The Agent Quote Builder

Agents see their job as building a quote, the document they send their client. So I designed customization like a product configurator, the way you build a car or spec a laptop: choices in the workspace, the quote beside them.

This page is about the interface. How it got built, and what that cost, is told in Breaking the Handoff: this is the project that broke us, seen from the other side.

The quote never leaves the page

Every screen has two halves. On the left, the quote: the premium at the top, then every line the agent will send. On the right, the decisions, one module at a time: policy information, property coverage, deductibles, liability.

A line on the left stays a quiet placeholder until its module is saved. Then it fills in with what the agent chose, and the module collapses to its name and a Completed mark. The agent never has to imagine the document. It assembles in front of them.

The quote builder mid-customization. Left: the quote for a fictional address, with policy information filled in and the coverage lines still placeholders. Right: Policy Information collapsed and marked Completed, and Property Coverage open with three sliders for dwelling limit, personal property and loss of use, above Discard changes and Save and continue. — One module open, the quote beside it. Design file, fixture data.

The same page at the start: every coverage line on the left is a placeholder, the Download Quote PDF button is inactive, and the first module, Policy Information, is open. — The start: placeholders, and the PDF not yet available.

The same page complete: every line on the left filled in, all four modules marked Completed, the Download Quote PDF button active, and Continue to Bind as the next step. — The end: every line filled, every module Completed, the PDF ready.

The contract, written down

The hard part of a configurator isn’t the controls. It’s what each control does to the number, and what it does to the document. I wrote those rules into the design file, in plain language, where engineering would read them.

Working notes headed Fine Tooth Comb Notes/thoughts: keep rerunning the premium after every change, but commit nothing to the quote summary until Save and continue; what Discard changes does the first time versus after a save; and when Save and continue is grayed out. — The interaction contract, from my notes in the design file, verbatim.

Working notes headed Open Qs: can the user click into another module before saving (no), and can they edit several modules at once; the last line reads Let's ask eng about both. — The open questions, and where they went.

Three decisions live in those notes. The premium reruns on every change, because the price is the point and agents compare as they go. But nothing commits to the quote until Save and continue, so the document an agent sends never shows a half-made choice. And Discard means two different things: the first time, it clears the module; after a save, it puts back the last saved version and keeps the Completed mark.

The open questions were written down the same way, each with its best answer so far, and one instruction under both: let’s ask eng.

Where regulation becomes interface

The last stage, Complete to bind, is where the state gets a say. In the design file’s example, binding requires a diligent-effort affidavit: which admitted carriers the agent tried first, how each one declined, and why, signed with the agent’s producer license number.

The design treats it like every other module. Three carrier cards, each marked Incomplete until it’s saved. Then a signature, the license number, and the legal attestation in full beneath them. The sentence at the top does the calming: “Before you can bind, we need a few details to complete your state-required diligent effort form. Don’t worry, we’ll handle all the paperwork.”

Complete to bind, section three, Diligent Effort Affidavit: Which admitted carriers did you try first? Carrier 1 of 3 is open with carrier name, date, how the agent was declined (online or by a human) and declination reason; carriers 2 and 3 are marked Incomplete; below, a signature, the agent's state producer license number, and the legal attestation. — A state-required legal form, as three cards and a signature. Design file, fixture data.

How agents took it

At conferences, the thing agents told our agency-development team most often was that this was the smartest quoting interface they’d seen.

That came to me secondhand, and nobody wrote it down. It’s here because it’s what they kept hearing.

Where it stands

Shipped in February 2026. The first release made the quote PDF available during customization, with coverage cards that mirror it line for line.

The interaction at its center was re-decided after the build began. That story, and what it cost, is in Breaking the Handoff; the delivery system sets its timeline beside a core account page’s.

Building something in this lane? Email me.