WrapFlow vs Spreadsheets and Paper
What the spreadsheet is costing you.
Most wrap shops run on a jobs spreadsheet, a stack of paper time cards, quotes typed in Word and a group text with the installers. It works until it doesn't, and it doesn't on the Friday a fleet customer asks which vans have been billed.
What the other way does well
A spreadsheet is free, everyone knows how to use one, and it bends to whatever the shop does. Those are real advantages and the reason it lasts for years.
| The question | The other way | WrapFlow |
|---|---|---|
| Where is job 1042? | Someone opens the sheet, if it is up to date | On the board, in its column, from any phone |
| Is it late? | Compare the date column by eye | Red card, top of the column, on the Today list |
| Which fleet vans are billed? | A second tab, maintained by hand | Each unit shows Invoiced, Ready to bill or its stage |
| Did the customer approve the artwork? | Search the text thread | Round 2, approved by Greg Hollis, 11:20 AM, with the file |
| Hours on a job | Add up time cards at the end of the week | Live, from the wall tablet, on the job's cost tab |
| Was a time card changed? | No way to know | Originals kept; corrections shown next to them with who and why |
| What did that job really make? | Nobody knows | Hours and materials against the quote, per job |
| Who can see prices? | Everyone who has the file | Owners and office only; installers never |
| Who changed that number? | Unknowable | The audit log: who, when, from which device, before and after |
| Getting it into QuickBooks | Re-key every invoice | QuickBooks Online and Xero sync, in the base price, no re-keying |
| Which van is this, exactly? | “Ford Transit” typed four ways | VIN decoded from the federal database; one identity per vehicle |
| Is Thursday too cold to wrap outside? | Check a weather app and hope | Forecast on the job, flagged when it falls below the film's range |
The honest downside
WrapFlow is $459 a month and the spreadsheet is free, so the question is whether it pays for itself. For the shop in Hermitage it does on the first fleet van invoiced a week sooner, or the first proof dispute that ends with “here is the file you approved, and the minute you approved it.” Most shops find both in the first month.