FAQ
Before you bring your price book.
A few practical answers to help you decide whether ReadyVariant fits your doors and frames.
Which manufacturers is ReadyVariant for?
Manufacturers of hollow metal doors and frames, windows, architectural louvers, and air grilles and registers, who publish price books and quote from schedules. Doors and frames are quoted as openings (size, hand, fire label, pairs); windows, louvers and grilles as items with united-inch or per-square-foot rates, minimums, free area, sections and neck-size brackets. Each category has an illustrative sample to try.
Do I need to write code?
No. You upload price books and schedules and confirm what ReadyVariant proposes. You still need to review every conversion and footnote and check the results against prices you know.
Can I upload any Excel workbook?
CSV and XLSX uploads are supported, including size grids, adders, footnotes and rule sheets. Not every calculation model converts: formulas, macros and external links are never executed, and an unusual layout may need a conversion you set up by choosing the label cells.
Can I upload a PDF price book?
Yes, when the PDF has a text layer, as exported price books do. Each table on the pages you choose is read from the text, never guessed by AI, and you check each one against an image of its page before it is used. Scanned PDFs have no text to read; send the Excel file instead. A cell where two prices ran together is flagged and kept out of quotes.
Does ReadyVariant calculate tax or freight?
No. Quotes are in USD or CAD, never converted, and show prices before tax and freight. Lead time, freight and payment terms appear as the text you enter.
Can I try it before signing up?
Yes. The public door and frame demo prices an opening and shows a sample quote without an account. Create a workspace to try the sample project, a sample schedule import and your own price books.
Can I import the architect’s PDF door schedule?
Yes, a CAD export or a scan. ReadyVariant finds the schedule table on each sheet, joins sheets that repeat the header, and leaves out title blocks and notes. Each opening remembers the page it came from. Scanned sheets are read by OCR: values it is unsure of are marked, and the openings are added only after you have checked each scanned sheet against what was read. If no table is recognized, you can mark it on the sheet, or ask AI to read the page text, and every value it returns is checked against that text.
Can my customer accept the quote online?
Yes. Send an issued quote from ReadyVariant, or copy its private link into your own email. The customer can view and print it, pick alternates, and accept it with their name, PO number and a typed signature, or decline with a reason. You see when the link is opened and answered. The acceptance is recorded on the quote; it is not a certified e-signature, and a revised or expired quote cannot be accepted.
Are my files public?
Workspace uploads are private to your account. Public pages use illustrative data. A website configurator link you create deliberately lets anyone with that link configure the catalog version you chose and send a request; review what you share.
What should I measure during a pilot?
Take five to ten historical quotes, reproduce them, and compare totals. Time a real schedule from upload to issued quote. The pilot report records both, so you can decide on evidence rather than a demo.
See it with your own data.
Start with one spreadsheet and a result you already know.