Can You Quote Your Railing Systems in 5 Minutes? If Not, Read This.
Quoting custom railing systems shouldn't take hours. Learn why manual quoting slows you down, what it's costing you, and how manufacturing configurators cut it down to minutes.
Can you quote a custom railing system in 5 minutes? If not, you already know the pain. Endless back-and-forth, digging through drawings, double-checking span limits, finding out which components go with each combination of selections, chasing down someone who knows the pricing rules by heart. All just to get one quote out the door.
Meanwhile, your competitor sends theirs the same day. Clean, accurate, and ready to go. In this article, we’re getting into why quoting takes so long, what it’s really costing you, and how manufacturing product configurators are turning quotes around in minutes without cutting corners.
Why Railing Quotes Take So Long
Quoting complex products, and especially railing systems is rarely fast. And the issue is not your team’s capability, but the reliance on a process built around manual work, disconnected tools, and tribal knowledge held by a few experienced individuals.
In most manufacturing environments, quoting involves several time-consuming steps:
- Reviewing layout drawings or rough specifications
- Manually calculating lengths, sections, and required components
- Applying constraints based on mounting methods, infill types, or span limits
- Referencing pricing tables or internal spreadsheets
- Confirming decisions with engineering or product teams
- Compiling everything into a presentable quote or bill of materials
This process may have worked in the past, but it does not scale. As your product offering expands and project volume increases, quoting becomes slower and more error-prone. Every request turns into a one-off task that demands time from your most senior team members.
That is where the real risk lies. Much of what ensures a quote is correct is often undocumented. It lives in the heads of a few key people. If they’re unavailable, change roles, or leave the company, the quoting process slows even more. This makes your business overly dependent on individuals, and the result is a process that’s too slow and too hard to scale.
The Real Cost of Manual Quoting
Let’s say quoting a moderately complex railing system takes 2 hours. If your sales or technical team handles 15 quotes per week, that adds up to 30 hours just for quoting. That’s nearly one full-time employee focused only on quotes. At an average fully loaded cost of €50 per hour, that’s €1,500 per week and €78,000 per year spent just preparing quotes manually.
Now consider quoting errors. If even 5% of quotes contain mistakes that lead to rework: for example, a wrong post type, an invalid configuration, or incorrect span calculation. And each issue costs around €500 to fix, that adds up to an additional €18,000 to €20,000 per year in preventable loss.
Delayed quoting also costs deals. If you take 2 or 3 days to respond but your competitor replies within 24 hours, you are likely losing projects. Missing just 1 order per month worth €20,000 results in €240,000 in lost sales annually.
All together, this means €78,000 in internal quoting cost, around €20,000 in rework and errors, and possibly over €200,000 in missed revenue. The process may seem familiar and manageable, but it is expensive, risky, and not built to scale.
How Railing Manufacturers Achieve 5-Minute Quotes
Quoting a custom railing system in 5 minutes is not about simplifying your product. It is about having tools that allow you to automate configuration and pricing logic so that quoting can happen quickly, accurately, and without relying on manual input.
Leading manufacturers are achieving this with a manufacturing product configurator designed for complex modular products. Here is how it works:
- 3D configuration: sales reps or buyers interact with real-time 3D railing models, selecting material, size, mounting options, and other customizable components.
- Real-Time Validation: Ensures that chosen components are compatible, preventing errors like missing parts or invalid configurations.
- Visual CPQ: Automatically calculates pricing based on selected options, dynamic rules, and any conditional modifiers. Then displays it in real-time.
- Automated Outputs: Instantly generates bill of materials, pricing details, CAD files, cut sheets, and assembly instructions for production and sales.
- System Integration: Connects easily with ERP systems, PLM, CRM and e-commerce. This keeps data accurate and consistent in all departments.
For railing manufacturers, this changes quoting from a slow, manual task into a structured workflow that anyone can run. It frees up senior staff, shortens the sales cycle, and gives every stakeholder a clear, accurate starting point. Quoting in 5 minutes is not just possible. It is now the expectation.
How to Prepare Your Railings for a Manufacturing Configurator
Getting a configurator starts with organizing what your team already knows and making it usable for others. The product rules, pricing methods, and quoting logic likely exist today, but they’re often scattered across spreadsheets or held by senior team members. What needs to happen is:
Extract and formalize product logic: Instead of relying on memory or manual checks, define constraints like max spans, compatible mounts, and layout rules in a format a system can follow.
Structure pricing logic: Whether pricing depends on length, finish, mounting method, or layout complexity, it needs to be translated into clean logic that updates dynamically.
Define required outputs: Identify what the system should generate, such as bill of materials, quotes, cut lists, or install docs.
Clarify user roles: Decide who will use the configurator and what they should see. Internal teams may need full access, while dealers or buyers only need pricing and outputs.
Most manufacturers already have this knowledge. A configurator simply turns it into a process that scales. With the right structure in place, configuring manufacturing quotes becomes a fast, repeatable task, not a bottleneck.
Real World Example: Easysteel Quotes Its Railing Systems in Minutes
Before streamlining their process, Easysteel faced many of the quoting challenges we described before. Their team relied on manual workflows, and quoting even a simple railing solution required significant time and expertise.
With Salsita’s manufacturing configurator, Easysteel brought that entire workflow into a structured system. Now, quotes take less than 5 minutes from start to finish which brings many more benefits:
- 90% Less Manual Work: Sales teams no longer build quotes by hand or verify specs. The configurator handles layout logic, dimensions, and pricing automatically.
- More Engagement: With a clear step-by-step flow and 3D visualization, more buyers finish configuring their railing and submit their order.
- Increased Sales Efficiency: By automating quoting and configuration, the sales team can manage more deals at once without increasing workload.
- Improved Product Flexibility: The configurator gives buyers full control over layout, dimensions, and components. They can customize every detail down to the millimeter to match their project.
Get a Manufacturing Configurator That Understands Your Railing System
A generic sales quote software can’t handle the complexity of railing systems. It doesn’t understand things like span limits, mounting types, or layout rules. And it certainly can’t show the product visually to your buyers. That leaves your team stuck bridging the gap manually.
Salsita’s 3D manufacturing configurators are built specifically for manufacturers like you. They handle complex modular products with precision, combining real-time 3D visuals, validation, and pricing logic that reflects your actual quoting process.
Each configurator is custom-built around your product structure and sales workflow. That means:
- Visual configuration with accurate dimensions and real product behavior
- Instant pricing that updates as options change
- Built-in logic to prevent invalid combinations or missing components
- Automated outputs like quotes, BOMs, CAD files, and cut lists
- Integration with your ERP, CRM, or e-commerce system