Quoting Software for Gates and Fencing Manufacturers
A quote starts from linear metres, but the real value isn't in the metres. It's in the ends, the corners, the slopes, the number of posts and foundations, and above all in the two gates: pedestrian and vehicle, with automation, intercom and cabling.
In the office, quantities are counted off the drawing: how many posts at this spacing, how many panels on the front run, how many foundations. When the customer moves the gate a couple of metres or changes the route along the back, everything is counted again by hand. And installation is estimated as one figure, even though the ground is never level.
A fencing configurator works in runs: you enter the route and the panel type, and the quantities come out of post spacing, corners and end pieces.
Where manual quoting gets complicated
- The quote is built per linear metre, but the job is paid for in posts, foundations and end details. The gap between the two shows up as "we did badly on that one", without anyone being able to say exactly why.
- Posts and foundations are counted by hand off the drawing, and any change of route means counting again. Whoever counts the second time isn't necessarily whoever counted the first.
- Automation, intercom and cabling go in as "optional", with no visible link between the right motor and the gate's type, span and weight.
- Sloping ground and foundations in difficult soil are estimated as an installation supplement, negotiated on site after the price has already been given.
How quoting can look with a configurator
Quantities calculated from the route, not counted off a drawing
You enter the runs with their length and panel type, and the system works out panels, intermediate posts, corner and end posts, foundations and fixing accessories. Move the gate and the whole route recalculates.
The gate configured separately, with compatible automation
Vehicle and pedestrian gates are configurations of their own: type, span, infill, direction of travel. Automation is filtered by what you chose — a motor that can't carry that weight or that opening type never appears.
A quote per run, easy to change
The customer sees the fence split by side, with what goes into each, and the gates as separate lines. When they drop the rear side or ask for taller panels only at the front, one run changes, not the whole quote.
Material order and installation sheet
The accepted quote produces panels by piece, tube by metre, concrete by volume, accessories per post type, plus the installation sheet with runs, spacing, foundation type and the cable route for automation and intercom.
Before and after, in quoting for fences and gates
Today
With a configurator
Today
Panels and posts are worked out on paper, from linear metres.
With a configurator
The route is entered in runs and quantities follow from post spacing, corners and end pieces.
Today
Foundations are estimated the same along the whole fence, whatever the post does.
With a configurator
They are calculated per post type — intermediate, corner, end, gate — each with its own consumption.
Today
The vehicle gate is quoted with whichever motor is habitually used.
With a configurator
Automation is filtered by gate type, span and weight, so it isn't swapped on installation day.
Today
Intercom, lock and cabling are added from memory and sometimes missing from the quote.
With a configurator
They are options attached to the gate, so they appear with it and can't be left out.
Today
Sloping ground enters the price as an installation supplement discussed on site.
With a configurator
It's a property of the run, with its labour and materials already in the quote.
What a configurator needs to know for fences and gates
What's specific here is that the product isn't an object, it's a route. And a route is calculated differently from a cabinet or a window.
Route-based calculation, including corners and ends
Panels and posts follow from run length and post spacing, but the part panel at the end, the post shared between two runs and the corner that needs different fixings all change the result. The rules have to cover exactly those cases.
Rules between gate and automation
Gate type — swing or sliding — together with span and infill weight decides which motor can be used. Automation then brings mandatory accessories with it: photocells, lamp, loop, cabling.
Consumption per post and foundation type
Intermediate, corner and gate posts have different depths and concrete volumes, and difficult soil changes consumption again. A foundation isn't a fixed price per piece, it's a calculation in context.
Two documents from one calculation
The customer needs a quote per run, to understand what each side costs. The installation crew needs something else: spacing, post positions, foundation type, cable route. Both have to come out of the same configuration.
Try a configurator
A working public demo on another configurable product: you pick the dimensions and options, and the drawing, the itemised price and the bill of materials recalculate live.
Open the demoThe enquiries too, not just the quoting
Here the purchase belongs to a homeowner, often at the end of a build. The decision comes more from what's visible in the neighbourhood and a neighbour's recommendation than from search — which moves where the money goes.
- Tight geographic targeting in areas you've already installed in matters more than bidding on generic keywords: neighbours are the first to see the job and the first to ask for one.
- Meta aimed at homeowners in your installation area works precisely because the targeting is tight and cheap, and the audience isn't actively searching — they're just there.
- Finished jobs filmed briefly beat photographs: you see the automation move, you hear the gate, and the clip travels easily through local groups.
- Being present on neighbourhood groups — where owners ask for recommendations — is the channel that decides who gets the job, not search.
Real project
See a system built for a manufacturer
Case study: how quoting and production look once information travels in a single flow.
Let's look at how you price a fence with gates
In the free audit we take one of your jobs, gates and automation included, and check what was estimated versus what was calculated. That's where the lost margin becomes visible.