Great news! Two new hotly requested plug-ins for EstiMate are right around the corner. We’ve developed plug-ins for flatbed digital printing and for sandblasted signs that are just about ready to go. From the get-go, we have wanted to cover as many areas as possible in the sign business, and EstiMate 2 really lets us deliver. These plugins should be available for purchase by October 1.
Flatbed Digital Printing
First, a look at the flatbed digital plug in. As you can see, we’ve really put some thought into how this plug-in works. Although we have a wide format digital printing plug-in, flatbed printing has some specific differences that have been addressed.
Specifically, in the flatbed digital plug-in you can not only select the coverage of ink (a feature that was recently added to the wide format digital plug-in) but you can also select to double hit the ink if you need really dense colors. Surface preparation has been taken into account in this plug-in, offering you options for prep solution and adhesion promoter. Just like in all of EstiMate’s other plug-ins, both the cost of the materials and labor time are built-in as soon as you select either of these options.
RIP Time is also taken into account so you can bill your customer appropriately.
Some of the things the flatbed digital plug-in has in common with the wide format plug-in are an array of printers, print modes, print media, and inks. Top and bottom laminate are also included to round out the plug-in.
One major difference between the flatbed digital and wide format plug-ins is that ink coverage is no longer determined in the configuration screen but rather entered when you enter the ink into the database. The “ink usage curve” setting in the wide format plug-in has been a real headache for a lot of customers, and quite frankly, could have been better designed. So we will roll this change into the wide format plug-in in a future release as well.
Sandblasted Signs
Our other mouthwatering offering for the month of September is the new sandblasted signs plug-in! This is one we’ve been wanting to build for years and finally EstiMate 2 has made it easy for us. This plug-in will let you nail your pricing for sandblasted signs in the usual EstiMate way.
It’s as simple as selecting a substrate, entering the quantity, size, width and height, selecting the sandblast mask and transfer tape you’ll be using, configuring the prep time and then moving on to the decorative part.
You can enter the primer you’re using (and the number of coats), then do the same for your background paint and decorative paint. You can specify the detail level of the job, and you can even specify leaf if you are using it.
Availability
We expect these plugins to be available by Thursday, October 1; our rain date will be Monday, October 5.
As always, Happy Pricing!
2 Comments
How much will the sandblast plug in be?
Can I get it discounted since I just upgraded???
Hi Catharine,
The plugins will be $99 like the others, and you can definitely get a discount while our upgrade sale is still happening until Sept. 30 (the plugins will come out the next day, Oct. 1, with a “rain date” of Monday Oct. 5).
If you want to take advantage of this just drop Nancy a line at nancy@estimatesoftware.com and she will get you taken care of!
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