Quoting software that knows your price book
If your quotes come out of a spreadsheet with forty tabs, three customer tiers and a rule for every product, off-the-shelf CPQ software will ask you to rebuild the spreadsheet inside it. We build the quoting engine around your pricing instead. Configurators for the products that vary, SKU search for the ones that do not, branded quotes, online acceptance, follow-ups and a two-way sync with QuickBooks. You own it when we leave.
Quoting software, also called CPQ (configure, price, quote), turns a price book, product options and customer-specific rules into a quote a salesperson can send in minutes. Apexure builds quoting engines around a company's existing pricing spreadsheet instead of asking the company to rebuild that spreadsheet inside an off-the-shelf tool.
Most quoting software is built for a sales team that picks products from a catalogue and applies a discount. That is not how a fabricator, a manufacturer or a contractor quotes. Their price depends on dimensions, material, frame, rating and who is asking, and the rules live in a spreadsheet that has grown for years. Put that into a standard CPQ tool and you spend months translating it, then keep the spreadsheet anyway for the cases the tool could not model.
We take the other route. We read the spreadsheet, write the pricing logic down as a specification you can check, and build a quoting engine that follows it. This year that meant a system for a US maker of radiation-shielding and bullet-resistant glass that sells under two brands: 376 QuickBooks products imported and grouped into variants, configurators for glass priced by area, frame and lead equivalency, a lookup for the 215 stock SKUs, three customer tiers, quotes sent under the right brand with 7, 14 and 28-day follow-ups, and a push to QuickBooks that keeps tax and shipping intact. The first release took eleven weeks from the first call.
The quoting engine usually sits inside a custom CRM, so the enquiry, the quote, the follow-up and the invoice are one record. It can also stand alone beside the CRM you already have. If you are mapping the whole flow first, start with our guide to the quote-to-cash process and where small businesses lose money between the quote and the invoice.
You are probably here because…
The price lives in a spreadsheet
Width times height, plus the frame, times the tier, unless it is fire-rated. It works, but only two people know how, and every quote is retyped into the accounts system.
CPQ tools want your pricing their way
You spend the trial recreating your rules as bundles and discount schedules, keep the spreadsheet for the edge cases, and pay per seat for the privilege.
Quotes and invoices disagree
The quote said one number and the invoice another, because tax, shipping or a markup was applied by hand somewhere in between.
Send us the spreadsheet you quote from, or a screenshot of it. Within a few days you will know whether it needs a build or a tidy-up.
What the quoting engine includes
How we build around your pricing
We start with the spreadsheet
Every tab, every formula, every exception. We write the logic down as a plain-English specification and you check it before anything is built. The specification is where most pricing mistakes get caught.
Configurable and stock products, handled differently
Products priced by size, material or rating get a configurator with the dropdowns your team already uses. Stock items are searched by SKU and pulled straight from your accounts software.
Tiers and markups built in
Contractor, trade, end user, whichever tiers you use, applied automatically. Crating, shipping and tax are added the way you add them, so the total is right first time.
Quotes that look like yours
Your logo, your quote number format, your terms, the salesperson's signature and the layout your customers are used to. Sent from the system under the right brand if you run more than one.
Accounts stay in sync
A quote becomes an estimate in QuickBooks or Xero with one click, with the customer record, contact, address, tax and shipping carried across. Invoices sync back so the system knows what has been paid.
You own it
The code, the database and the hosting are in your name. There is no per-seat licence and no platform fee. If you stop working with us, nothing switches off.
When off-the-shelf quoting software is enough
If you sell from a flat price list with no options, or a quote is a product, a quantity and a discount, a standard tool such as QuickBooks estimates, PandaDoc or the CPQ add-on for your CRM will do the job at a subscription price. We will tell you that in the first conversation. A build earns its keep when pricing depends on dimensions, materials, ratings or customer type, when you run more than one brand from one price book, or when the quote has to become an invoice without anyone retyping it.
Who this is built for
Businesses whose price depends on more than a product code. We see the same shape in:
- Glass, metal and stone fabricators quoting by dimensions, thickness and rating
- Manufacturers with configurable products and customer tiers
- Contractors and installers quoting parts, labour and installation from a site survey
- Distributors with trade, wholesale and retail pricing on the same catalogue
- Made-to-order companies where every quote carries options and add-ons
- Businesses running two brands from one price book and one QuickBooks account
If your quotes are simple and your team is happy with the tool you have, keep it. This page is for the businesses whose spreadsheet has become the system.
How a quoting engine build runs
The order matters. Pricing logic is checked on paper before a line of code is written:
We go through the spreadsheet, recent quotes and the QuickBooks product list with the people who quote every day. We list what varies, what is fixed and where the exceptions are.
The rules go into a plain-English document with worked examples. A 36 by 36 panel for a contractor comes to this; with the frame it comes to that. You check the numbers before we build.
Products, variants and options are set up from your accounts software so nothing is typed twice. Configurable products get their dropdowns. Stock products get SKU search.
Two-way sync with QuickBooks or Xero, quotes sent from your own domain with replies tracked, and website enquiries turned into draft quotes with the customer and product already filled in.
We rebuild a batch of quotes you have already sent and compare the totals line by line. Differences are fixed or explained before anyone relies on the system.
Screen-recorded walkthroughs, documentation, the code and the infrastructure in your name. Support hours if you want them, with no contract.
A first release covers the products you quote most. The rest come in phases, so your team is quoting from the system in weeks rather than waiting for everything.
How it works
Send us the spreadsheet or a few recent quotes.
We write the pricing specification and a fixed quote for the build.
Your team quotes from the system in its first release.
A custom quoting engine vs. off-the-shelf CPQ
Built to fit, in your name
- Your pricing rules as they are
- Priced by dimensions, material and rating
- One-time build with no per-seat licence
- Quote to QuickBooks estimate in one click, tax and shipping intact
- Two brands from one system
- Code and data in your name
- Built in weeks around what you quote most
What you get instead
- your rules rebuilt as bundles and discount schedules
- priced by product code and quantity
- a subscription that grows with every user
- retyped or exported by hand
- two accounts and two bills
- an account you rent
- months of configuration before the first quote
Why businesses choose Apexure to build their quoting software
We have done the hard version
Radiation-shielding and bullet-resistant glass priced by area, frame, lead equivalency and fire rating, across two brands, synced with QuickBooks. If your pricing is simpler than that, it is well within range.
The specification comes first
You check the pricing logic in plain English, with worked examples, before we write code. Mistakes are cheap on paper and expensive in production.
We run on one ourselves
Our own quotes, estimates and invoices come out of a system we built, with Xero on the other end. We know the failure modes because we have hit them.
Tracking is part of the build
Every enquiry keeps its source. Quotes that close can be sent back to Google Ads as offline conversions, so your ad account learns from revenue rather than form fills.
Documented and handed over
Code, infrastructure and screen-recorded walkthroughs, all in your name. The dependence on us is a choice, not a lock-in.
Support if you want it
Hourly support blocks with no contract, the same as our website maintenance plans. Or none at all. Your call.
Custom quoting engine vs. CPQ software
CPQ tools charge per seat and often per module, and the price rises when you add the CRM they expect you to run them inside. A build is a one-time project fee plus hosting, and an extra user costs nothing.
Every CPQ product assumes pricing is products, bundles and discounts. If yours is dimensions, materials and ratings, you will be modelling around the tool from day one.
Most tools export a quote. Fewer create a proper estimate in QuickBooks with the customer, tax and shipping carried across, and fewer still bring the invoice back. We build the sync both ways.
A CPQ rollout is months of configuration before the first quote. A build's first release covers what you quote most, typically in eight to twelve weeks.
A platform can change its pricing or retire a feature. With an owned system the honest risk is different: you depend on the people who built it. We reduce that with documentation, handover and code in your name.
A large sales team on Salesforce or HubSpot with standard products and a budget for the add-on. If that is you, use the add-on. We will say so.
The things that pile up when the spreadsheet is the system
We find most of these in the first conversation
- Two people who know how the pricing works
- Quotes retyped into QuickBooks
- A different total on the invoice
- Follow-ups that depend on memory
- Tiers applied by hand
- Add-ons priced from an old tab
- Replies lost in a shared inbox
- No record of which quotes closed
What manufacturers and contractors say
Our company has had Apexure build two incredible websites. One main website for architects and B2B and one ecommerce site for D2C sales. Both have been a great experience and they went above and beyond expectations on both sites as well as other fixes they did along the way including recovering our entire website (after a mistake we made) which was a lifesaver for us
My experience with Apexure has been a very pleasant one. Afriyaz has been extremely responsive since my very first outreach and they have continued to provide quick feedback and changes when required. I will no doubt utilize their services for future campaigns
Their knowledge of landing page design and CRO is second to none.
A quote your team can send in minutes, not an afternoon
Configurators for the products that vary, SKU search for the ones that do not, tiers applied automatically, a branded PDF, online acceptance and a QuickBooks estimate, all from one screen. Built around your price book and owned outright.
Quoting software FAQs
CPQ stands for configure, price, quote. It is software that lets a salesperson pick a product, set its options, apply pricing rules and produce a quote. Most CPQ products are add-ons for Salesforce or HubSpot and assume a catalogue of products with bundles and discounts. A custom quoting engine does the same job around your own pricing rules, however unusual they are.
The names overlap. If a quote is a product, a quantity and a discount, a simple quoting tool or the estimates feature in QuickBooks is enough. If the price depends on dimensions, materials, ratings or customer type, you need configuration logic, which is what CPQ and a custom engine both provide. The difference is whether that logic is yours or the tool's.
A fixed project fee after the pricing specification, phased so the first release covers the products you quote most. There is no subscription. You pay for hosting in your name and, if you want it, support hours. Whether it beats a CPQ subscription depends on your seat count and how much time the spreadsheet is costing you. We put both numbers in the proposal.
The specification takes one to two weeks. A first release typically takes eight to twelve weeks depending on how many product families you have and what it needs to connect to. The glass manufacturer's first release took eleven weeks from the first call.
Yes. Products and customers are imported from QuickBooks, a quote becomes a QuickBooks estimate with one click with the contact, address, tax and shipping carried across, and invoices sync back so the system knows what has been paid. Xero works the same way.
Yes. Tiers by customer type, such as contractor, trade and end user, are applied automatically. Customer-specific rates, volume breaks, crating, shipping and tax are built in the way you already apply them.
Yes. Quotes go out with a link where the customer can accept and, if you want, pay a deposit or the balance by card. Acceptance updates the quote and can create the invoice in your accounts software.
The code, the database, the hosting account and the documentation, all in your name. If you stop working with us, nothing switches off.
Send US the spreadsheet
Send the price book you quote from, or a couple of recent quotes. You get a straight answer on whether it needs a build, and a fixed price if it does.
UK hours, which is the East Coast morning.