Five suppliers, five formats, one comparison
Send the material list once. As quotes come back — a PDF, a spreadsheet, a price typed into an email — they get read into one table you can actually compare, with lead times next to the numbers.
Framing package — Halloway Ave
4 of 5 replied
2x10 SYP #2, 16ft — 240 pieces
Ridgeway Building Supply
3 days$8,904Coastal Lumber Co
next day$9,120Fielder & Sons
8 days$9,235Trade Depot
in stock$9,860
Cheapest on this line isn't cheapest on the package — Coastal wins on three of the other six.
Works with
- Gmail
- Outlook
- Google Sheets
- Excel
- Google Drive
Quotes come back however each supplier sends them — attached PDF, spreadsheet, or a price typed into the body of an email. It reads all three out of your inbox.
The chore
How this goes right now
You've got a takeoff done and seven line items to price. You email three or four suppliers, or you ring them, which is worse because then there's no record of what you asked for. Over the next three days the replies drift in.
One sends a tidy PDF. One sends a spreadsheet with their own part numbers and no descriptions you recognise. One replies to your email with the prices typed in the body, in a different order from your list. One quotes you for 2x10s when you asked for 2x12s and doesn't mention it. One never replies at all and you don't notice until you've already ordered.
Comparing them properly means an hour at a kitchen table with a legal pad, and you have that hour available approximately never. So you order from whoever came back first with a number that looked fine, and you tell yourself you'll compare properly next time.
The difference
It's not that comparing is hard. It's that it takes an hour you don't have.
Try it
Walk through it yourself
This is the actual shape of the workflow — the same trigger, the same steps, the same draft waiting for your say-so. Click through it.
Compare supplier quotes
Material list ready to price
Framing package for the Halloway Ave duplex — seven line items, takeoff finished this morning. You tell it to go.
What it does
Read the material list off your takeoff
Seven lines: 2x10 SYP #2 16ft ×240, LVL beams ×4, joist hangers ×180, sheathing, sill plate, fasteners, and a bundle of blocking.
Google SheetsSend one identical RFQ to five suppliers
Same list, same wording, same deadline — Friday noon. Nobody gets a slightly different spec to quote against.
GmailRead the replies as they arrive, whatever the format
Two PDFs, one spreadsheet, one price list typed into an email body. Fielder & Sons quoted #1 grade where the list said #2.
GmailLine them up on the same rows
One table, seven rows, four columns of prices — plus a flag on the grade substitution and a note that Trade Depot never replied.
Google Sheets
Draft comparison — nothing has been sent
| Line item | Ridgeway | Coastal | Fielder | Trade Depot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2x10 SYP #2 16ft ×240 | $8,904 | $9,120 | $9,235 ⚠ | $9,860 |
| LVL beam 1.75×11.875 ×4 | $1,640 | $1,512 | $1,588 | $1,720 |
| Joist hangers ×180 | $486 | $441 | $502 | $470 |
| Sheathing 7/16 OSB ×96 | $2,304 | $2,208 | $2,352 | $2,410 |
| Package total | $13,334 | $13,281 | $13,677 | $14,460 |
Coastal is $53 cheaper overall and next-day rather than three days. Fielder's headline number is only competitive because they quoted #1 grade against a #2 spec — that line isn't comparable and shouldn't be read as a saving.
Order the package from Coastal, or query Fielder on the grade first?
Querying drafts a short note back to Fielder asking them to requote on the specified grade. Worth doing when the difference is big enough to change the answer, which here it isn't quite.
The comparison gets saved against the job
The table and all four original quotes are filed in the job folder. When someone asks in August why you paid what you paid, the answer is a document rather than a memory.
That's the whole workflow.
It drafts, you approve, nothing sends on its own.
How it works
What it's actually doing
You start this one — it isn't triggered by anything. The work is in the reading, not the sending.
- 1
- Gmail
- OuOutlook
It sends one list, worded identically
Everyone gets the same spec, the same quantities and the same deadline. Half the reason quotes are hard to compare is that they were answering slightly different questions, and that starts with how the RFQ went out.
- 2
- Gmail
- Google Drive
It reads whatever comes back
A PDF, an attached spreadsheet, or prices typed into an email. It pulls the numbers out and matches each one to a line on your list, including when the supplier renamed it or put it in a different order.
- 3
- Google Sheets
It flags what isn't comparable
This is the part worth paying attention to. A supplier quoting a different grade, size or quantity looks cheaper on the page and isn't. Those lines get marked rather than averaged into a total that would mislead you.
- 4
- Google Sheets
- ExExcel
- Google Drive
It builds one table and shows its working
Same rows, one column per supplier, lead times alongside. Every original quote stays attached, so you can check any number against the document it came from rather than trusting the transcription.
It reads and lines up. You choose who gets the order.
Nothing here places an order or commits you to a supplier. It does the hour of transcription you were never going to do, and hands you a table. Which supplier gets the work — and whether the cheapest one is the right one — is a judgement involving relationships and reliability it can't see.
Step one
It drafts
Step two — you
You read it and approve
Step three
Only then does it send
It never places an order
No purchase orders, no commitments, no calls. The output is a comparison. Ordering happens the way it always has, from whoever you decide.
The RFQ waits before it goes
You see the list and the supplier set before anything is sent. Adding a supplier, dropping one, or changing the deadline is done before it leaves.
Every number traces to a document
Each figure links to the quote it was read from. Where a number is ambiguous — a handwritten scan, a price with unclear units — it says so rather than picking a value.
It doesn't tell you who to buy from
It'll point out that the cheapest package isn't the cheapest line, or that a lead time doesn't fit your schedule. It won't recommend a supplier, because it doesn't know which one answers the phone when you're stuck on a Friday.
Setup
What setting this up involves
- 1
Connect
- Gmail or Outlook, to send the RFQ and read the replies
- Google Sheets or Excel, where your takeoff and the comparison live
- Google Drive, to file the original quotes
- 2
Tell it how you work
- Your supplier list, and which ones to ask for which materials
- How long they get to reply — Friday noon is a common answer
- Whether substitutions are ever acceptable, and for what
- How your takeoff is laid out, so it reads the right columns
- 3
Then it runs
About 25 minutes, once
Most of it is entering the supplier list and who to ask for what. After that, pricing a package is one instruction rather than an evening.
Edge cases
Where it's careful, and what it won't do
What it handles
Suppliers who quote a substitution
The most common way a comparison goes wrong. A different grade, a metric size against an imperial spec, a 92-5/8 stud against a 8ft one — all of them look cheaper. Those lines are flagged as not comparable rather than counted.
Partial quotes
Suppliers frequently price four of your seven lines and ignore the rest. The table shows the gaps as gaps, and the package total is only calculated across lines everybody quoted, so you're never comparing a full package to a partial one.
Prices that expire
Lumber quotes often hold for a week or less. Where a quote states a validity period it's recorded against that column, and the comparison notes when the earliest one lapses.
The supplier who never replies
Silence is easy to miss when three other quotes arrived. Anyone who hasn't answered by the deadline appears in the table as no reply, so you know whether you're choosing from five or from three.
What it does not do
It doesn't do the takeoff
Quantities and specifications come from you. Measuring off drawings is not what this is, and a material list generated from a guess would be worse than useless.
It doesn't negotiate
No going back to Ridgeway with Coastal's number. That conversation is yours, and it's usually a phone call between people who've done business for years.
It doesn't check stock
Lead times come from what the supplier wrote in the quote. It has no connection to anyone's inventory system and won't tell you what's actually on the yard this morning.
It doesn't rank suppliers
No scores, no preferred-supplier logic, no history-based recommendation. It shows you the numbers side by side and stops there.
Time back
Four to six hours a month, and two to three per cent on materials
- Time back
- Four to six hours a month, and two to three per cent on materials
- Spent on
- The work that bills
- What it costs
- $19 / monthStarterplan — see what’s included
How that’s worked out: Based on pricing three or four packages a month at roughly 60–90 minutes each to chase, transcribe and compare properly. The percentage comes from actually comparing rather than ordering from the first reply — on $30,000 of monthly material spend that's $600 to $900, which is the part that matters more than the hours.
Fair questions
The things contractors ask first
I've used the same lumber yard for fifteen years.
Then this is worth less to you, and you should weigh that honestly. What it still gives you is a check — pricing a package against two others once a quarter tells you whether the relationship is costing you anything. Plenty of contractors find it isn't, and that's a useful thing to know rather than assume.
Suppliers hate being put in a bidding war.
They hate a race to the bottom. Being asked to price a clearly specified list against a stated deadline is just how buying works, and it's easier for them than a vague phone call. The RFQ doesn't tell anyone they're being compared or show them another supplier's number.
Can it really read a scanned PDF quote?
Usually, including most scans. Where a figure is genuinely unclear it flags that line rather than guessing, and every number links back to the document it came from so you can check it in one click. On a handwritten fax — and these still exist — expect to check more of them.
More construction chores
Other things that keep falling off the list
Chase unanswered estimates
Three days of silence on a proposal, and a follow-up is waiting in your drafts with the scope and price already in it.
Triage bid invitations
Every ITB read and scored on scope, location, value and fit — logged, with the bid date held in your calendar before you forget it.
Chase unpaid invoices
Reminders that escalate with the age of the debt, the invoice attached, and a Monday aging summary that includes unbilled retainage.
Compile daily jobsite reports
Photos off the foreman's phone become a written daily log — crew, weather, work completed, delays — filed by project every evening.
Chase change order approvals
A reminder to the client on anything unsigned past two days, and a running total of work you're performing without a signature behind it.
Respond to new leads fast
A lead arrives at 8pm Friday and gets a proper reply that evening, with two site-visit slots you actually have free.
The same job in other trades and industries
FAQ
Questions worth answering properly
What formats can it read quotes in?
PDF attachments, spreadsheets, and prices typed into the body of an email — which between them covers nearly everything suppliers actually send. Scanned PDFs usually work too. Anything it can't read confidently gets flagged rather than guessed at.
How does it handle a supplier quoting something different?
It flags the line as not comparable and says what changed — grade, size, quantity. This is the single most valuable thing it does, because a substitution is what makes a quote look cheapest when it isn't, and it's the easiest thing to miss at eleven at night.
Does it place the order?
No. It produces a comparison and files the original quotes. Ordering stays entirely manual — it doesn't raise purchase orders or contact suppliers to commit to anything.
What if only two suppliers reply?
You get a comparison of two, with the non-repliers shown as no reply. That's deliberate — knowing you're choosing between two rather than five changes how much confidence to put in the answer.
Can it compare on lead time as well as price?
Lead time sits next to each price in the table. It won't weigh the two for you, because whether three days beats fifty-three dollars depends on your schedule that week, and only you know that.
Are the original quotes kept?
Yes, filed in the job folder alongside the comparison. Every figure in the table links back to the document it came from, so you can verify anything without trusting the transcription.
Stop buying from whoever replied first
Connect your inbox and point it at a takeoff. The next package you price comes back as one table instead of five emails.
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