Consultant has Claude learn a builder's writing style from six months of sent email

What they did

They connected Claude to the mailbox and asked it to read the last six months of sent emails, group them by who they were written to and what each email was doing (quoting, invoicing, bad news), quote the email behind every style rule, and build a skill from it. Then they edited the skill in plain English, such as keeping the voice but fixing spelling. Each day Claude drafts replies to new inquiries in that voice.

How it went

Replies land only in the drafts folder for a person to review and send. The review surfaced that one tradie swore in every email to a colleague, which they chose not to keep.

"that's genuinely an hour of the day back for a lot of people that I work with"

— Blake Harkness

Worth knowing

• They say it gets about 90% of the way there; it doesn't know a client is upset or what was agreed by phone. It copies bad habits from the emails it learns from. They recommend a paid plan and checking privacy settings before connecting email.
• Price check: Claude: free plan; Pro: US$20/month, or US$17/month on a yearly plan (US$200/year) (checked Nov 1, 2026).

Paying for Claude? See cheaper Claude alternatives.

Try it yourself

Paste this into a chatbot, then add your own details underneath.

Read my sent emails from the last six months. Group them by who I'm writing to and what the email is doing (quote, invoice, follow-up, bad news). Describe how I write in each group, and quote the email behind every rule. Then turn it into a skill for drafting replies, and leave out my typos.

Original post

See Blake Harkness's original post on YouTube → (Oct 5, 2026)

Filed under Writing & Content hacks · Contractors & Trades · Freelancers