In this guide 6 sections
Buy a ready product when your work follows common patterns: standard section series, usual glass types and simple site visits. Build custom when your pricing rules, cutting optimisation or site workflow are what win you jobs. Many shops buy first and add small custom pieces around the edges.
What a fabricator really needs the software to do
Forget the feature list. Follow one window from enquiry to handover. A site engineer measures the opening. The estimator picks a section series and a glass spec. The shop cuts, mitres, assembles and glazes.
At every step a number moves from one person to the next. Opening size becomes frame size. Frame size becomes glass size after deducting the bite and the clearance. A single wrong deduction ruins a pane.
Software earns its place by carrying those numbers from the site engineer to the saw and the glass supplier without anyone retyping them. Retyped three times? Fix that first.
- Site measurement sheet with opening, floor and fixing notes
- Section cutting list with lengths, angles and offcuts
- Glass size schedule after deductions
- Hardware list: hinges, handles, locks, rollers and gaskets
- Installation visits, snag lists and sign-off
When a ready product is the sensible choice
Ready software for fenestration is built around the large section systems. It holds the profile library, the weight and cost of each section, and the standard deduction rules. It will have cutting lists on day one.
That saves months. You would otherwise spend them entering every profile drawing, every corner cleat, every gasket length and every hardware catalogue code by hand. Nobody wants that job.
A ready product also comes with fixes and updates. Someone else absorbs the cost of new glass thicknesses and changed hardware catalogues.
When custom software pays for itself
Custom makes sense when the product does not fit how you win work. Perhaps you run a mix of anodised aluminium, uPVC and timber. Perhaps your estimators price from rules that live in one senior head.
It also fits when site work is the real bottleneck. A measurement app that works without signal, captures photos of each opening and updates the order the same evening can save a second site visit.
Custom code you own lets you connect the factory floor to the accounts, the dispatch plan and the dealer portal the way you want. Nobody else sets the roadmap.
- Pricing rules too varied for a standard rate card
- Mixed materials in one order
- Site measurement that must work offline
- Links to a cutting saw or glass optimiser you already own
- A dealer or builder portal with your own branding
Questions that settle the decision
Ask the vendors three things. Can you import our section list? Can cutting lists go straight to our saw? What happens to our data if we leave?
Then ask yourself three things. Which step loses us the most time or glass? Who will own the system inside the shop? How often do our rules change?
If two of the answers point to a gap that no product fills, the case for custom is real. If every answer fits an existing product, buy and move on.
A middle path that works for many shops
Start with a ready product for estimates, cutting lists and glass schedules. Keep the site measurement and installation tracking as a small separate tool that feeds it.
This keeps risk low. If the custom piece disappoints, the factory side still runs. If it works, you can widen it later into dispatch, installation crews and service calls.
Before you sign anything, take one real order from last month. Ask each vendor to run it end to end and compare their glass sizes with what you actually cut.
Fabricator software decision sheet
A worksheet of one page, listing each step: site measurement, estimate, cutting list, glass schedule, hardware, assembly, dispatch and installation. Columns record who does it now, hours lost, errors seen, whether a ready product covers it and whether it needs custom work. A totals strip at the bottom counts how many steps need custom.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can ready software handle our own aluminium section series?
Many can, but check how profiles are added. You need a way to import section lengths, weights and corner rules without paying the vendor for each new profile.
Why do glass sizes go wrong in a fabrication shop?
Usually a deduction for clearance or bite is applied twice or missed. Holding the rule in one place and letting the schedule calculate it removes most of these mistakes.
Is a mobile app needed for site measurement?
It helps when sites have poor signal and engineers retype notes at night. A simple form with photos and opening sizes, saved offline, often does the job.
Can we start with a product and go custom later?
Yes. Ask for an export of your orders and customers so that moving to custom software later does not mean rekeying history.