Case Study
We Replaced Days of Waiting for a Flooring Quote With One Form
Floorwise priced by phone and spreadsheet. Agents now open their own account and the quote comes back while the customer is still on the job.
What We Built
Floorwise supplies commercial and residential flooring in New Zealand. Quoting ran on phone calls and a spreadsheet, which meant a customer waited days for a number and an agent could not answer without ringing the office. We built a quoting system they can run themselves. Agents open their own account, one form asks for what the price depends on, and the quote comes back without anybody being called. The work ran 180 business days, counted from the signed scope document.
- Country
- New Zealand
- Sector
- Commercial and Residential Flooring
- Project Duration
- 180 Business Days
Where It Started
A Quote Took Days to Come Back
Somebody asks what a floor will cost. The answer goes into a queue behind whoever prices the job, and the customer waits. By the time it arrives they have often asked two other suppliers the same question.
The Price Lived in a Spreadsheet
Flooring is priced on area, product, wastage and the odd rule that only the person who has been there ten years remembers. When that sits in a spreadsheet, the spreadsheet becomes the only copy and the person becomes the bottleneck.
Agents Had to Ring to Get Anything
An agent in front of a customer cannot quote without calling the office. That call happens during office hours, in the middle of somebody else's work, and it has to happen again for every variation the customer asks about.
The Same Question Got Different Answers
When pricing is carried in people rather than in a system, two people can answer the same question differently and both be acting in good faith. That is a problem you only find out about later.
How We Approached It
Agents Open Their Own Accounts
Rather than the office issuing logins one at a time, agents register themselves and start working. The office keeps control over who is approved, not over who gets typed into a list.
One Form Asks for What a Quote Needs
The form asks the questions that pricing actually depends on, in the order somebody standing in a room would answer them. Nothing comes back later asking for a measurement that should have been requested the first time.
The Pricing Rules Sit in the System
The rules that used to live in a spreadsheet and in somebody's head now live in the software. That is what makes the quote immediate rather than queued.
How the Work Ran
- 1
We Read the Spreadsheet First
The spreadsheet a business prices from is the clearest description of how it really works, exceptions included. It is where the design starts.
- 2
The Rules Get Written Down
Most of the work is getting pricing rules out of people and stated in full, because a business that has always known them has never had to say them.
- 3
The Form Follows the Job
The questions are ordered the way somebody standing in a room would answer them, so a quote is not sent back for a missing measurement.
- 4
Agents Are Approved, Not Typed In
Agents register themselves and the office approves. Who sees what is decided in the scope rather than after launch.
- 5
The Date Came Out of the Scope
A hundred and eighty business days, counted from the signed document rather than promised before anyone had looked at the pricing rules.
- 6
Handover Decides Who Changes Prices
Prices change. Who is allowed to change them, and where, is settled at handover rather than discovered the first time they need to.
What Changed
The Customer Stops Waiting
A quote comes back while the customer is still thinking about the job, rather than after they have asked somebody else.
Nobody Rings the Office for a Price
An agent gets the figure where they are, including out of hours, and can price a second option without starting another phone call.
The Answer Is the Same Whoever Asks
The same inputs produce the same quote. That consistency is a side effect of moving the rules out of people and into the system, and it is usually the part nobody asks for and everybody notices.
Pricing Is No Longer One Person's Job
When the rules are written down in software, a holiday or a resignation stops being a problem for the quoting queue.
Everything above describes what the system does. We do not publish figures about a client's business unless the client has agreed them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can agents or dealers have their own logins?
Yes, and that is how this one works. Agents register themselves and the office decides who is approved. Who sees what, and who is allowed to approve, is part of the scope rather than something settled afterwards.
Our pricing rules are complicated. Can they be built in?
Usually, yes. The work is less about the arithmetic and more about getting the rules out of people and written down, because most businesses have never had to state them in full. That conversation is part of the scope document.
What happens to the spreadsheet we use now?
It is where we start. A spreadsheet that a business has run on for years is the clearest description of how that business actually prices, including the exceptions, so we read it before designing anything.
Do you work with companies abroad?
Yes, a large part of our work is international. Floorwise is in New Zealand. Calls, documents and the comments inside the code are in English, and where there is a time difference we agree the overlapping hours at the start.
Can it connect to the systems we already run?
That depends on what those systems let in. We check what is possible before quoting rather than after, because an integration that turns out to be closed changes the scope and the price.
How long does a project like this take?
The scope document gives you a date, and it is written after we have seen what the work actually involves rather than before. What moves that date is usually not the building. It is how quickly content, logins and approvals come back from your side, so we agree who is responsible for what at the start.
How much does a project cost?
There is no price list, because the scope decides it. How many screens there are, who logs in, which other systems it has to talk to and who maintains the content all move the number. After the first call and the technical review you get a document with the price and the timeline in it, and you read that before anything is signed.
Who owns the code?
The source code is yours. Ownership of the software transfers to you under the terms of the contract once development is complete and payment has been made in full. Those terms, and the confidentiality clauses, are in the contract signed before development begins.
Facing Similar Problems?
Send us the spreadsheet you price from. We read it first and tell you what can be moved into software and what cannot, before anybody talks about a price.
We reply the same working day