Narwin.ai Knowledge Hub/📐 Doing Your First Estimation Draft

📐 Doing Your First Estimation Draft

Overview

This guide walks you through the complete process of creating your first estimation draft using Narwin. By combining your RFP Analysis Report, a custom AI Prompt Template, and the AI Writer, Narwin can tie together all of your data and produce a well-informed estimation.
💡 The second time around, this process becomes very straightforward — and many RFPs can be estimated the same way.

Prerequisites: Set Up Your Company Profile

If this is the first time your workspace is being used, you'll need to fill out a few basic documents in your Company Profile before Narwin can form an informed opinion about your company.
Make sure the following are completed:
  • Company Overview — General information about your company, services, and capabilities
  • Past Bids — Historical bid data that helps Narwin understand your pricing patterns and experience
🧠 This is a one-time setup. Once your Company Profile is populated, Narwin uses it across all future analyses and estimations.

Step 1: Run the RFP Analysis Report

  1. From the sidebar, open RFP Analysis Reports.
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  1. Click + Analyze an RFP to start a new analysis.
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  1. Upload your RFP documents (PDF, DOCX, XLS, or XLSX).
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  1. Fill out the Special Instructions section — this is critical. Special Instructions tell the system how to read and interpret the documents. For example:
      2. "Focus on structural steel and concrete scope. Ignore mechanical and electrical divisions."
  1. Click Start Analysis and Drafting.
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The report will take 5–20 minutes depending on file size. You can navigate away — the analysis continues in the background.
⏳ Don't wait! While the report is running, move on to the next step.

Step 2: Create an AI Prompt Template for Estimation

While the RFP Analysis Report is processing, use this time to create a custom AI Prompt Template with your estimation factors.
  1. From the sidebar, click Templates.
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  1. Click Add Template in the top-right corner.
  1. Choose the template level:
      • User Template — visible only to you
      • Company Template — shared across your workspace
  1. Fill in the details:
      • Template Name — e.g., "Construction Estimation Factors"
      • Short Description — e.g., "Estimation template for general contracting bids"
      • Prompt — Define the estimation structure, pricing factors, cost categories, and any formulas or assumptions Narwin should follow
  1. Click Create Template.
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💡 This is a one-time task. Once your estimation template is created, you can reuse it for every future estimation.

Step 3: Draft the Estimation from the Completed Report

Once your RFP Analysis Report shows a Completed status:
  1. Go back to RFP Analysis Reports and open your completed report.
  1. Click the Draft Estimation button in the top action bar.
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  1. This will open the AI Writer with an Estimation Prompt pre-filled based on the report.

Step 4: Choose Your Data Sources and AI Template

Inside the AI Writer:
  1. Select your AI Prompt Template — choose the estimation template you created in Step 2 from the templates panel on the left.
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  1. Pick your Data Sources — select the relevant uploaded company files, RFP documents, and any other connected sources.
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  1. Optionally adjust Tone and Content Length settings.
  1. Click Generate Content.
Narwin will tie together the RFP analysis, your company data, and the estimation template to produce a comprehensive estimation draft.
🚀 The AI uses your template structure and data sources to reason through pricing, scope, and assumptions — delivering a draft that reflects your company's real capabilities.

What Happens Next Time?

The second time you run an estimation, the process is much simpler:
  1. Upload and analyze the new RFP (with Special Instructions)
  1. Click Draft Estimation once the report is complete
  1. Select your existing AI Template and data sources
  1. Generate your estimation
With your Company Profile, estimation template, and data sources already in place, Narwin handles the heavy lifting — and many RFPs can be estimated just like this.

Summary

Step
Action
One-Time?
Prerequisites
Fill out Company Overview and Past Bids in Company Profile
✅ Yes
Step 1
Run RFP documents through the RFP Analysis Report with Special Instructions
Per RFP
Step 2
Create an AI Prompt Template with estimation factors
✅ Yes
Step 3
Click Draft Estimation from the completed report
Per RFP
Step 4
Choose data sources and AI Template in AI Writer, then generate
Per RFP
✨ With Narwin, estimation goes from hours of manual work to a guided, AI-powered workflow — and it only gets faster with each RFP.