Software for Estimating *only* ???

[ColorCrest]

I'm afraid the most significant factor in the search for such a solution is the lack of understanding of the tool itself along with the lack of exposure to a good, better, or best tool. The second factor is cost which has not yet entered the conversation.

At this point I would challenge the OP to create an example of a t-shirt "package" and a sign "package" using a tool, which apparently QuickBooks Online is capable, and post those examples here.

 

[ColorCrest]

From Stacey K 's post #9 of this thread, I think she's on her way to making a tool which will work for her.

 

[RodneyTheSignGuy]

I appear to be a little late to the party, and I was skimming the responses and think I saw someone mention ESTIMATE. We are running Version 2.0 and it works great. You put in the cost of materials with your built-in markup. Then you put in your Qty. and size and estimate your time and WHAMMO! Price. Obviously it doesn't have to be in CONCRETE since all jobs are different, but it gets you in the ballpark for sure. I think they are now making you do a pay per month, but we're on an older version that we will ride until we can't do it anymore..haha.

 

[Stacey K]

Final Answer!

My Excel sheet is working well but I found Fast Accurate Bids last night and it's easier to use than my Excel sheet and cleaner.

#1 problem - I need a Fast Accurate Bid
#2 Price list for common items to attach to back of my sample garments for quick pricing - I can create a price list with a click
#3 Learning curve - I figured it out immediately
#4 I'm cheap - $95 one time fee
#5 I'm just one person some of the other products are just overkill, I like to be simple and efficient.

File Maker is still on my mind for the future. For now, this solves my immediate problem.

OP - It's not much of an investment even if you only use it a few months until you figure something else out.
https://www.fastaccuratebids.com/

 

[mjkjr]

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).

 

[ColorCrest]

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).

This part is impractical at this point.

Has anyone here had any success hiring a small development company or freelance programmer for this kind of a thing?

This part is impractical at this point and especially because of what you've mentioned here...

(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).

 

[WildWestDesigns]

When I'm looking at existing frameworks, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel, I'll look at github (or gitlab). Either for specific projects that are exactly what I'm looking for or I'll look general (in this case, I would just look for projects related to Trello, the may be clones of Trello as well) and go from there.

Since you are wanting cloud based, stick with your node js projects. If they know how to use WASM, that would help. WASM allows for native code to be compiled and executed in the browser, remarkable faster code execution (I use C++ with emscripten to compile).

To me, that's where I would start, looking at github projects to see if there may be someone to hire that way. Now, I would strongly suggest also vetting the person to the best of your ability, so that would require some knowledge on your part as well. As with anything, always a chance of getting someone less on the up and up.

 

[mjkjr]

This part is impractical at this point and especially because of what you've mentioned here...

Let me clarify: I'm OK with paying a ONE-TIME higher cost to get a system purpose-built rather than paying a monthly subscription forever for a solution that is half-baked.

I'm OK with paying for subscriptions for things of value it's just that to me Zapier is way over-priced for what it is.

I could spend some time with a developer and create and host a solution that does the same thing as Zapier and then some without the same monthly cost. I can't do that to replace, say, QuickBooks or Trello as a whole.

 

[ColorCrest]

I could spend some time with a developer

If you can find a developer who will spend the time with you!

I can look down the street and see both the Oracle and Google buildings and other such companies who leasehold incognito. I don't know of any devs / programmers who are not already working and busy and there is the ever-present shortage anyway. Many are working from home offices at this point and many will remain doing so after the pandemic. One might find moonlighters, however, many devs have agreements with their employer prohibiting such.

In any case, you would need to be prepared in order to build a solution. You haven't posted an example of your product, which you would like to call a "package." It's one of the first steps. Can you post such? It would be a unique name along with its components.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I don't know of any devs / programmers who are not already working and busy and there is the ever-present shortage anyway

You would be very, very surprised, in general terms of finding a developer. The odds of a React, Vue, JS, Node developer are very high among that list as well as that is perhaps the biggest pools of developers out there. In general terms mind you. If your pool is Oracle, RedHat, Google etc, that's another story.

 

[ColorCrest]

You would be very, very surprised, in general terms of finding a developer.

I'll provide a different perspective from when I look up the street. I'm surrounded by developers as much as sign shops to a degree that spans the spectrum. Up the street are people, especially young, who are writing code and others who are wrapping cars in their garages and back yards. They charge the same as those from bonafide businesses, which runs the gamut, and are as popular and busy within their circles as any noted names.

So, there's that.

(More later)

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I'll provide a different perspective from when I look up the street. I'm surrounded by developers as much as sign shops to a degree that spans the spectrum. Up the street are people, especially young, who are writing code and others who are wrapping cars in their garages and back yards. They charge the same as those from bonafide businesses, which runs the gamut, and are as popular and busy within their circles as any noted names.

That's still a localized pocket. My experience is with getting with people in IRC, github, gitlab etc. Not just looking out my office window.

I'm way more involved with open source and that world then even some people think in terms of my current zealotry of it. Ironically, I've been contributing more to open source lately due to the beer bug then I have been my traditional work. I have customers that due to the draconian lock downs are no longer in business, and if things continue to go the way that the seem, I have to wonder how many more I'm going to lose at the beginning of the year. But I digress.

We live in a network society now, not quite the same as what indicators and how strong to take stock behind those same indicators in a mass society (look to certain cities/areas for overall market indicators, movies in LA, tech in silicon valley, finance (depending on the market(s) one is interested in) in Chicago or NY etc when in a mass society).

 

[ColorCrest]

My Excel sheet is working well but I found Fast Accurate Bids last night and it's easier to use than my Excel sheet and cleaner.

Just a few notes about Fast Accurate Bids...

1) Know that the software is not a database (from what I am able to glean) but a good tool, none the less. It offers to save each bid separate from one another as its own format or save as Excel format. I strongly recommend saving as Excel because doing so will serve one well when advancing to the next level of software, whatever it may be. Ideally, each saved bid should carry a unique bid number at the very beginning of the file name.

2) FAB offers one a very good overview of pricing apparel as well as ancillary spreadsheets to see how things work from behind the scenes. Again, a good background which could be helpful in the future.

3) It seems FAB has gone to lengths to search and find a source of software from a different industry and adapted well to their apparel shop. Kudos to them and well worth the price.

 

[ColorCrest]

You would be very, very surprised, in general terms of finding a developer.

I would not be surprised, actually, but I'm practically certain the OP would be surprised at the cost.

The OP might stand a chance to learn a bit if he were to visit the Trello forums and find who is available within those circles to implement some PowerUps, but alas, that still is not really a solution. I'm afraid the OP doesn't understand the caveats of basing important business on such current platforms as no-code options. They will get better, but not right now. Trello, in particular, is not at all an efficient or safe software to use as a CRM or for workflow management of a manufacturing business.

It seems the OP has exhausted the usual industry "estimating" options. It's not that the OP is so unique or picky, it's just the OP might become more familiar with the business process in general or hire someone to handle this part of it.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I would not be surprised, actually, but I'm practically certain the OP would be surprised at the cost.

That comment was in relation to yours about shortage and not being able to find one.

Cost is relative to what you are needing them to develop for. Full stack devs (may be able to get away with just a front end dev with a little bit of node/django or some back end (or since he is on Ubuntu, a simple one line python command to spin up a simple server to host it for those computers on the network, could run it as a cron job as well to automate when it spins up), I'm going more into this since the OP mentioned cloud based, or preferably use WASM (which would move into the low level compiled languages for the web)) have quite the pool to chose from. Low level language devs exclusively, not so much and thus those will be much, much more expensive as well. The language (in my case C++) isn't all that bad, it's when trying to slap a GUI on there for a desktop application. That's what gets a lot of them. The best framework bar none is Qt (and it abstracts alot of the computer sciencey bits away) for GUI for low level languages and it's cross platform, if use Qt.Quick part of Qt can even put it on embedded devices without tweaking the code, but it can be quite expensive if not able to use the open source version and follow the license requirements (most notable software with this framework is Maya, although there are others that do/did use it as well).

...as no-code options

No or even low code options will always be behind the 8 ball. If they don't allow to interject code at all, for those that are willing and able to do so, they will always be behind. And quite a lot of time, inefficient.

It would essentially be the same as a graphics program that only allowed for auto conversion versus having a bezier pen tool.

 

[ColorCrest]

ColorCrest which Filemaker subscription product would I need to sign up for in order to connect to the API and have my Filemaker hosted in the cloud? Also, can I build such a Filemaker app from my browser/in the cloud? Basically what I'm getting at is: can I use it 100% without having to install software onto my computer? If so, which exact subscription combinations would I be looking at?

I've just been informed this "build in the cloud" is coming from Claris. I believe they have no trouble with engineering, as it is well along.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I've just been informed this "build in the cloud" is coming from Claris. I believe they have no trouble with engineering, as it is well along.

I think the OP is really more concerned about deployment then really building using their servers.

Some software vendors that have "build in the cloud" abilities can build your app in the cloud, but deployment is still local, since the OP in the sentence that you commented wanted everything not to be installed locally. In fact, this is usually a limitation of lower tiered software platforms as a means to try to get people to spend more money to be able to build and deploy without attached to the vendor's servers.

They should be able to do that, but that's what I would make sure about, deployment, not just build.

 

[ColorCrest]

I think the OP is really more concerned about deployment then really building using their servers.

If Claris remains true to FileMaker, the Build-In-The-Cloud option should be available to either cloud servers or on-premises servers. Meaning, the same current options as FileMaker. There has only been sparkly sales-speak without specifics so far. Too early, yet.

 

[gnubler]

I'm also late to the party here but wanted to bump this back since I'm using both EstiMate and Wave Accounting, as mentioned by others. I'm new in business and was struggling to come up with consistent pricing that didn't take a ton of time to figure out. I acquired the EstiMate software from the business I took over, the version I have is about ten years old but suits my needs just fine as a small sign shop. It's not cloud based. Lots of options to customize product templates and base pricing by the square foot or per product, add upcharges, discounts, etc. It can generate a PDF to send to customers (though I'm not doing that), including a proof page where you can include the artwork or layout of the job. I like this feature just for my own records.

The workflow that works for me is figuring my actual pricing in EstiMate and then entering those numbers into Wave using the products/services I've set up, keeping it simple & reader-friendly for my customers. From Wave I can send an estimate to the customer (PDF or link), and if it becomes a job I convert the estimate to an invoice. From there it's all automated into the accounting which is precisely where I lose interest, so it's a win-win. I looked into QB but felt like it was too complicated for my needs as a startup business - Wave is free and does the same thing on a more basic level.

 

[litewave]

Consider

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