The other half of your shop, finally quoted properly
Measure the openings. The square footage, the film that comes off your roll and the margin work themselves out — on the same quotes, jobs and invoices as your vehicle work.
Glass measured
186.42 ft²
Film off the roll
54.5 lin ft
Total
$2,237.04
Margin
54%
Short on film — Ceramic 70 needs 54.5 ft, you have 48.0 ft on the shelf.
Square feet sold and linear feet cut are not the same number
A 24″ × 60″ window is 10 ft² of glass. Cut with a 1″ trim allowance, that's a 26″ × 62″ piece. Off a 60″ roll two of them nest side by side, so a pair costs you one 62″ run — about 5.2 linear feet. Off a 36″ roll only one fits across, so the same pair takes exactly twice that, and the 10″ strip beside every cut is scrap.
A spreadsheet that multiplies square feet by a film price can't see that difference. Service VIN works it out from your actual roll width, both ways round, and prices from what the job really pulls off the shelf.
| Opening | W × H | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W1 | North | 24″ × 60″ | 4 | 40.00 | 12.0 |
| W2 | North | 36″ × 48″ | 2 | 24.00 | 7.5 |
| W3 | South | 48″ × 72″ | 3 | 72.00 | 21.5 |
| Patio door | South | 72″ × 80″ | 1 | 40.00 | 10.0 |
| W4 | West | 30″ × 50″ | 1 | 10.42 | 3.5 |
What actually happens
From the measure visit to the number on the quote, in the order a shop does it.
- 1
Book a measure visit
“Book a measure visit” creates a mobile job at the site address, so it lands on the calendar, the dispatch day plan and the installer app, and the scheduler counts the drive time — the same as any other mobile job. - 2
One row per opening
Label it, say which elevation or room it's on, type width × height and how many identical lites. Copy a row for a wall of matching windows. The area is computed, never typed. - 3
Film worked out, not guessed
Your roll width decides how many cuts nest across it. Both orientations are tried and the cheaper one wins — which on tall, narrow glass is routinely a third of the film. - 4
Stock checked while you quote
The linear feet the job needs are compared with what's usable on your shelf. Short by 90 feet is a scheduling problem two weeks out — better to know now.
Your allowances, your prices, your elevations.
Three settings decide every figure above, and all three are yours — nothing here is a default we picked for you.
Your trim and your waste
Set the allowance you leave around each cut and the waste percentage you actually run. Change either one and every number on the quote re-prices.
Priced off your own catalog
Any service you've set to “Per square foot” can carry flat glass. No second catalog, no new price list to maintain — and your labor rate per ft² sits beside the film cost rather than being folded into it.
Grouped the way it's installed
The customer sees one line per elevation — “North elevation — 6 openings, 148.50 ft²” — with the measurements underneath, not forty rows of rectangles.
It's a Service VIN quote, not a second system
A window-film quote lands in the same quotes list as the PPF you priced this morning. It sends on the same customer link, is approved and signed on the same portal, takes the same deposit, and converts to the same invoice and the same job on the same calendar. The film comes off the same rolls, through the same consumption ledger.
Vehicles or flat glass?
Both are quotes in the same system, off the same rolls. What differs is how you build them.
Quotes & Invoicing
You want this when you are quoting work on a vehicle — services, per-vehicle price tiers and film SKUs, with live margin as you build.
It does not measure openings for you; flat glass is quoted by the square foot on its own screen.
Architectural Film
You are hereYou want this when you are quoting flat glass by the square foot — residential or commercial openings, off the same rolls.
It does not live somewhere else. It lands in the same quotes list, portal, invoice and job.
Questions, answered.
How is flat glass priced?
By area, off your own catalog. You set up a service with the “Per square foot” pricing model — say $12/ft² for residential ceramic — and every opening you measure is priced at that rate. Different film on the north side? Give that row its own film and it becomes its own line.
Does it know how much film a job actually eats?
Yes, and that is the point. Square feet of glass and linear feet of film are different numbers. Service VIN takes your roll's width, tries the cut both ways round, nests as many pieces across the roll as will fit, adds your trim allowance and your waste percentage, and rounds up to the next half foot — because you can't un-cut a roll. That linear-foot figure is what your cost is worked out from.
What if a window is wider than my roll?
It's flagged as needing a seam, and the estimate falls back to the least film that could cover the glass at your roll's width. A seam is a conversation to have with the customer before they see it, so it isn't buried in a number.
What if I haven't recorded a roll width?
Then there's no film cost to work out, the quote shows labor only, and the screen tells you the margin is reading high because of it. It will not guess a width — a confidently wrong film cost is worse than a visibly missing one.
Does it warn me if I don't have enough film?
It totals the linear feet the job needs per film and compares that with the usable feet on your shelf, quarantined rolls excluded. If you're short, it tells you by how much while you're still quoting.
Is this a separate product from the vehicle side?
No. A flat-glass quote is an ordinary Service VIN quote: it lands in the same quotes list, sends through the same customer link, is approved on the same portal, and converts to the same invoice and job. The only thing that's different is how you build it.
Can I book a visit to go and measure first?
Yes. “Book a measure visit” creates a mobile job at the site address, so it lands on the calendar, the dispatch day plan and the installer app, and the scheduler counts the drive time — the same as any other mobile job.
Which plan includes it?
Every plan, starting at $79/mo on Essentials. Flat glass is a large share of a tint shop's work, so quoting it isn't an upgrade — it's part of quoting.
It doesn't work alone
The rest of the quote lives here
Quote it, close it, get paid for it — in one place.
The other half of your shop, on the same rails as the rest of it.
One login, one customer record, one set of numbers at the end of the month — with the flat-glass side of the shop finally in it.
Free for 14 days, no card. Import your price list and quote a real job today.