Automatic Bill of Materials: Parts and Cut Lists From What You Sold
By Facundo Campo, 3D quoting tool developer
In short: When a quoting tool generates every part of the product from building rules, it can also count those parts. The bill of materials and cut list then come from what was sold, with the same dimensions, and the shop doesn't have to recalculate what the quote already worked out.
An automatic bill of materials is the list of parts, quantities and cuts that comes straight from the configuration you sold. If the quoting tool already knows how many frames, purlins and sheets a building needs in order to draw it and price it, it can list them for the shop too. What was quoted and what gets built stop being two separate calculations.
The calculation that gets done twice
At a lot of manufacturers, materials get calculated twice. First when quoting: the owner or estimator works out roughly how much steel, sheeting and labor the job takes, to set a price. Then again after the sale: someone in the shop recalculates, now in detail, what needs cutting, how many pieces and at what length.
That double calculation has three problems:
- It takes time twice. And the second pass is usually the longer one.
- The two may not match. If the quote assumed one amount of sheeting and the shop calculates another, the difference comes out of your margin or shows up as a complaint.
- It depends on the information arriving intact. If the shop gets "50 × 100 building with a roll-up door" in a text, they have to guess or ask about the rest.
I cover the production side of this in from quote to production.
Why a 3D quoting tool can generate it
It comes down to how the model is built. In a quoting tool built on parametric rendering, nothing is modeled by hand: every part is generated from rules. For a 50 × 100 ft building with frames every 16 ft or so, the system works out how many frames go in, where each purlin sits, how many sheets cover the roof and walls, where the doors go. I explain it in parametric rendering.
If the system knows all that to draw it, it can count it. The bill of materials isn't a new calculation; it's another way of showing what the model already knows. That's why it matches the quote and what the customer saw.
To be clear: the bill of materials isn't part of the public configurators on this site. It's built to order for each manufacturer, because every shop names, groups and cuts its parts differently.
What it can include
Depending on the product and how your shop works, the list can have different levels of detail:
- Material takeoff. Pounds of steel, square feet of sheeting, number of blocks or panels. Useful for purchasing.
- Parts list. Every part with its quantity: frames, purlins, bracing, sheets, trim, fasteners.
- Cut list. Every member with its cut length, grouped to make the most of stock lengths.
- By stage. What goes on the first truck and what goes on the second, or what's assembled in the shop and what's installed on site.
- Add-ons. Doors, windows and hardware, with their part numbers.
What matters is that the list uses the shop's names and units. A parts list the shop has to translate is useless.
An example with horse stalls
Picture a barn with six 12 × 12 ft stalls in a row, a tack room and a wraparound canopy. To quote it, the system already knows how many wall panels, how many doors, which type and which way they open, how many posts and how much roofing the canopy needs.
With a bill of materials built on that foundation, the shop gets: how many panels of each type to build, how many sliding or hinged doors, how much hardware, and the member list for the canopy structure. If the customer goes to eight stalls, or switches from wood walls to grille walls, the list updates itself.
At EQUIBOX, a horse stable manufacturer in Berazategui, Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I built the quoting tool, the PDF quote already includes the render views and photos of the add-ons the customer picked. A bill of materials is the next step on the same principle: everything comes from the configuration.
What the manufacturer gets
- Better purchasing. Knowing what material each sold job needs, you can buy ahead and in sensible quantities.
- Fewer shop mistakes. The shop cuts what the list says, which is what was sold.
- Real costs. If the list matches the quote, you know what each sale actually costs. That feeds back into your price table.
- Planning. Adding up the lists for everything sold shows what has to be built over the coming weeks.
What it takes to set up
A bill of materials depends on you having clear production rules. A few questions worth answering:
- What members and stock lengths does the shop work with?
- How are parts named and numbered?
- What's counted per piece, and what by area or by weight?
- What waste allowances do you use?
You don't need it all written down. Often the shop foreman knows it by heart, and it's a matter of sitting down to turn it into rules. It's the same work I describe in turning building rules into software.
I'm Facundo Campo, a software developer in Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I build 3D quoting tools that can carry what was sold all the way to the shop floor. I work remotely, in English and Spanish, with video calls and working links you can try in your browser. If you want your bill of materials to come from what you sold, message me on WhatsApp at +54 9 11 6193-3176 or email facundocampo100@gmail.com, or read about custom 3D quoting software.
Frequently asked questions
Do the public configurators generate a bill of materials?
No. The configurators on this site show the product in 3D, without prices or a bill of materials. The bill of materials is built to order for each manufacturer, with its own parts, names and units.
Does the bill of materials match the quote?
If it's built from the same configuration and the same rules, yes. That's the main advantage: the material that was quoted and the material that's built come from the same calculation.
Can it produce an optimized cut list?
A cut list grouped by member and length, to make the most of stock lengths, can be built. The level of detail is set with the shop based on how it works.
Is it useful for buying material?
Yes. Adding up the lists for everything sold tells you what material you need, so you can buy ahead.
