The product existed, and every estimator quoted in Excel anyway. Seven weeks later they were producing three times as many quotes a day inside it.
Client
Verstek
Market
Netherlands
Engagement
Product design
Fee
€14,500
Duration
7 weeks
Shipped
September 2024
01
The problem
Verstek sold quoting software to joinery workshops. Adoption looked healthy until we watched five estimators work: all five built the quote in a spreadsheet and typed the total into the product at the end.
The product modelled a quote as a form. An estimator models it as a running total that changes as they think. Those are not the same object.
02
The decision
We rebuilt the quote as a live document rather than a form — every line editable in place, the total always visible, nothing gated behind a save.
We cut the approval workflow entirely. It served two of 340 customers and was the reason every quote needed four screens.
DiscoveryFlowsInterface designDesign systemQA
03
What changed on screen
01 · Quote canvas
Quote canvas — lines edited in place with the total pinned; no save button, no modal.
02 · Material picker
Material picker — keyboard-first, because estimators type faster than they click.
03 · Margin view
Margin view — the number the workshop owner actually opens the product for.
04 · Empty and error states
Empty and error states — every one designed, including the half-finished quote nobody wants to lose.
04
Result
Measured 90 days post-launch across 40 participating workshops
3×
Quotes per estimator per day
Measured across 40 workshops.
−81%
Quotes started in Excel
From near-universal to occasional.
7
Weeks
Discovery to engineering hand-off.
4→1
Screens per quote
After the approval workflow was cut.
“They spent the first two weeks watching us work and then deleted a feature we had spent a year building. They were right.”