A quote still costs you
an entire evening.
For companies where every quote is calculated by hand in a spreadsheet one person understands. Custom quotation software puts your calculation rules into software: everyone quotes the same price, the margin is right, and the quote is ready in minutes.
Why quoting takes so much time.
The calculation lives in one head
One person knows which surcharge applies where. When they are on holiday, quoting stops or someone else guesses.
Five versions of the same sheet
Everyone has their own copy with their own edits. Which price list was in it you find out when the client calls about the difference.
Margin appears afterwards
Only in the post-calculation do you see whether anything was earned. By then the project has run and the amount is invoiced.
Retyping into the quote
Calculate in the sheet, text in Word, send by email, then enter it again in the admin. The same data four times.
No view of what is outstanding
Which quotes are still open, which have expired, who needs a follow-up call. Usually a tab nobody maintains.
Clients want to calculate themselves
Part of your enquiries could be configured by the client, as long as your rules sit behind it.
From sheet to system.
Getting the rules on the table
Which items, which surcharges, which tiers, and which exceptions get made in practice. That is the real work; the screens are simple afterwards.
One calculation as the source
The calculation lives in one place, with version history. If a purchase price changes it changes everywhere, and quotes already sent stay exactly as they were sent.
Quote, order and invoice connected
The quote rolls out of the calculation, the order out of the approval button, and the data moves on to your bookkeeping instead of being retyped.
Rolling out with your sales people
The most common calculations first, exceptions after. What nobody uses, we do not build.
- ✓Your calculation rules in software
- ✓A quote in minutes, the same price every time
- ✓Margin visible before you send
- ✓Status per quote: open, approved, expired
- ✓Integration with your bookkeeping
- ✓Repository and hosting in your name
The number of calculation rules and exceptions in your pricing drives the number.
The price depends on how many calculation rules and exceptions are involved, not on the number of screens. After a half-hour call you get a fixed price.
What you can build with it
Quoting, planning and time tracking hang off the same data at most companies. That is why this usually starts at the quote and grows from there, instead of stitching three separate packages together.
Calculation and quote
Items, surcharges and tiers according to your rules, with a quote PDF and an approval button for the client.
A configurator for clients
The client configures and sees the price immediately, based on the same rules. Saves you the enquiries that were never going to convert.
Orders and planning
An approval produces an order and a slot in the planning, with the materials and hours that were in the calculation.
Time tracking and post-calculation
Hours booked against the order, so afterwards you see whether the calculation was right. That is the only way your rules improve.
Why a spreadsheet stops working
A spreadsheet is the best way to discover how your calculation works and the worst way to use it with more people. No version history, no permissions, no audit trail and no way to see which version sat under a quote you sent.
For most clients here the tipping point is not complexity but headcount: as soon as a second and third colleague start quoting, the copies drift apart. How to make that move without changing everything at once is on from spreadsheets to software.
- ✓One calculation method for everyone
- ✓Prices updated centrally
- ✓History: which version belonged to which quote
- ✓Permissions per role
- ✓Margin visible before sending
- ✓Integration with bookkeeping or CRM
What it costs
The number of screens matters little here; the calculation rules do. A calculation with ten items and two tiers is a different project from a configurator with dependencies between options.
How pricing works is on pricing, and the wider custom track on custom software development. If your clients need to log in to see quotes and status, a client portal belongs with it; when that pays for itself is in when a client portal pays for itself.
- Home · Standard · 45 m²
- €1,530
- Installation included
- €2,025
- Subtotal
- €3,555
35 m² more for a 5% discount. This module calculates in your browser. In a real build that happens on the server, so nobody can change the price in the page.
Calculation and quotes in the real world
Clients rate me
5 stars on average.
Translated from the Dutch originals on Google.
I am Bas Voets. Since 2021 I have been building websites, client portals and business software for small and mid-sized companies, from Hazerswoude-Dorp in the Netherlands. From first call to launch you talk to me, not to an account manager.
What does custom quotation software cost?
Can my current Excel calculation come along?
Can clients configure a price themselves?
Does it integrate with my bookkeeping?
Can we add hours and planning too?
How long does it take?
Tell me what you
want to build.
A half-hour call. You get an honest answer about what it costs, how long it takes and whether building it is smart at all.