Building material yards

Automated quoting for building material yards

“10 cement and 3 of sand” says neither bag nor cubic metre — but the unit is what makes the price. Tablia infers the unit from the item and from the context of the list, and returns the quote for the salesperson to check.

The customer asks three yards and buys from whoever answers first. How many times does your salesperson call back just to ask whether those are bags or cubic metres?

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Bom Preço Yard

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  1. Good afternoon! I am pouring a slab, I need a quote for the basics.

  2. Good afternoon! Send the list right here — text, a photo of the paper or a file.

  3. 40 type II cement 3 medium sand 2 aggregate 1 1500 hollow brick 8 cells 15 rebar 10mm 10 annealed wire

  4. Got it. That is 6 items — I am checking them against the yard's stock now.

  5. Quote #DB55 is ready. 5 of the 6 items; I marked the annealed wire as missing.

    📄 quote-DB55.pdf

  6. Can the sand be washed?

  7. It can. Here is version 2 of #DB55 with washed medium sand; the previous one is now superseded.

    📄 quote-DB55-v2.pdf

Illustrative conversation. Store, items and codes are examples.

A slab list, exactly as it arrives

None of the six lines states the unit. And each one has a different one: bag, cubic metre, thousand, length and kilo.

Store WhatsApp

Good afternoon! I am pouring a slab, here is what I need:

40 type II cement

3 medium sand

2 aggregate 1

1500 hollow brick 8 cells

15 rebar 10mm

10 annealed wire

07:12

What Tablia read

  • 40 bagtype II cementTYPE II CEMENT 50KG
  • 3 m³medium sandMEDIUM SAND M3
  • 2 m³aggregate 1AGGREGATE 1 M3
  • 1500 unhollow brick 8 cellsHOLLOW BRICK 8 CELLS
  • 15 lenrebar 10mmREBAR 10MM 12M LENGTH
  • 10 kgannealed wireNot found in your catalogue

5 of 6 items found. Whatever is missing goes to the salesperson with the customer's original wording — nothing disappears from the quote quietly.

Illustrative example. The list and the catalogue names are fictional.

The unit is not written down, and it is what makes the price

In a yard the order line is short. What is missing from it — the unit — is exactly what separates a correct quote from one ten times larger.

40quantity
50 kg baginferred unit
cementproduct
type IIclass

Forty bags of cement and forty cubic metres of cement are very different orders. Tablia infers the unit from the item and from the context of the other lines, shows the inference on screen and lets the salesperson correct it before the quote goes out.

The unit is the price

Bag, cubic metre, tonne and thousand. Getting the unit wrong does not get the item wrong: it gets the whole quote wrong.

Class changes the product

One cement class is not another, and aggregate 0, 1 and 2 do not do the same job.

Short order, narrow margin

A yard's list has few lines and little description. There is little text left for the search to get it right.

How Tablia reads a yard's list

  1. 01

    It separates item from quantity

    The list is read line by line, even when the line is two words and a number.

  2. 02

    It infers the unit nobody wrote down

    The unit comes from the item and from the context of the other lines: cement usually comes in bags, sand in cubic metres, bricks by the unit or the thousand.

  3. 03

    It keeps the class attached to the product

    Cement class, aggregate 0 and medium sand stay attached to the item, instead of becoming loose text that gets lost in the search.

  4. 04

    It searches by meaning

    “Type II cement” finds the TYPE II CEMENT 50KG in your catalogue even with different spelling. Alternative names are searched too.

  5. 05

    It flags what it could not find

    An item your yard does not carry goes to the salesperson with the customer's original wording, instead of vanishing from the list.

The list can arrive as

PDFJPGPNGXLSXXLSDOCXCSVtexthandwritten

Handwriting is the only one that does not go in — returning a wrong quantity that looks right is worse than refusing the file.

Your catalogue works as it is

What you upload

The stock file your yard already uses, in CSV, XLS or XLSX. Tablia recognises the code, description and price columns with the help of artificial intelligence, and you check the mapping before it takes effect. The unit in your file is the one that counts — it travels with the product.

What it does with what it could not find

The item appears to the salesperson flagged as not found, with the customer's original wording. Tablia does not change the material class to find something similar. The decision is your team's: add it, propose an equivalent, adjust the quantity or say the yard does not carry it.

The quote only goes out after the salesperson checks it

Nothing is sent to the customer automatically. The salesperson reviews item by item, adjusts quantities, swaps products, sets the price and decides when to send.

It is at that review that the inferred unit is confirmed — and in a yard that is the line between the right quote and one nobody can honour.

Tablia takes on

  • Reading the list, in whatever format it arrives
  • Inferring the unit nobody wrote down
  • Looking up each item in your catalogue
  • Flagging what it could not find

You decide

  • The quantity of each item
  • Swapping the product
  • The price
  • When to send

Questions from people who run a yard

The customer writes “10 cement”. Does Tablia understand those are bags?

It infers the unit from the item and from the context of the other lines in the list, and shows the inference on screen next to the item. Cement usually comes in bags, sand in cubic metres. The salesperson confirms or corrects it before the quote goes to the customer.

And when the list has two words per line?

It still works, because the search is by meaning and not by identical text. A short line leaves less to go on, and that is precisely why an item with no clear match reaches the salesperson flagged, rather than becoming a guess.

Does it convert cubic metres into bags, or units into thousands?

No, and it is better to say so now than in the demo. Tablia reads the quantity and the unit as the order came, and keeps both. Converting between selling units depends on each yard's standard, and that sum stays with the salesperson.

Do I have to replace the system my yard already uses?

No. You upload the stock file you already have, in CSV, XLS or XLSX, and Tablia recognises the code, description and price columns with the help of artificial intelligence. You check the mapping before it takes effect.

What happens to an item I do not carry?

It appears to the salesperson flagged as not found, with the customer's original wording beside it. It does not turn into a similar item and it does not vanish from the list. The decision is yours: add it, propose an equivalent, or say the yard does not carry it.

In what format can the customer send the list?

PDF, a photo in JPG or PNG, a spreadsheet in XLSX or XLS, a document in DOCX, CSV or typed text. The only one that does not go in is a handwritten list: Tablia does not accept handwriting, so it never returns a wrong quantity that looks right.

Does the quote go to the customer on its own?

Never. Nothing is sent without the salesperson. They review item by item, adjust quantities, swap products, set the price and decide when to send. Tablia takes on the typing and the searching; the decision stays with whoever knows the job.

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Bring a real job list

In the demo we use a list your yard received this week, against your own catalogue. It is the fastest way to find out whether Tablia can handle what you sell.

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