How I Work With Manufacturers: From Paper Catalog to 3D Quoting Tool
By Facundo Campo, 3D quoting tool developer
In short: Facundo Campo builds 3D quoting tools working directly with the manufacturer: he starts from the catalog, dimensions and assembly rules, delivers a first interactive model at a private URL, adds pricing and integrations, and launches the quoting tool with SEO on the company's website.
Working with me on a 3D quoting tool is a process that's short to explain: you send me what you already have (catalog, drawings, photos, a price list), I build a first interactive model at a private address, we refine it together until the 3D goes together the way your product does, then we add the rules, pricing and integrations, and finally it goes live. The whole time, you're talking to the same person who builds it.
Here's that process step by step, so you know what I'll ask you for and what you'll see at each stage.
What you send me at the start
You don't need anything organized to get started. Most manufacturers have their information scattered: a catalog in PDF or on paper, a pricing spreadsheet only the owner understands, photos of finished projects on a sales rep's phone, and a lot of knowledge in the head of whoever does the quoting.
What helps me, in the order I use it:
- What you sell and in what variants. For example: "metal buildings with spans from 10 to 30 meters, truss or solid-web frames, enclosed or open." Or: "stalls of 3 × 3 and 3.5 × 3.5 meters, in a row or facing, with or without a tack room."
- Photos of real projects. They're what I rely on most to make the 3D read as your product: where the flashing goes, what the door looks like, what color the corner trim is.
- Drawings or sketches, even hand-drawn ones. They tell me the dimensions and how the connections are resolved.
- How you quote today. The spreadsheet, the notebook or the owner's reasoning. I don't need the real numbers at first; I need to understand what the price depends on.
If you want to come in with this better organized, it's laid out in what you need for a 3D quoting tool.
The first meeting: understanding how your product goes together
Before drawing anything, I want to understand the rules. How many meters between frames. What happens if the customer asks for a length that isn't a multiple of that spacing. Whether the sliding door can go on any side or only on one. How many stalls fit in a row before you need another structure.
They sound technical, but they're commercial. Every rule the owner applies from memory when quoting is a rule a new sales rep doesn't know. Writing them into the software is what later lets sales reps quote on their own. It's the subject of turning building rules into software.
Often manufacturers point me to whichever configurator on this site is closest to what they make: metal buildings, prefab homes or horse stables. It's a good starting point for saying "this yes, this no, we do this differently."
The first interactive model, at a private URL
With the basic rules in place, I build a first version of your product in 3D and send it to you as a private link. You open it on your computer or phone, move the dimensions, change the options and watch it rebuild.
Because the engine is parametric, that first model isn't an image or a static render: it's your product generated from its rules. If something is wrong, the rule gets fixed and it's corrected across every variant at once. I explain why it works that way in parametric rendering.
This is the stage with the most back-and-forth. That's where comments come up like "the gable-end sheeting is cut to follow the roof pitch," "we make that flashing black" or "the sliding door never goes on the same side as the walk door." Each one becomes a rule. When the owner looks at the model and says "that's how we build it," we move on.
Rules, pricing and the table the manufacturer manages
Once the 3D is approved, I add the commercial layer. This is where we decide what the public sees and what the sales rep sees. At EQUIBOX, for example, the public quoting tool doesn't show prices and a logged-in sales rep does; another manufacturer might prefer to show an estimated price. That's a business decision, not a technical one.
Prices aren't written into the code. They live in a table the manufacturer manages itself: price per module, per square meter, per option, surcharges. When steel or lumber goes up, the manufacturer updates the table and the quoting tool calculates with the new values, without calling me. I go into this in updating prices with inflation.
We also define the combinations that can't be sold. If a metal building of a certain span isn't built with solid-web frames, the quoting tool doesn't offer it. It's the most direct way to avoid the most costly quoting mistakes.
Integrations: what connects the quoting tool to your sales process
Depending on what each manufacturer needs, the quoting tool connects to the rest of the sale. The most common pieces:
- WhatsApp: the request arrives with the full configuration written into the message.
- PDF quote with views from the same rendering the customer saw.
- Shipping calculated by distance, from the factory to the site.
- Payment plans, installments and discount codes.
- A CRM for sales reps with statuses, follow-up dates and payment collection.
- Offline mode, for trade shows, job sites and the countryside.
- Email notification to the manufacturer every time a request comes in.
You don't need all of them. A metal fabricator that sells over WhatsApp may only need the 3D, the price table and the PDF. I'd rather start with what solves the main problem and add more later.
The launch: on your website, with SEO
At the end, the quoting tool goes live. It can live on a subdomain of the manufacturer's site, like cotizador.equiboxarg.com, or be integrated into the website they already have.
Launching isn't just uploading it. I make sure Google and AI search engines can read it: titles and descriptions for each page, copy that explains the product, structured data and fast loading on phones. A quoting tool nobody can find only helps the sales rep who already has the link.
After that come the adjustments: a new option, another product, a different freight calculation. Because the engine is modular, adding a product means describing its parts and its rules, not starting from scratch.
Why you talk directly to me
I'm Facundo Campo, and I design and build everything: the 3D engine, the interface, the pricing logic, the backend and the production deployment. There are no intermediaries between what you explain to me and what gets built.
In practice, that means when you say "the side canopy is charged separately," the same person who writes the calculation is the one who hears it. And when the model shows something odd, you send me a screenshot on WhatsApp and I fix it myself, without a ticket passing through three people. For a small business that doesn't want to turn into a software company, that closeness is a big part of the value. I expand on this in digitizing a construction company.
If you want to see how your product would look, message me on WhatsApp at +54 9 11 6193-3176 or email facundocampo100@gmail.com. With a catalog and a few photos I can already tell you how I'd approach it. The service is described on the custom 3D quoting software page, and the real-world case is in the EQUIBOX case study.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to send to start a 3D quoting tool?
A catalog, photos of real projects and an idea of how you quote today are enough to get started. Drawings help, even hand-drawn sketches. Real prices aren't needed at first: what matters first is understanding what the price depends on.
Can I see the quoting tool before it goes live?
Yes. From early on you work with an interactive model at a private URL, which you open on your computer or phone. That's where the rules get corrected until the 3D goes together like your product, and only then does it go live.
Will I be able to change prices myself?
Yes, when the project includes pricing. The values live in a table the manufacturer manages, not in the code, so they can be updated without depending on the developer.
Who do I talk to during development?
Directly with Facundo Campo, who designs and builds the quoting tool. There's no sales intermediary between the manufacturer and the development work.
