Nine windows, one door, three evenings
The surveyor spent an hour at the house. Nine windows, a back door, a French door. The customer wants anthracite grey outside and white inside, chrome handles, one obscure bathroom window, and wants a price for both a composite and a uPVC front door. Back at the office, the quote is built up line by line from a fabricator price grid, a hardware price list, a spreadsheet of your fitting rates and a note about the scaffolding. It takes three evenings to get to.
The competitor who visited the day before sent their price that night.
Why quoting windows is slow
Window pricing is multiplicative. A frame's price depends on its size band, its style, the colour on each face, the glass spec, the hardware and any extras, and each fabricator structures its price list differently. On top of that you add your own labour, which varies by frame size and access, and your margin.
- Fabricator price lists are grids of size bands with option surcharges, held in PDFs or spreadsheets.
- Dual colour, foils and special glass are priced as percentages or add-ons that are easy to miss.
- Labour depends on frame size, floor level and whether removal is difficult.
- Your margin rules sit in the owner's head.
- Alternative options, like composite versus uPVC doors, need to be priced side by side.
What slow quotes cost
Homeowners getting window quotes usually ask several companies. The one who comes back fastest with a clear, professional quote has an advantage before price is even compared. Slow quotes lose jobs. Hand-built quotes also carry mistakes, like a missed colour surcharge that takes margin off the job, or a missed extra that turns into an awkward conversation later.
The quoting tool we build
- Your fabricators' price lists are loaded into a price engine: size bands, styles, colours, glass options and hardware, with surcharges applied the way each fabricator does it.
- Your labour rates are set by frame type and size, with extras for upper floors, difficult removal or making good.
- Your margin rules are held centrally, so every surveyor prices the same way.
- The surveyor enters each opening, often straight from the survey app, and chooses options from lists that only show valid combinations.
- Alternatives, such as two door options, are priced side by side on the same quote.
- The quote is produced as a clear PDF and web page with a picture of each frame style, sent to the customer from the house if you want.
| Quote step | By hand | With the quoting tool |
|---|---|---|
| Frame price | Look up grid, add surcharges | Calculated from loaded price list |
| Labour | Estimate per job | From your rates and access notes |
| Margin | Owner's judgement | Your rules applied every time |
| Options | Separate quotes | Priced side by side |
| Issuing | Days later | From the house or the office |
If your existing quoting software does most of this well, we would rather improve how it is fed than replace it. We say so if that is the case.
What surveyors and owners get
Surveyors can issue a quote the same day, sometimes before they leave the house. Every quote uses current prices and the same margin rules. The owner sees margin on each quote before it goes. When a fabricator changes its prices, one update reaches every new quote.
Quotes also feed the order. When the customer accepts, the same frames and options become the fabricator order, without anyone retyping what the surveyor already entered.
Signs quoting is holding you back
- Quotes take days to go out after the survey.
- You have lost jobs to faster competitors.
- Surcharges for colour or glass are sometimes missed.
- Only the owner can price a job confidently.