Blinds quoting

Blinds quoting software, on the same quote as the floors

When a builder asks for floors and window furnishings together, the windows are already on the plans you are reading. Squaro lists every window that gets a blind, with its width and drop, and prices the blinds with your markup, install charge and check measure fee, on the same quote as the flooring.

Blinds belong on the same takeoff

Many builders include window furnishings in their selections, often a standard roller blind or a dual blockout and light filtering system to every window outside the wet areas. When the flooring contractor quotes both, the builder gets one price and one supplier for the finishing trades. The information is already in the documents you are reading for the floors: the selections say what goes where, and the plan and window schedule give every window size.

Done by hand, that means a second pass through the plan, a list of windows typed into a spreadsheet and a lookup in the supplier's grid for each one. Squaro does the reading in the same pass as the floors.

How Squaro quotes blinds

It reads the window treatments

From the selections or colour schedule, Squaro takes the style (roller, venetian, vertical or dual), the fabric or range, the colour and where they go. A selection that excludes wet areas keeps bathroom, ensuite, WC and laundry windows off the list.

It lists every window

Squaro produces one row per window that gets a blind, named by room, with the width and drop in millimetres where the plan or window schedule gives them. Each row shows where on the plan it came from, so you can check the list against the drawing before you price it.

It applies your pricing

For each blind you enter your supplier's cost for its size. Squaro then applies your rules for the whole line:

• Markup on supplier cost, as a multiplier such as 1.8 times cost.
• Install, a price per blind.
• Check measure, a fee per job, which you can switch off on a single quote.
• Any other line you need, such as motorisation or cassettes.

Load your supplier's price grid from Excel or PDF and each blind is costed straight from its width and drop. A blind bigger than the grid is flagged so you price it by hand.

Supplier grids and the step just over

Blind suppliers usually price each style and fabric group on a grid of widths and drops, and a blind takes the first width and first drop at or above its size. That makes windows that sit just over a grid step expensive on paper: a 1810 mm wide window prices in the 2100 column, not the 1800 one.

Plan sizes are nominal, and the blind is finally ordered from the check measure once the house is built. Many contractors flag windows within a few millimetres over a step and note that the price is subject to check measure. The guide to quoting blinds from a window schedule works through a five window example with a sample grid.

One quote, one document

Blinds sit on the same Squaro quote as the hard floor and carpet, each line priced with its own rules. The builder receives a single quote PDF with a line for the blinds that names the style, fabric and colour and lists the rooms they go to. You keep one record of the job, and the estimator checks the blinds line the same way as every other line before the quote is sent.

Checking the window list

The most common blind quoting error is not the price, it is the list: a highlight window included that the builder did not want, a sliding door left off, or a wet area window priced against a selection that excludes it. Squaro's window list is built from the same reading as the floor plan, so you can compare it room by room against the selections. The estimator ticks the line once the list and costs are right, and if the line's amount changes later, the tick goes stale.

Styles and options

Roller blinds, venetians and verticals each price from their own supplier grids, with their own options. Common options include linked blinds, cassettes or pelmets, chain or wand controls, and motorisation. Add them as extra lines on the blinds section of the quote, or build them into your cost for each blind.

What the estimator still decides

Squaro reads and lists. The decisions that depend on your business stay with you: which supplier and fabric group to quote, whether to price windows just over a grid step at the higher or lower column, whether to include the check measure, and which options a builder's standard range includes. Those choices are set once in your rules where they are the same every time, and made on the quote where they are not.

Countries and measurements

Squaro reads window sizes in millimetres, as they appear on Australian, New Zealand, UK and Irish plans. Tax is applied the way your company is set up: GST in Australia and New Zealand, VAT in the UK and Ireland. Plans and window sizes in inches, common in the US and Canada, are on the roadmap.

Who it suits

Squaro suits flooring contractors who already quote window furnishings for builders, or who want to. It does not replace a blinds business's own ordering or manufacturing software: it is for getting an accurate quote out from the builder's plans, on the same document as the floors.

Next steps

See how Squaro handles the takeoff and the pricing rules, read the FAQ, or request early access and tell us which blinds you quote.

Related reading

• How to quote blinds from a window scheduleReading window sizes, pricing from a supplier grid, and adding markup, install and check measure.
• The flooring quote checklist: what to check before you sendDocuments, scope, measurements, materials, trims, extras and wording, checked in a few minutes.
• Flooring quoting software that prices the way you doPricing builder plans with your own rules and rates, and checking every line before it is sent.
• Flooring takeoff software that reads the builder's plansHow Squaro reads plans and selections and measures every space from the printed dimensions.

Quote your next plan set with Squaro

Squaro is open to a small group of flooring contractors first. Tell us how you quote and we will set up your rules with you and run your first plan.

Request early access