Independent window configurator or a factory-tied web shop?
Anyone looking for software to configure and quote window frames meets two categories: web shops that belong to one production package, and independent configurators. Both exist for good reasons — but they suit different businesses. Here is the honest difference.
What is a factory-tied web shop?
Many window frame factories run internally on a production package that handles calculation, work preparation and machine control. Such a package often comes with a web shop or dealer module: resellers log in, configure within that factory’s range, and the order flows straight into production.
That works well — as long as everything stays with that one factory. The configurator only knows the profiles and prices of that package, and the order only lands at factories that run on it themselves.
When is factory-tied the better choice?
Fair is fair: if your factory already runs entirely on such a production package and you sell nothing but your own production, the web shop that comes with it is usually the logical choice. Order and production then meet without an intermediate step, and the technical product knowledge is already in the package. An independent configurator adds little in that situation.
Where it pinches
The model pinches as soon as you do not fit that picture:
- You work with several factories. Then you have a portal per factory, each with its own login, its own data entry and its own quote layout — and you type the same window frame in twice.
- Your factory has no web shop ecosystem. Smaller timber and PVC window frame factories often have no budget for a production package with a dealer portal of their own, but they do want digital order intake.
- You sell more than window frames. Quoting, signing, payment, scheduling and service all live outside the factory web shop — so you bolt separate tools around it.
What an independent configurator does differently
The LSQapps window frame configurator stands apart from any production package. The essentials:
- Your own catalogue, your own prices. You define the profile systems (PVC, aluminium, timber), glass types and options yourself, with price books, volume tiers and purchase price lists per supplier — including versions and validity dates.
- Order from the factory you choose. The order form is filled automatically from the design and goes by email to the supplier in your own contact records. Change factory and you do not change software.
- One environment for the whole route. Configuring, quoting, signing digitally, paying through a payment link and reporting service calls — connected to CRM, scheduling and invoicing on the same platform.
- Checks built in. Checks against the NEN standards and the Bouwbesluit (the Dutch building code), and glass thickness advice to NEN 2608 (a Dutch standard), while you configure — and quotes that do not change silently after a price revision.
The comparison in short
| Factory-tied web shop | Independent configurator | |
|---|---|---|
| Suits | A factory running entirely on one production package and selling its own production | Resellers, installation firms and factories without a web shop ecosystem of their own |
| Range | The range of that one factory | Your own catalogue, across factories |
| Prices | Set by the factory’s package | Your own price books and margins, price lists per supplier |
| Order | Straight into that factory’s production | An order form filled automatically, to the factory of your choice |
| Quoting, signing, payment, service | Usually outside the web shop, in separate tools | In the same environment, with a customer portal |
| Switching factory | Means switching software as well | Pick another supplier, keep the same software |
Judge for yourself
Have a look at the product page of the window frame configurator with its frequently asked questions, or look your question up on the “Can I do this with LSQapps?” page.
Request a demo — then we will show you the configurator with your kind of window frames.