Typically the woodworking industry has focused on increasing productivity on the shop floor in order to increase profits. Although increasing production is very important, consider the following comparison between the effects of an estimating and business management software purchase versus an equipment purchase for a shop with monthly sales of $150,000.

Suppose for a moment that your estimator had to bid 4 jobs in order to get the $150,000 in gross revenue. If you purchased an estimating software tool for $5,000 that could increase your estimating output by 25% you would increase your gross monthly revenue by $37,500. Naturally, your gross monthly profit would increase by $11,250 making the payback time for the software measurable in weeks instead of years.

It is easy to see why streamlining the office processes first, then using the extra profit to drive the upgrade in manufacturing capacity is a much more sound approach. Especially when you consider that the most costly mistakes are usually made at the estimate and not the production level.