Primary destinations and industry pages
Our own tool: a pricing engine, quote builder and sales CRM for print businesses, built first for our own studio. Print quotes depend on paper, ink, imposition, setup fees, markup and VAT, and most shops manage that in spreadsheets, so underquoting eats margin. We built a single guided workflow that prices a job, sends a polished quote by email and tracks it through the pipeline, with no running cost.Accurate pricing, polished quotes, and full sales pipeline visibility, with zero infrastructure cost.
Read it your way. You are reading the plain-English version. Flip to Technical for how it is built.You are reading the technical version: architecture, integrations and engineering detail.
Our own pricing engine, quote builder and sales pipeline for print shops. A job is priced and quoted in about two minutes, it costs nothing a month to run, and every client record stays on your own computer.
A fully client-side Next.js 16 app: a pure pricing function over a pre-configured rate card, React Hook Form and Zod on every input, Zustand persisted to localStorage, HTML quote emails through Resend, shipped as a static export with no backend.
Plate Key
Paper type
Silk, gloss, kraft or pearl
stock.perM2 × sheet m²
Weight
Will it even go through the printer?
stock.gsm ∈ printer.gsm
Ink
Draft, standard or high quality
INK_PER_M2[quality] × sides
Printer
Which machine can run the job
printerFor(size, stock)
Imposition
How many fit on one sheet
⌊aw ÷ iw⌋ × ⌊ah ÷ ih⌋, both ways round
Setup
Getting the press ready, plus spoiled sheets
printer.makeReady + overs
Markup
Your margin, set per product
cost × markup[product]
VAT
20%, or zero for leaflets
net × vat[product]
Plate Cyan
250 business cards
12.1p each
12.1p each / 250 business cards
£30.35
Job docket
No. Q-0412
Sample rates
250 business cards, Standard 85 × 55 mm, 350gsm silk, double sided
Standard print / Digital press
Total inc VAT
£30.35
12.1p each / 250 business cards
Price each, by quantity
Quote follows this job
Sample rates for illustration. The real app ships with real paper stocks, printers and products set up, and every rate is the shop's own to change.
type Job = {
product: ProductId; size: SizeId; stock: StockId;
qty: number; sides: 1 | 2;
quality: 'draft' | 'standard' | 'high';
finish: FinishId;
};
type PriceResult =
| { ok: true; parts: Record<Segment, Pence>; total: Pence;
printer: Printer; layout: Imposition; sheets: number }
| { ok: false; reason: string }; // e.g. 350gsm will not feed
// Pure: no I/O, no clock, no network. Rates come from the
// pre-configured rate card; whole pence throughout.
export function priceJob(job: Job): PriceResult;sheets = ceil(250 ÷ 21) + 3 overs 15
paper = 15 × 0.144 m² × 105p £2.27
ink = 15 × 2 × 0.144 m² × 24p × 1 £1.04
setup = Digital press make-ready £10.00
finishing = none £0.00
margin = £13.31 × 90% £11.98
vat = £25.29 × 20% £5.06
total = £30.35Recalculated 0 times this visit / 0 network requests / no loading state
Change anything and the price is worked out again before your finger leaves the button. Nothing is sent anywhere to do it: the sums happen right here on the page, the same way they do in the shop's app.
Plate Magenta
Hi Ailsa,
Thanks for getting in touch. Here is the price we talked about, printed here in Glasgow.
| Item | Net |
|---|---|
| 01250 business cards, Standard 85 × 55 mm, 350gsm silk, double sided | £25.29 |
Sample client and rates. The real app sends this as a formatted email, with a matching PDF-ready layout for offline sharing.
const quoteForm = z.object({
name: z.string().trim().min(2, 'Add the client’s name'),
email: z.string().trim().email('Enter a valid email address'),
note: z.string().max(280).optional(),
validDays: z.union([z.literal(14), z.literal(30)]),
});
const form = useForm<QuoteForm>({ resolver: zodResolver(quoteForm) });export function QuoteEmail({ quote, shop }: Props) {
return (
<Html><Preview>{quote.ref}: {gbp(quote.total)} inc VAT</Preview>
<Body style={paper}>
<Letterhead shop={shop} />
<Text>Hi {quote.client.name},</Text>
<Text>{quote.note}</Text>
<LineTable lines={quote.lines} /> {/* same rows as the PDF */}
<Totals net={quote.net} vat={quote.vat} total={quote.total} />
<Button href={acceptUrl(quote)}>Accept this quote</Button>
<Text>Valid for {quote.validDays} days.</Text>
</Body>
</Html>
);
}{
"from": "Your Print Shop <quotes@print-shop.example>",
"to": "ailsa@example.com",
"subject": "Your print quote Q-0412: £30.35 inc VAT",
"react": "<QuoteEmail ref=\"Q-0412\" lines={1} validDays={30} />",
"tags": [
{
"name": "quote",
"value": "Q-0412"
},
{
"name": "lines",
"value": "1"
}
]
}Plate Yellow
£105.14
Morag’s Bakehouse
Flyers, 1,000: 1,000 flyers, A5 148 × 210 mm, 170gsm gloss, double sided
£71.06
The Wee Gig Night
Posters, 25: 25 posters, A2 420 × 594 mm, 200gsm poster satin, single sided
£34.08
£98.64
Studio Ishbel
Business cards, 250: 250 business cards, Standard 85 × 55 mm, 300gsm pearlescent, double sided, soft-touch lamination
£59.17
Calum Reid Joinery
Business cards, 500: 500 business cards, Standard 85 × 55 mm, 400gsm uncoated board, double sided
£39.47
£155.94
Leaf & Loaf Café
Folded leaflets, 1,000: 1,000 folded leaflets, A4 flat 210 × 297 mm, 120gsm recycled uncoated, double sided, roll fold to dl
£155.94
Awaiting 50% deposit
£32.05
Glenview Running Club
Posters, 50: 50 posters, A3 297 × 420 mm, 170gsm gloss, single sided
£32.05
£16.03 paid / £16.02 due
£266.42
Northside Florist
Business cards, 1,000: 1,000 business cards, Standard 85 × 55 mm, 300gsm kraft, double sided, round corners
£69.56
Hanna Lind Photography
Flyers, 2,500: 2,500 flyers, A6 105 × 148 mm, 350gsm silk, double sided, matt lamination
£196.86
Sample clients and jobs, invented for illustration and priced by the sample rates above. Deposits are taken at half the quote.
// A Zustand slice, persisted with the rest of the store
moveDeal: (id: DealId, to: StageId) =>
set((s) => ({
deals: s.deals.map((d) =>
d.id === id ? { ...d, stage: to, paid: paidAt(d, to) } : d
),
})),
// paidAt: nothing until Deposit paid, then 50%, then the lot.
// Derived, never stored: stage totals, win rate, outstanding.
const stats = useStore(useShallow((s) => pipelineStats(s.deals)));Plate Key
£0
No hosting, no database, no subscription
£0
Runs from any web host
Nothing yet. Price a job or move a card above and it is saved here, in this browser only. Reload the page and it will offer it back.
The subscription side is an illustration of the usual model, not a named product. The right-hand panel is real: this page saves your demo in your own browser and nowhere else.
There is no account to make and no password to forget. Your client list, quotes and pipeline sit on the computer you use, so they are yours, and the only thing that ever leaves is the quote you choose to email.
// The store
export const useStore = create<State>()(
persist(
(...a) => ({ ...pricingSlice(...a), ...quoteSlice(...a), ...pipelineSlice(...a) }),
{ name: 'print-calculator', storage: createJSONStorage(() => localStorage) }
)
);
// next.config.ts
export default { output: 'export' }; // plain HTML, CSS and JS: any host, no serverState lives in one Zustand store persisted to localStorage, so there is no database, no auth and no API to secure. The build is a static export: HTML, CSS and JS on any host, which is why the running cost is £0.
The only outbound call in normal use is the quote email through Resend. Pricing, quoting and the pipeline make no network requests at all, which is also why every recalculation is instant.
This demo reads its own save back through a version check and per-record validation in parseSession(): anything malformed is dropped, never trusted.
We build software like this for clients too. Tell us what your business needs to run on, and we will come back with a fixed written quote after a short discovery call.
Bespoke software from £10,000
Prices, timelines and what is included: Bespoke software development in Glasgow.
Studio: Unit 204b, 36-38 Washington Street, Glasgow G3 8AZ. Phone 0141 345 5841.
The architecture, integrations, performance numbers and code standards behind this project live in the technical version, for whoever looks after your IT.
Accurate pricing, polished quotes, and full sales pipeline visibility, with zero infrastructure cost.
Our own tool: a pricing engine, quote builder and sales CRM for print businesses, built first for our own studio. Print quotes depend on paper, ink, imposition, setup fees, markup and VAT, and most shops manage that in spreadsheets, so underquoting eats margin. We built a single guided workflow that prices a job, sends a polished quote by email and tracks it through the pipeline, with no running cost.
A self-contained web app that stores its data in the browser, so there is no server, no login and no monthly fee.
Quote turnaround cut from hours to roughly two minutes, at no running cost.
6 weeks.
Bespoke software projects start from £10,000. We reply with a fixed written quote after a short discovery call, so you know the price before any work starts.
Our studio is at Unit 204b, 36-38 Washington Street, Glasgow G3 8AZ, and we work with businesses across the UK. Phone 0141 345 5841.
A native Illustrator extension that eliminates the multi-tool font creation workflow, draw letterforms, assign glyphs, and export production-ready OpenType fonts without leaving the app.
Websites, web apps and bespoke software for businesses across the UK, built in Glasgow. Tell us what you need and we will come back with a fixed written quote after a discovery call.