Everything I told you, in the order it makes sense. Tap through, one thing at a time. First thing on the list is the only thing you need this week.
Show me what to do todayEvery AI product you hear about is the same three things stacked on top of each other. Once you see the stack, the noise goes quiet.
The model. GPT, Claude, Gemini. It does the thinking.
You never touch it directly, and it gets swapped for a newer one every few months. Don't get attached.
The app built around the motor. ChatGPT. Claude. That's where you type, upload plans, keep projects.
This is what you actually drive. It remembers your files and your instructions. Switch cars and you leave all of that behind.
Knowing how to instruct. What to tell it, what to give it, how to check what comes back.
The license works in every car. Motors change, cars change. The license is the only part that's yours, and it's the part worth your time.
Don't change how you work. Pick one live job, name it by its address, and do everything you'd do anyway inside one chat: the customer's messages, the plans, the numbers, the proposal, the back-and-forth. That one job teaches you more than every video below.
Here is the customer and everything they've said so far: [paste]. Tell me in plain English who they are, what they want, what they're worried about, and the three things they didn't say that I should ask before I price anything.
Here are the plans and photos for [address]. Tell me what you see: the areas, the materials, the sizes you can read. Then give me a rough takeoff table with a column "how I got this number," and flag anything you're guessing.
Here are my prices and how I'd build this: [talk it through]. Put it together as a line-item estimate in a table, with totals, and tell me anything that looks off or missing compared to the plan.
Turn this estimate into a proposal in my voice: one paragraph of what we'll build, the line items with quantities and prices, what is not included, and three lines to close. Then draft a short WhatsApp message to send it with.
The customer just said: [paste]. What are they really asking? Draft my reply, under 80 words, and tell me if anything in the estimate should change.
This job is [won / lost / on hold]. Write the customer note in my template for Keep, and tell me what to remember from this one for next time.
Read these twice. Everything below is easier if these stick.
Make one Project in ChatGPT called City Peak NY. Every job, every proposal, every customer question starts inside it. Never in a loose chat.
The Project keeps your files and your instructions, so each new job starts already knowing who you are.
The Project has an instructions box. That box is your license: who you are, what you sell, how you want answers, what it must never do.
When you catch yourself explaining the same thing twice, it belongs in the box.
Upload the plan, the PDF, the photos, the WhatsApp screenshot. Then describe the job in one plain paragraph.
AI is only as good as what it can see.
The job. The result you want. The format (a list, a table, feet and inches). The limits (fire lane stays clear, budget, deadline).
Four short sentences beat one long paragraph.
For layouts and documents, keep one master version. Ask for changes as a numbered list with locations.
Approve the layout before you ask for pretty pictures.
You know when a paver count is wrong. It does not.
Check every number against the plan before it goes to a customer. Never send an estimate you did not read.
One note per customer or job, same layout every time: name, address, phone, what they want, next step, date.
When you need AI on a job, copy that note into the Project. Simple beats fancy until the business says otherwise.
Customers' full details, other contractors' pricing, anything you were shown in confidence.
Describe it. Do not paste it.
Not getting what you need after three rounds? Stop pushing. Break the job into smaller pieces, or ask it: "What do you need from me to do this right?"
Frustration means the job is shaped wrong for the tool. It does not mean AI doesn't work.
Typed the same request twice? Save it as a prompt you reuse. The five below are your first set.
ChatGPT is for words, numbers, lists, plans and quick pictures. It is not a drawing board.
A dimensioned rooftop layout needs a layout tool underneath. ChatGPT then writes, checks and renders on top. If you want help picking that tool, that's a session.
Every time you're stuck on how to do something in ChatGPT, ask ChatGPT. Where's the button, how do I add a file, what does this do. It knows its own app better than any video.
Open the Project, tap Instructions, paste, then edit the lines in brackets.
You are the assistant for City Peak NY, a landscape design-build company in the New York area run by Avrumy Klein. We do landscaping, irrigation and lighting for rooftop terraces, backyards and commercial properties. Our tagline is "Built beyond expectation." How I want you to work: - Keep answers short and practical. Use feet and inches. Use tables for quantities and prices. - When I upload a plan, first tell me what you see: sheet name, scale, the areas and materials labeled. Then wait for my instructions. - For takeoffs and estimates: list every item with a quantity, a unit, and the assumption behind it. Flag anything not shown on the plan as "ASSUMPTION" so I can check it. - For proposals and customer messages: warm, confident, plain English. No fluff. Never promise a price or a date I did not give you. - For layouts: keep one master layout. I will give you numbered changes. Do not create a new version unless I ask. - If you are not sure, ask me one question instead of guessing. - Never invent product names, prices or code requirements. Say "I don't know, check with [supplier/architect]." About my business (edit me): - Typical jobs: [rooftop terraces in NYC, backyard patios, planters, pergolas, low-voltage lighting, irrigation] - I price by: [square foot of pavers, linear foot of edging, per planter, per fixture, plus labor by the day] - My crew: [size], my suppliers: [names] - What I hate doing: takeoffs and estimating. Help me do them faster and check my numbers.
I run a landscape design-build company and I just opened Codex in the ChatGPT desktop app for the first time. Explain in plain English what Codex is for, what it can do for a contractor like me, and walk me through one small first task step by step. Ask me one question at a time.
I want to do [what you want] in ChatGPT and I don't know how. Show me where to click, step by step, for the [phone / desktop] app. Keep it short.
It only knows what you tell it. How a job comes in, how you read a customer, what you weigh before you price, how the conversation goes. None of that is in any book. Feed it a little every day and it starts thinking like your crew, not like a chatbot.
Interview me about how I actually run City Peak NY. One question at a time, short questions, and let me answer by voice. Start with how a job comes in and what happens first. When we're done, write it all up as a file called "City Peak — How I Work" in plain English, organized by stage, so you can use it on every job from now on.
Pick one when you have ten minutes. Order doesn't matter.
Ask me how a job usually comes in and everything that happens after: first call, site visit, quote, deposit, build, final. Ask what I do at each step and what usually goes wrong. Then add it to "City Peak — How I Work."
Ask me how I read a customer in the first ten minutes: what I look for, the questions I ask, how I can tell what they'll spend, and the red flags that make me walk. Then add it to "City Peak — How I Work."
Ask me about the different types of customers I deal with: homeowners, condo boards, property managers, architects and GCs. For each one: who decides, who signs, what they care about, how fast they move. Then add it to "City Peak — How I Work."
Ask me how the sales conversation usually goes from my experience: what they always ask, the objections I hear, the moment they decide, what closes it and what kills it. Then add it to "City Peak — How I Work."
Ask me what I think about before I put a number on a job: access and hoisting, weight on the roof, water and electric, permits, season, crew, how much I trust the customer. Then add it to "City Peak — How I Work."
Ask me about one job that went great and why, and one that went bad and why. Pull out the lessons and add them to "City Peak — How I Work."
End of the week, one voice note into the Project. What happened, who you met, what surprised you. It updates the file. That is how it learns you.
Here's what happened this week: [talk]. Update "City Peak — How I Work" with anything new you learned about how I run things or how customers behave. Show me only what you changed.
Straight talk: ChatGPT has no Google Keep button, and Google doesn't open Keep to outside apps. ChatGPT does read Google Drive. So Keep feeds one Google Doc, and the Project reads that doc. Ten minutes once, then a minute a week.
Same seven lines, every note. That is what makes it readable for AI.
CUSTOMER: [name] PHONE: [number] ADDRESS: [street, city] JOB: [what they want, in one line] STATUS: [lead / site visit / quoted / scheduled / in progress / done] NEXT STEP: [what] by [date] NOTES: [anything else: budget hints, access, who referred them]
My customer list lives in the Google Doc "City Peak — Customers & Jobs" in Google Drive (one heading per customer, same fields every time). Before you answer anything about a customer, read that doc first. If a customer is not in it, say so instead of guessing.
Read "City Peak — Customers & Jobs". List everyone with STATUS quoted or site visit, with their NEXT STEP date. Who needs a call or a message this week? Put the most overdue first.
From "City Peak — Customers & Jobs", pull [customer name]. Draft a WhatsApp message in my voice, under 60 words, that moves them to the next step: [deposit / decision / site visit date]. Warm, no pressure.
I just typed this into Keep: [paste]. Rewrite it in my customer template (CUSTOMER, PHONE, ADDRESS, JOB, STATUS, NEXT STEP, NOTES) so I can paste it back. Then tell me the one question I forgot to ask them.
Read "City Peak — Customers & Jobs" and give me a Monday list: the five things to do this week, each with the customer name, phone, and why it matters now.
Take [customer name] from the Customers doc and the plan I uploaded for that job. List what I still need from them or the architect before I can price it. Short bullets.
Go through "City Peak — Customers & Jobs" and flag anyone I have not updated in 14 days. For each, suggest a one-line check-in.
Fill the brackets, paste, go.
Here is sheet [A.4.17] from the architect. Tell me the scale, list every material and tag you can read, and give me a table of areas by material in square feet with your assumptions marked.
Using that sheet, build a takeoff table: pavers (SF and count at 24x12), composite deck (SF), turf (SF), planters (count), light fixtures by tag (count), pergola (size). Add a column "how I got this number." Flag anything not on the drawing.
Turn this takeoff into a proposal for the customer in my voice: one paragraph of what we will build, a table of line items with quantities (prices left blank for me), what is not included, and a 3-line closing. Plain English, no jargon.
Here is a WhatsApp message from a customer: [paste]. Draft a short, warm reply that answers the question, confirms the next step and asks for [the one thing I need]. Under 80 words.
Here is my master rooftop layout. Apply these numbered changes only: 1. [ ] 2. [ ] 3. [ ]. Keep everything else exactly as is. Then list what you changed so I can verify.
One basic big one, one on the modes inside ChatGPT, one long one on what AI really is, one short one on why it needs your data.
Kevin Stratvert — ChatGPT Tutorial for Beginners: How to Actually Get Work Done with AIThe big basic one. Start here. Every button, in order, for someone brand new. Nothing about building apps.Watch first, all of itThe AI Advantage (Igor Pogany) — ChatGPT Work quick-startChatGPT's Work mode: the part that makes finished files, proposals, spreadsheets. Same account, different mode. This is where Codex's cousin lives.After the first oneAndrej Karpathy — Deep Dive into LLMs like ChatGPTThe long one. Three and a half hours from the guy who helped build this stuff, made for regular people. What AI actually is, versus what people think it is. It is not an employee. It is a very fast guesser that gets better with what you feed it.One evening, or in pieces over a weekWhy ChatGPT Keeps Giving You Generic Answers (and How to Fix It)Short. Why it sounds like nobody until you give it your stuff.Ten minutes