See Your Potential Savings
Find out exactly how much time and revenue your team could save by switching from spreadsheets to CostForge.
Why it matters
Where the savings come from
Costing Errors Eliminated
Spreadsheets are prone to formula errors, typos, and forgotten line items. CostForge calculates line costs automatically, eliminating underpriced quotes that destroy your margins.
Typical: 2–5% margin lost per job
Hours Reclaimed
Building quotes in spreadsheets takes time — setting up templates, copying data, calculating formulas. CostForge streamlines this to minutes, giving your team back productive hours.
Typical: 30–50% faster per quote
Precision Labour Costing
Define staff roles with hourly rates. Add labour to quotes — CostForge calculates instantly. No more guessing or forgotten labour line items.
Typical: £50–150 per quote reclaimed
Real-world impact
£18k
Average annual savings (Pro user)
24h
Hours saved per month per user
1mo
Typical ROI payback period
About These Numbers
How is "costing error rate" calculated?â–¼
Industry research shows trade businesses commonly underestimate costs by 2–5% due to formula errors, forgotten line items, or manual mistakes in spreadsheets. Our calculator uses 3% as a starting point — adjust based on your experience. More complex jobs have higher error rates.
What about the "time per quote" estimate?â–¼
1.5 hours is the average observed in trade businesses: setting up a template, gathering materials, calculating labour, checking formulas, formatting, and sending. CostForge reduces this to ~30 minutes for most quotes. Adjust based on your average quote complexity.
These seem optimistic. How confident should I be?â–¼
These are conservative industry averages. Most users we speak to see HIGHER savings because mistakes are more frequent than 3%, and time-saving is often 40%+ not just 30%. But every business is different — that's why we let you adjust the inputs.
What if I start with Free and upgrade to Pro?â–¼
The calculator assumes Pro ($29/month) for payback calculations. Free is great for testing, but Pro unlocks team members and higher limits, so you'll capture the full ROI at that level.