IFC Carport Pricing

Owned by Dan VanOrden
Last updated: Apr 15, 2021
3 min read

Pricing is the most important, complex, and time-intensive part of any IdeaRoom for Carports implementation. Thorough, detailed, and accurate documentation is required, and the team will often uncover deficiencies with existing pricing documentation and tools or inconsistencies in how pricing is calculated by salespeople and dealers. Proactively identifying and resolving issues is critical to avoid delays in onboarding and realizing the full value of your IdeaRoom subscription.

Pricing Expert

Your Pricing Expert is one of the most critical members of the implementation team. This person requires on-going, dedicated time to work with IdeaRoom’s onboarding specialist on the following activities:

  • Provide thorough data and documentation on all aspects of carport pricing.

  • Answer questions where documentation is incomplete or unclear.

  • Resolve any inconsistencies in how carports are currently priced.

  • Triage and verify pricing issues reported by users during rollout.

Verified Quotes

Implementing and verifying pricing works best when starting with 15-30 verified accurate quotes that represent all of the major styles, upgrades, options, accessories, and regions. This is more challenging than it seems as salespeople and dealers price things differently and make mistakes. There are often discrepancies between official pricing documentation and the first set of verified quotes compiled.

Inconsistencies in documentation and errors in quotes slow down the process significantly. Due to the complexity of carport pricing, some of this is expected. However, an investment in reviewing pricing documentation and preparing verified quotes prior to the start of onboarding is well worth it. Your Pricing Expert should double-check every detail of the verified quotes. Your Pricing Expert can also fill in gaps in your pricing documentation and clarify inconsistencies.

Prepare for your kick-off meeting by creating at least 15 initial verified quotes:

  • 2-3 representative example for each of your major styles

  • Carports with examples for each of your upgrade options and accessories

  • Carports wider than 60' and longer than 100' if supported

  • Certified versions of standard, triple-wide, and commercial

  • Partially enclosed walls on both sides and ends in the center and on leans

  • Varying widths, lengths, and heights both standard and custom

  • End storage and side storage with both smaller and larger sizes

  • Freestanding leans, loafing sheds, and mini storage

Pricing Accuracy

All suppliers and dealers struggle to an extent with the complexity and difficulty of pricing carports quickly and accurately. We’ve observed the following pricing issues in the industry:

  • Error rates on manually prepared quotes often range from 20% up to 40% or more.

  • Error rates on larger buildings are higher due to more complex pricing rules and formulas.

  • Pricing for certified wind and snow loads adds an extra layer of complexity.

  • Salespeople and dealers often vary in how they price the same building.

  • Pricing documentation and data are not complete nor consistent.

Due to these issues, IdeaRoom cannot guarantee 100% accurate pricing. Achieving that goal would be too costly and distract from more important, achievable business objectives. IdeaRoom focuses on reducing carport pricing and design errors. This improves the customer’s purchasing experience and increases dealer sales capacity and efficiency. In this context, specific pricing issues are not typically significant. Achieving and maintaining high-quality pricing is a collaboration between the supplier, the dealers, and IdeaRoom, and we work with you to implement best practices for testing, validation, and maintenance.

Supplier Pricing Policy

Most suppliers have an official policy that pricing is subject to change without notice and pricing errors are the responsibility of the dealer and will be corrected before any order is finalized. When releasing IdeaRoom to your dealer network and the public, it’s important to communicate clearly how you plan to handle pricing discrepancies on an IdeaRoom-generated quote.