Case study · Hardwood flooring · Web business application
A flooring quote goes from 1 hour to 5 minutes.
Rose Fall supplies hardwood flooring for homes in California. We built SquareTally with her: the architect’s PDF plan becomes a takeoff, then a quote, with no re-keying.
By Nicolas Mathieu, founder of ClairAI. Published on , updated on .
1 h → 5 minper quote, at Rose Fall, a hardwood flooring supplier in California
- 5 minper quote, versus 1 hour before
- 99.7%accuracy on a test room (152.6 sq ft measured, 153 annotated)
- +10% / +20%default waste: straight lay / herringbone
- 2 outputsQuickBooks draft and PDF contract
The problem
Every quote followed the same path: open the architect’s PDF plan, note each room’s area in a spreadsheet, apply waste according to the laying pattern, then retype every line in QuickBooks. Not to mention reading the installer’s text message to price the labor.
A herringbone lay is not priced like a straight lay. One waste error and the flooring order is wrong. We had to go fast without losing that rigor.
Nicolas Mathieu designs, builds and runs SquareTally, an online product open to installers and distributors. Rose Fall was its first user.
What we built
The PDF plan is measured in clicks
You open the plan, enter a known distance to calibrate the scale, then click the corners of each room. The area is calculated, stays attached to the room and can be corrected at any time.
Waste follows the laying pattern
Each room gets a flooring product and a pattern. The default waste rate is 10% for a straight lay and 20% for herringbone, adjustable. The quantity to order follows, with the total per product.
The installer’s text becomes quote lines
The installer’s message is pasted into the tool, which extracts demolition, subfloor leveling and the other labor items. It also flags any gap of more than 2% between the area the installer states and the area measured.
A QuickBooks draft and a PDF contract
Material and labor quotes go to QuickBooks Online as drafts. A PDF contract is prepared from Rose’s own template. She reviews it, then sends it herself.
The result
A quote that took an hour now takes five minutes. The time goes into review, no longer into data entry.
SquareTally is online at squaretally.com. The full journey, from project creation to the quote, can be explored in the demo.
Time per quote: about 1 hour before, 5 minutes today. The 99.7% comes from a test on one room of a real plan: 152.6 sq ft measured against 153 annotated by the architect.
« He understood the technology, I understood the flooring. »