BlastBid vs Spreadsheets
Most sandblasters start in Excel or Google Sheets. Surface area, media price, labor rate, markup, done. For one guy quoting a couple of jobs a month, that's a legitimate system. We're not going to pretend it isn't.
Then you start quoting in a customer's driveway with dirty gloves on. Or you take a photo that's supposed to go with a bid from last Tuesday and can't remember which one. Or you retype the same estimate for your third repeat from this shop. That's where the spreadsheet stops being free and starts costing you bids.
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Nothing against Excel. It's the most flexible tool ever made. Every small business has a handful of sheets running things behind the scenes: pricing, time cards, material lists. That's fine. Keep them.
A spreadsheet is built for one person sitting at a desk. Quoting a blast job isn't that. You're at a job site, your hands are dirty, the customer's standing right there, and they want a number before they call the next guy. Opening Sheets on your phone and tapping into cells isn't the move.
BlastBid is the same estimating idea (surface area, media, coating, labor, markup) except the math is already in it, the UI is built for gloves, and everything works without a signal. Same input, fewer tears.
For one guy quoting a couple of jobs a month, a spreadsheet is a legitimate system. It starts costing you when you are quoting in a driveway with gloves on, matching photos to old bids, or retyping the same estimate for a repeat customer.
The media consumption and production rates are already in it, the screen is built for gloves, and it works with no signal. It also keeps customer history, before/after photos, branded PDFs, the job pipeline, and one-tap invoicing in the same place.
No. It is the same idea: surface area, media, coating, labor, markup. The difference is the math is built in instead of living in formulas you maintain yourself.
Yes. There are no file locks or fighting over a shared sheet. Everyone works on their own phone and changes sync and merge automatically.
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