In defence of the spreadsheet
Let us be straight about what a spreadsheet and a Word template give you, because it is more than software companies like to admit:
- It costs nothing beyond the licence you already have.
- It works in a basement with no signal, on a laptop, in the van.
- It is entirely yours. Every formula, every column, every quirk of how you price a job is in there because you put it there.
- It never refuses. There is no rule it enforces, which is a strength on the odd job that does not fit any rule.
- Your accountant already understands it.
If you fit two systems a month and enjoy the paperwork, stop reading. Nothing below will pay for itself.
Where it breaks
The spreadsheet breaks in the gap between the site and the desk, and the gap gets wider with every job you add.
The survey lives in a notebook
Dimensions, glazing, orientation, where the condenser goes, how long the run is — all in a notebook or in your head, to be written up later. “Later” is the evening, and it is where the quote that should have gone out on Tuesday goes out on Thursday, after the customer has had two others.
The sizing is a rule of thumb
A spreadsheet can hold a heat-load calculation; almost none do, because building one is a project. So the unit is chosen by floor area and experience, which is right most of the time and wrong in the rooms where it matters — the south-facing loft conversion, the glass-sided extension, the terrace bedroom that would have been fine with a 2.5.
The quote is retyped
Everything the survey found goes into the spreadsheet by hand, and everything the spreadsheet prices goes into the Word template by hand. Two copies, typed twice, and the one the customer signs is the one that was typed last — not necessarily the one that adds up. Nothing checks that the total on the proposal matches the lines on the sheet.
The F-Gas log is a third file
The charge, the pressure test and the commissioning go in another spreadsheet, or a paper book, on a Sunday, from memory. The handover pack is assembled from the manuals in the van and whatever is on the desk. When the customer rings in three years, somebody has to find all of it.
Nobody knows what has been opened
The proposal goes out as an email attachment, and from that moment you know nothing. Whether it was read, whether it was opened on a phone and abandoned, whether they are waiting for you to ring: the spreadsheet has no idea, so neither do you.
The same Tuesday, twice
| Spreadsheet and Word | FoxFace | |
|---|---|---|
| 2:00 pm — the survey | Tape, notebook, photos on the phone. “I’ll get a quote over.” | Type the dimensions; the plan draws itself; the load breakdown appears as you go. |
| 2:20 pm — the unit | “It’ll be a 3.5.” | A shortlist of units that cover the load, each at your installed price off your rate card, with the running cost alongside. |
| 2:35 pm — the price | Worked out this evening. | Already worked out: labour, pipework per metre, the circuit, commissioning. |
| 2:40 pm — the proposal | Typed up this evening, emailed tomorrow. | Itemised, in your branding, on the tablet. Signed on the glass, or on a link they open on their own phone. |
| 2:45 pm — the money | Bank details in the email; chase next week. | Invoice raised for the signed figure. Deposit by card, Klarna or bank transfer if you take payment online; emailed from your own domain if you do not. |
| This evening | An evening at the kitchen table. | Nothing to write up. |
It would be easy to write “saves an evening a week” under that table. We have not measured it, so we will not. The tour shows the screens and a demo runs on your own jobs; you can judge the Tuesday for yourself.
What actually changes
- One record per job. The survey feeds the design, the design feeds the quote and the install pack, and the F-Gas record and the handover pack hang off the same job. Nothing is typed twice, and nothing can disagree with itself.
- The load is calculated, room by room, and shown to the customer as a breakdown: fabric, sun, people, air. The haggling about whether it could be a 2.5 tends to stop, because the working is on the page rather than in your head.
- The rate card prices the job. Loaded once, categorised — labour, pipework per metre, the electrician per outdoor unit, condensate, containment — and every job prices itself against it. You adjust the odd line, not every line.
- The proposal is signed on a link, with a timestamp and the signer’s name, and you can see whether it has been opened yet.
- The invoice is raised the moment they sign, for the figure they signed. Take the deposit online by card, Klarna or bank transfer through your own payment account, or send the invoice yourself — FoxFace tells you which ones have not gone. No commission on your work either way.
- The paperwork leaves from your own domain. Invoices, purchase orders to the merchant and handover packs go out as PDFs from your company’s email address, not ours.
- The F-Gas record is a by-product. Charge, pressure test and commissioning are logged on the job as the engineer does them; the certificate and the handover pack assemble themselves from what was entered.
- Your website prices the job at midnight. A five-question estimate runs the same engine off the same rate card, and the enquiry lands in your leads with the postcode and the size of the job.
What stays the same
Your prices are your prices — FoxFace never sees a list price and never suggests one. Your branding is on everything the customer sees; ours is on none of it. Your accounts package stays your accounts package. And your judgement is still the thing that decides the job: the engine proposes, the shortlist ranks, and you pick.
Two things you lose, honestly: it needs a connection, and it only does air conditioning. If either is a problem, the wider comparison covers the alternatives.
Moving across
- Book a demo. It runs on your jobs, not ours.
- Load the rate card with us — an afternoon, once. Labour, materials, mark-up, the equipment you usually fit.
- Import customers and open quotes from the spreadsheet.
- Survey the next job on the tablet, and keep the notebook in the van for a week in case you miss it.
Questions installers ask
Can I keep my spreadsheet for the accounts?
Yes. FoxFace raises and emails the invoice and tells you which ones have not gone; it does not do your bookkeeping. Your accounts package, or your spreadsheet, stays where it is.
Will my prices come across?
Your rate card is loaded once — labour rate, pipework per metre, materials, mark-up, your usual equipment prices — and that is the afternoon we spend with you on the demo. Customers and open quotes import from a spreadsheet on day one.
What if I want to change a price on one job?
You change it on that job. The rate card prices the job automatically; it does not stop you overriding a line. The proposal shows the figure you settled on, and the costs screen shows what the change did to the margin.
Who owns the data if I leave?
You do. Customers, jobs, designs and documents are yours to export at any time, and you keep read-only access for thirty days after cancelling. It is monthly, cancel any time, no exit fee.