantities, product codes, or prices. If a quantity is missing, write [quantity].

Job name: [name you will recognise]
Needed on site: [date]
Order by: [date]
Lines: [what you counted, one per line]
Merchant or hire firm: [name, or "not chosen"]

Read the list against your notes before you set the reminder. If a line appeared that you did not write, delete it. Then put one calendar entry on the order-by date, with the job name in the title. The long list can sit in the notes of that entry.

If the customer is supplying the materials, say so in the note. The reminder is then a chase, not an order: "Confirm Mrs Khan has the coving before Thursday." Do not let the draft tell the customer you will buy it.

Deadlines you have already agreed

A start date in your head is not a start date. If you told the customer Tuesday, Tuesday is what the reminder should say. Include the thing that depends on you being there: keys, a clear room, another trade finished, parking sorted.

Make reminder lines from these agreed dates. UK English. Do not change a date. Do not add a job I did not list. If a date is missing, write [date].

Each line is: job, what was agreed, date.
[paste]

Put the customer-facing ones in the calendar with an alert the evening before, if that is when you actually look. A 7am alert is useless if the van is already loaded wrong. You know your morning. The tool does not.

When a date moves, change the calendar entry. Do not leave the old one and add a second. Two Tuesdays for the same landing is how you double-book the decorator.

Certificates and the dates on the card

Spread the cards and the emails on the table once, and type the expiry you can see. Insurance schedule, MOT reminder, the date printed on a card, the renewal a broker emailed. If you cannot see the date, do not let the draft supply one from a typical length. Policies are not all twelve months, and cards are not all the same term.

Sort these expiry dates, soonest first, and write a reminder for 30 days before each one. UK English. Do not change a date. Do not add items. If a date is missing, write [date] and do not invent a reminder day.

Items, one per line, as name and expiry:
[paste]

Thirty days is a gap you can change. If a broker needs longer, say so in the prompt. The reminder should name the thing and the expiry, not a vague "renew tickets".

Some sites ask to see a CSCS card or another ticket before you start. That is the site's rule unless you have checked otherwise. Put "site asked to see CSCS, card expires [date]" in the list for that job. Do not treat the chat tool as the authority on whether you need the card.

A Monday list from the week ahead

Once the calendar holds the real dates, you can ask for a short brief of the week. Paste the entries. Do not paste your whole life. Bank details do not belong in this prompt.

Write a Monday note from these calendar entries. UK English. Keep my order. Do not add jobs. Flag any entry with no date. Separate materials to order, people I am meeting, and anything that expires this month.

Entries:
[paste the relevant week only]

Read it in the van before you leave, or the night before. If it mentions a job you finished last month, your paste included an old line. Delete that line at the source, not only in the draft.

The phone will nag you if the event exists. The chat tool will not. Once a month, open the certificate list and check the next expiry is still in the calendar. That pass is the whole system. Anything fancier is optional, and it is still only as good as the dates you typed.

The UK Trades AI Prompt Pack is free when you sign up to the weekly email: prompts for quotes, chasing payment, tax admin, and customers. The signup is on the home page.