Build a Proposal Cost Estimate Sheet with Gemini in Google Sheets

What This Does

Turns the units, dayparts, and rates you type in from the rate card into a structured cost estimate table with a running total. A proposal looks assembled instead of scribbled on a notepad, and you build it once, not from scratch each time.

Before You Start

• You have a Google account with access to Google Sheets
• Your account sits on an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan. Business Standard at $14/user/month includes it. Check for the Ask Gemini button at the top right of a spreadsheet. No button means check with your admin.
• The client-facing rate card figures for each unit and daypart, not the station's unpublished discount floor
• A calculator or a scratch column for the verification step below

Steps

1. Find the AI feature

Open a new or existing spreadsheet and select Ask Gemini at the top right. A side panel opens with a prompt box.

2. Tell it what you need

Describe the proposal table in plain terms: the units you are selling, the frequency, and the columns you want, including a total. Try something like "Create a table for a twelve-week radio schedule with columns for daypart, spots per week, weekly rate, and a running total column." Press Enter and read through the table Gemini proposes in the panel before adding it.

3. Review and use the result

Select Insert to drop the table into your sheet. Then replace any placeholder figures with the real rate card numbers. For the total itself, click the cell where the grand total belongs, type an equals sign, and press Ctrl+Alt+G (Cmd+Ctrl+G on a Mac) to open the formula prompt. Describe what you need, something like "sum the weekly totals column," check the formula it proposes, and select Insert.

Real Example

Scenario: You are proposing a twelve-week radio schedule across morning drive, midday, and afternoon drive for a car dealership and need a clean cost table before the meeting.

What you type/do: In the Ask Gemini panel: "Build a cost estimate table for a twelve-week schedule across morning drive, midday, and afternoon drive, with spots per week, weekly rate, and a twelve-week total per daypart, plus a grand total row." After inserting the table and filling in the dealership's real rates, place the cursor in the grand total cell and use the formula prompt to ask for a sum across the three daypart totals.

What you get: A three-row table with a twelve-week total per daypart and one grand total cell, ready to drop into the proposal or link straight into the Slides deck.

Verification step: Before the proposal goes out, pick one daypart row and multiply spots per week by the weekly rate by twelve weeks yourself, on a calculator or in a blank column. Then compare the result against what the sheet shows. Add the three daypart totals by hand too, and check that figure against the grand total cell. Gemini can misread a rate or a week count from your prompt. A wrong total in a client-facing proposal costs more credibility than the few minutes this check takes.

Tips

• Keep the discount floor out of the prompt box entirely. Type only the client-facing rate into the table once it generates.
• Like the column layout you ended up with? Save a blank copy as a template sheet. Duplicate it for the next proposal instead of rebuilding.
• If the proposed table has too many or too few columns, describe the fix in a follow-up prompt rather than editing the output line by line.

Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.