Software for Estimating *only* ???

[Professor_John]

Hi there.

I guess I have an all set solution for you. I'm using Saldoinvoice for the invoicing purposes.
The software has templates with detailed information and it guides you through a simple process.
For a cheap monthly price, it really helps my small business.

Hope it will work out for you.

 

[Pauly]

I know I’m late to the party.
But there are systems out there OP can easily use for his product range.

When I was searching for web2print solutions, I found so many different systems and storefronts.

Every system takes some time to set up your products. But from there, it’s easy.

Fact is though, you still need a base to create your product pricing. For example, having a spread sheet with formulas to create your base pricing. Then you’d enter your variable pricing into the system.

There are systems out there that can not only integrate with your accounting software, but many other software also.

you just need to search for printing MIS systems. And find the one that works for you.
As mentioned earlier, some are designed for more specific products or workflows.
But there are some that have a lot of customisation.

 

[netsol]

I like portability between solutions, needs change and relationships with software vendors change. While on one hand having in house APIs is great and provides a lot of power for those that are able to keep up with development of said API, but having things that are unique to one business (while great for the business) is not so much for the end user if their situation changes. I always like having a back door.

I have switched from one platform to another due to changes with 2 major companies and how they did things, however, anything I use on my current system, if that changes, I have to be willing to look at another option or go back to the first platform that I left. I don't rule anything out. Always like to have a "just in case" plan. But I am weird that way.



SQL is actually the language not the database itself. SQL I believe has been around 40+ yrs as well.

Database "engine" usually denotes 2 components, database itself and the language (or languages) used to query the database.

Regardless if it's more powerful or not, isn't my main concern as long as the less "powerful" option does do what I need for it specifically do or extend something to do what I need. If it doesn't do that, then obviously, the more powerful works. I fear lock in more then anything and I'm willing (and able) to do hacks to make something work for me in order to give more more "maneuverability" to prevent that.

That's why I said it was to bad.

Think about how many software solutions people have switched on here over the years, not just CRM type solutions, but other solutions as well. The more portable that everything is, the less painful that it is.

Just reading this post from the beginning. I first encountered SQL while working with a "new" at the time pro duct QA4. Might have been 1992

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Hi there.

I guess I have an all set solution for you. I'm using Saldoinvoice for the invoicing purposes.
The software has templates with detailed information and it guides you through a simple process.
For a cheap monthly price, it really helps my small business.

Hope it will work out for you.

I love spam. Did you know that 100 million pounds of Spam was eaten by allied troops during WWII?

 

[CanuckSigns]

As I'm still trying to figure a solution that works for me (still doing Trello+QBO for now) I am starting to think it might be worth it to try hiring a developer to create a couple of custom Trello power-ups to add some of the functionality that I feel like I'm missing and connect the two a little better as well (I know Zapier can "connect" them but it's really limited in functionality and then when I had rules set up and looked at the pricing to continue past the trial it was too much to justify considering the limitations).

Has anyone here had any success hiring a small development company or freelance programmer for this kind of a thing? Would you be willing to refer me to them (DM me if you don't want to publicly post their info).

I have hired a filemaker developer to build a order management database for our shop, it will be ready this week, but from what I've seen it's going to speed up order creation and tracking significantly for us, as well as having a database of past orders to refer to when a client orders again 2+ years later.

I asked him about adding a quoting module and he has been very optimistic, the hardest part will be to explain my quoting process to him so he can make sense of it lol.

Also his fee was more then reasonable, I found him on upwork and English is his native language, which helps when explaining the nuances of what I'm looking for.

 

[Geneva Olson]

I have hired a filemaker developer to build a order management database for our shop, it will be ready this week, but from what I've seen it's going to speed up order creation and tracking significantly for us, as well as having a database of past orders to refer to when a client orders again 2+ years later.

I asked him about adding a quoting module and he has been very optimistic, the hardest part will be to explain my quoting process to him so he can make sense of it lol.

Also his fee was more then reasonable, I found him on upwork and English is his native language, which helps when explaining the nuances of what I'm looking for.

does the database hold the artwork as well?

 

[CanuckSigns]

does the database hold the artwork as well?

Ours does not, however it can we just choose to store our artwork files on on our file server since that's where we've been storing them since 2006, it's all set up with backups etc.

We link to the networked location so the database user can click to open the file.

 

[ColorCrest]

Ours does not, however it can we just choose to store our artwork files on on our file server since that's where we've been storing them since 2006, it's all set up with backups etc.

We link to the networked location so the database user can click to open the file.

^ ^ ^ ^ This! That's a smart and safe way to handle the process. Databases can be very lean because their fields hold relatively small amount of text & number volume compared to storing large file sizes of large format documents.

Also, one only needs a reference such as the job number found in the database and the work folder of art files found somewhere on a network in an archive of some type.

 

[ColorCrest]

I have hired a filemaker developer to build a order management database for our shop

Good to know and good luck with the project!

 

[ColorCrest]

the hardest part will be to explain my quoting process to him so he can make sense of it lol.

Is there complications, particularly?

 

[GB2]

I have hired a filemaker developer to build a order management database for our shop, it will be ready this week, but from what I've seen it's going to speed up order creation and tracking significantly for us, as well as having a database of past orders to refer to when a client orders again 2+ years later.

I asked him about adding a quoting module and he has been very optimistic, the hardest part will be to explain my quoting process to him so he can make sense of it lol.

Also his fee was more then reasonable, I found him on upwork and English is his native language, which helps when explaining the nuances of what I'm looking for.

I hope you will be so kind as to give us a full report on your experience with hiring a Filemaker designer and how the end result is working for you.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I hope you will be so kind as to give us a full report on your experience with hiring a Filemaker designer and how the end result is working for you.

I've been using the filemaker solution for about 3 weeks now, so far its just me and 1 other person in the shop using it while we iron out the bugs. I'm hoping to be able to roll it out fully in the coming weeks.

The system currently handles order entry and project workflow/management. We have a customer centre that allows you to view all past workorders for each customer, you can search for them based on a bunch of criteria (job name, po#, job # etc.) There is also a thumbnail photo of each job so you can find it quicker (I'm a visual person)

From the customer area, you can create a new workorder using templates, we currently have 5 preset templates set up, engraved tags, large format printing, bronze plaques, ada Signage and generic. Each template uses drop downs for things like materials, for example the large format has drop downs for media, laminate, substrate, single or double sided, finishing and a bunch more, this allows us to create an order extremely quickly.

Once an order is created, it's assigned a status, waiting for client, parts to order, waiting on materials, in production, waiting to install, ready to invoice and archive, you can then view the jobs by either status or by machine on a trello like job board.

Overall I'm very happy with the system, I'm excited to add on to it in the future and be able to manage even more with it.

We hired a developer from the UK on upwork he has even really good to work with, extremely responsive and he makes small changes to the system even now after he has been paid if we notice something. If anyone is interested I can DM you his info.

The hardest part was trying to communicate all the ideas in my head to someone who wasn't in the sign industry, but he did a really good job, everytime I asked if something was possible, the answer was yes.

 

[ColorCrest]

I've been using the filemaker solution for about 3 weeks now, so far its just me and 1 other person in the shop using it while we iron out the bugs. I'm hoping to be able to roll it out fully in the coming weeks

Very good to know.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before here on the boards, but have you been sure to name your custom solution specifically for your business to save it from being referred to as "FileMaker?" Also, be sure to assign version numbers as the solution(s) grow.

Forward ahead!

 

[CanuckSigns]

Very good to know.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before here on the boards, but have you been sure to name your custom solution specifically for your business to save it from being referred to as "FileMaker?" Also, be sure to assign version numbers as the solution(s) grow.

Forward ahead!

Yea I've been trying to think of a good name, but everything I've thought of so far sounds pretty dumb when I say it outloud lol

 

[ColorCrest]

Yea I've been trying to think of a good name, but everything I've thought of so far sounds pretty dumb when I say it outloud lol

Well, maybe delegate the naming to someone who will use it most. Consider that when a person needs to yell across the shop; "Look in The System!" that everyone will understand what that means. Also consider you will very likely to have more that one app or tool you've built with FileMaker. That's another reason giving them unique names will help.

 

[JDZito]

Hi Everyone,

So I'm looking for a bit of advice. I've already gone through and looked at similar threads on this topic and am not really coming up with a solution for me and my shop. We're a small three-person shop that does screen printed apparel, custom signs, small- & wide-format printing and vehicle wraps - so cost and complexity is a consideration.

What we use now:

Trello: Workflow and CRM (emailing directly within cards using the SendBoard PowerUp)
QBO: Accounting and estimating
Google Sheets: Inventory tracking

What I'd like to change: Estimating

Problem: We've been using QuickBooks Online since the beginning to do estimating but it just really sucks for that, especially when needing to update/adjust pricing. I end up having to stage everything to update in a series of spreadsheets to upload to QBO, and it is way too tedious to keep up with.

My estimating style: I have a hybrid approach to estimating due to the range of products we offer. I prefer to do most estimating based on simple package-pricing with few variables. This kind of estimating is mostly done for vehicle wraps and business sign projects and is not a major challenge. My I don't give a *** how many colors of vinyl/paint or number of grommets/fasteners/etc is on a sign because my package pricing covers a healthy margin, I don't want to do an engineering project just to do an estimate for a job that might not move forward - I want to turn an estimate around with a healthy margin quickly and deal with the details during the project itself. The other method is for everything else we do that is more commodity-priced, like screen-printed t-shirts, business cards, etc, where pricing is very competitive and based on quantity grids. This method is a nightmare to manage within QBO.

Solution I'm Seeking: I want to move to a system of only using QBO to handle accounting tasks (invoices, payments, expenses, payroll) - but add a new piece of software to just do the estimating. I'm NOT necessarily looking for software to take over the CRM tasks that I currently handle in Trello as that has been working really well for us, though I am not totally opposed to it. I'd like an estimating software that doesn't try to be a kitchen-sink solution for my business, just that one piece.

What I've tried already:
ShopVox: tried in 2018; too many bugs I couldn't trust it
CoreBridge: tried in 2019; too clunky to build most of my estimates
Bitrix24: tried earlier this year; too much clicking around to do anything
AirTable: tried recently, same major difficulties as working with spreadsheets

What else I've considered:
Ordant: too expensive for my small shop
Sign Tracker: I'm might try the trial of this, but I'm not sure it can pull in live distributor data.
Printavo: Focused on screen-print shops, so too limited for our shop
Nutshell: and mainly focused on CRM and too basic
Filemaker: Desktop software that requires Win10. I run Windows 7 Pro machines at my shop and I will never be switching to Windows 10; I will be moving to a Unix system when I can no longer run Win7 (so cloud-based software is a plus).

I'm sure I've tried a dozen others that I don't even remember any longer.

I've also thought about just building a bunch of Google Spreadsheets for estimating, but we do both textile screen-printing as well as custom signs and just thinking about the nightmare of downloading the product database from SanMar and staging it to upload into QBO gives me PTSD, nevermind all of my other vendors. Ideally, I want a system that can live-query SanMar/S&S Activewear/AlphaBroder/Grimco/Fellers catalogs and return current pricing and inventory.

What are your thoughts? Any suggestions? Am I just being too stupid and picky? I want to keep things simple, but I've yet to find something that really works well for me and my shop.

I agree with you , I have been estimating for going on 28 years. When I 1st started when I was with YESCO, they had a custom in house data base style program that worked very well. Easy to walk thru menu for the line item that created a base template they you entered sizes & would give you a base amount (hours & material money) that you could easily edit & modify to custom fit the job as needed. Created Full & production level estimates as well as a data recap for the entire job (which was made obsolete with Windows 10). Since then, at my new companies, I have used EXCEL, 1 that was cloud based & now QB. none of these nor any of the other programs I have found really help cater to a custom job shop that all of us really are at the end of the day.

 

[White Haus]

Well, maybe delegate the naming to someone who will use it most. Consider that when a person needs to yell across the shop; "Look in The System!" that everyone will understand what that means. Also consider you will very likely to have more that one app or tool you've built with FileMaker. That's another reason giving them unique names will help.

Wow, old (but good) thread. Does anyone know what happened to ColorCrest? I used to enjoy seeing his posts about Filemaker etc. but looks like he hasn't been online since April 2024.