Building Rules in Software: The Owner's Know-How, Written Down

In short: Turning the owner's know-how into building rules means writing down which dimensions, options and combinations a product allows and which parts result from each choice, so software can quote and draw custom products without the owner stepping in every time.

At many manufacturers there's one person, usually the owner, who is the only one who knows how to quote an open-sided shed with brick and metal sheeting. Not because it's a secret, but because it never needed to be written down. Turning that know-how into rules means writing it down in a way software can use: which dimensions the product accepts, which options go together, which parts come out of each decision. Done well, it doesn't take the custom out of the product; it makes it repeatable.

What is a building rule?

It's a statement of the form "if this happens, then the product takes that," with numbers. Some examples from a metal building:

• Frame spacing ranges from 3 to 9 m; the length is divided into equal bays within that range.
• Large spans use a truss frame; small spans can use a solid-web frame.
• The number of purlins depends on the length of the roof slope and the spacing between them.
• If the cladding is brick plus sheeting, there's a wall up to a certain height and sheeting above it, with the junction between them.
• A sliding door needs a clear opening between columns and its top guide.

None of those statements is news to the owner. The difference is that today they live in his head, or are scattered between him, the draftsman and the shop foreman, and nobody has them all in one place.

What the problem looks like when they aren't written down

Picture a steel fabricator in Córdoba, Argentina, that sells metal buildings and open-sided sheds to farms. The owner quotes well: he looks at the span, works out the frame, estimates the kilos of steel from experience, adds the sheeting and the erection. It takes time, but he gets it right.

Now the company wants a sales rep to quote at an agricultural show, or wants the website to receive inquiries with the configuration already built. It can't, because the knowledge isn't anywhere someone else can use it. Every quote goes back to the owner. That's what I call the owner bottleneck in sales reps who quote on their own.

Doesn't standardizing mean giving up custom work?

It's the most common fear, and it's worth taking apart. Standardizing doesn't mean having three fixed models. It means standardizing the rules, not the results.

A metal building can have any span between 6 and 40 m and any length between 6 and 90 m. That gives thousands of different combinations, all custom. What gets standardized is how each one is solved: what criteria pick the frame, how the purlins are spaced, what finish each type of cladding takes. The customer still gets their building; the manufacturer stops reinventing the criteria every time.

That's how the Estructuras 3D engine works. Nothing is modeled by hand: every part (frames, purlins, sheeting, walls, stalls) is generated from rules. Change a dimension and the rest recalculates without breaking. I explain it more technically in parametric rendering.

How to turn know-how into rules, step by step

In my projects, this stage is worked out directly with the manufacturer. An order that works:

1. Gather real quotes. Ten or twenty quotes already done, of different sizes and variants. They're the best source because they show how quoting really works, not how people think it works.
2. List the variables. What does the customer decide? Dimensions, roof type, cladding, openings, finishes. Anything that changes the price or the shape.
3. Write down the ranges. Minimums, maximums and increments. If the roof pitch goes from 5 to 35%, write it that way.
4. Write down the dependencies. What each choice brings along, what it rules out, what it changes in the structure.
5. Set the exceptions aside. Some orders don't fit any rule, and that's fine. They're marked "ask us" instead of being forced in.
6. Test against real quotes. The old quotes are entered into the system and compared. If the number differs, a rule is missing or one is written wrong.

Step 6 teaches the most. Something almost always turns up that the owner did without realizing it: "oh, when the building goes past a certain length I add another set of cross bracing." That sentence is worth its weight in gold, and it wasn't written down before.

What stays outside the rules?

Not everything has to be automatic. There are three kinds of cases worth leaving out:

• What needs engineering. An unusual span, a special load, difficult soil. The rule can detect it and route it.
• What rarely sells. If a variant comes up once a year, it may not be worth modeling. It gets quoted separately.
• Business decisions. The discount for a big customer or a launch price. A person decides that; the system gives them the framework.

A good rule also knows how to say "I don't handle this one." That prevents the costliest quoting mistakes, which usually come from forcing a combination that can't be built.

What the manufacturer gains beyond quoting

Once written down, the rules are good for more than pricing:

• For showing. The same set of rules draws the product in 3D. You don't need a renderer for every variant.
• For production. The configuration yields quantities: kilos of steel section, meters of sheeting, number of purlins. It's the basis for what was sold reaching the shop without being reinterpreted.
• For training. A new sales rep or technician learns the product by using the tool.
• For growth. If the manufacturer adds a product (carports, quinchos, the covered barbecue areas common in Argentina, modular units), its parts and rules are described on top of the same engine.

The case of a small, very specific niche

When I built the EQUIBOX quoting tool for a horse stall and barn manufacturer, the work started right there: which stall sizes exist, how they're grouped (in a row, back to back, facing each other, in an L or a U), where the tack rooms go, which walls and doors each model allows. With that defined, the 3D and the price come from the same source. The geometry from that work is what the site's horse stable configurator uses today, and you can try it.

Facundo Campo works this way on every 3D quoting tool project: your product's rules first, the screen second. If you want to start writing down your company's rules, message me on WhatsApp at +54 9 11 6193-3176 or email facundocampo100@gmail.com, and if you have old quotes on hand, even better.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to know how to code to write my product's rules?

No. The rules are written in the manufacturer's own language: dimensions, ranges, what each option takes. Translating them into software is the developer's job; what the manufacturer brings is the know-how and real quotes to test them against.

How long does it take to map out a product's rules?

It depends on how many variables the product has and how organized the information is. A product with few options is mapped quickly; one with many combinations takes more back and forth. It's estimated per project.

What happens when a rule changes, for example a new type of cladding?

It's added to the system as one more option, with its parts and dependencies. Since everything is generated from rules, the rest of the product doesn't have to be redone.

Doesn't standardizing make all the products look alike?

No, because what gets standardized is the criteria, not the result. A building can have any dimensions within the manufacturer's ranges; what repeats is how each dimension is solved.