The short answer: make a routine in alfred_ in one sentence: “Every Monday at 7, email me the change orders I sent in the last 30 days that the client hasn’t signed or approved, oldest first.” Each Monday it reads the change orders in your Sent mail, PDF attachments included, checks each thread, and emails you only the ones still waiting on a signature. It sends nothing to your clients.
The unsigned change order
You run a remodeling company with three crews. A kitchen job turns up rotten subfloor, the homeowners want the island moved, the owner’s rep on a small office fit-out adds two outlets. Each one is a change order: you write it up, export a PDF, and email it with “please sign and send back before we start.”
Most come back within a day. A few don’t. The homeowner opened it at dinner and forgot. The owner’s rep forwarded it to accounting and that is where it lives now. By the time anyone notices, the crew has either done unsigned work you will argue about at final payment, or stood around waiting for paper.
What you want is not a project management system. It is one list, before the week starts, of every change order nobody has signed.
The native ways, and where they stop
Sent folder search. In Outlook or Gmail you can search Sent mail for “change order” with an attachment. That shows what you sent, not who signed. You still open every thread.
Flags and reminders. Flag the email as you send it, or snooze a copy to come back on Thursday. That works for the ones you remember to flag, which are rarely the ones that slip.
E-signature tools. DocuSign and similar tools track the documents you route through them and send their own reminders. Most small remodelers still send change orders as a PDF and get a signed scan or a “yes, go ahead” by reply, and none of that is tracked.
At three change orders a week, the Sent folder is fine. At twelve across three jobs, Monday morning is twenty minutes of opening threads.
Make the routine
- Connect your Gmail or Outlook to alfred_. Sign in with Google or Microsoft; your password stays with them.
- On the Routines page, choose Create a routine, or just ask alfred_ by text or in the app.
- Say it in one sentence: “Every Monday at 7, email me the change orders I sent in the last 30 days that the client hasn’t signed or approved, oldest first, with the job name and the amount.”
- alfred_ shows you the routine it built: when it runs, what it reads, where the result goes. Change anything by asking (“make it 6:30”, “text it to me instead”), then turn it on.
Routines you write in a sentence are covered in Make your own.
What Monday’s list looks like
Change orders still unsigned (3)
- Henderson kitchen, CO #4: move the island 18 inches, $2,350. Sent Oct 1 to Mark and Lisa Henderson. Lisa replied Oct 2: “Looks fine, Mark will sign tonight.” Nothing since.
- Brightwater Dental fit-out, CO #2: two added outlets in Op 3, $640. Sent Oct 9 to Sam Ortiz, owner’s rep. No reply.
- Alvarez bath, CO #1: replace subfloor under the vanity, $1,180. Sent Oct 14. Carlos asked whether the tile warranty still applies; you haven’t answered him yet.
Illustrative example, not output from a real run. The clients, jobs and amounts are invented, and the wording differs from run to run.
The third one matters: the client is waiting on you, not the other way round. A good list shows that instead of nagging the client.
Where each step happens
- Desktop, in the office: make or change the routine on the Routines page, and read past lists there.
- Email, Monday morning: the list lands before the crews do.
- Text, any day: ask “which change orders are still unsigned?” and get the same answer on the spot. To nudge one, text “nudge the Hendersons about CO #4”. alfred_ writes the follow-up in that thread and waits for your “send”.
The honest caveat
alfred_ reads the inboxes you connect, up to six Gmail, Outlook and IMAP accounts. A change order sent from your project manager’s mailbox is not on your list: each person’s alfred_ reads their own inboxes, so your project manager makes the same routine on theirs. A signature that never comes back by email can’t be seen, and the routine judges each thread from what it says, so check the first few lists against what you know. It reports; it doesn’t chase. alfred_ is a paid product, and routines run on the credits your plan includes; plans are on the pricing page.
