Short answer: For a building materials and hardware wholesaler, the most effective first ERP phase is the "quote → order → shipment → receivables" chain. For a 25-person distributor with 3,000 SKUs, a custom build takes about 16–20 weeks and NT$550K–950K, aiming for consistent quotes and overdue accounts visible every week.
Background and pain points: one customer, three prices
This distributor (a scenario case based on common project requirements, not a specific client) struggles not with purchasing but with the unconnected path from quote to cash.
- Size: 25 staff, including 8 in sales, 6 in the warehouse and 2 in accounting; about 3,000 SKUs and 450 trade customers, mostly plumbers, renovators and contractors.
- Current tools: each salesperson quotes in their own Excel file and sends orders to the warehouse via LINE; accounting issues invoices and tracks receivables in separate bookkeeping software.
- Quantified pain: the same item has three prices across salespeople; about 40 delivery notes a month are invoiced late or twice; working out receivables more than 60 days overdue takes accounting two days.
Requirements: four modules in phase one, the rest later
Build what directly affects cash collection first; purchasing and stock optimization come in phase two.
| Module | Owner | Phase | What it solves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tiered pricing and quotes | Sales | Phase 1 | Prices by customer tier; below-floor quotes need approval |
| Orders and delivery notes | Sales, warehouse | Phase 1 | One-click quote to order; tablet picking and sign-off |
| Receivables and statements | Accounting | Phase 1 | Auto-posting from shipments, monthly statements, overdue alerts |
| E-invoice integration | Accounting | Phase 1 | Automatic e-invoices per shipment or month |
| Purchasing and safety stock | Purchasing | Phase 2 | Reorder suggestions from sales data |
| Site delivery and split shipments | Warehouse, logistics | Phase 2 | One order delivered to multiple sites in batches |
Why custom: too many pricing rules for packaged ERP
The company chose custom because its three pricing layers (customer tier, project price and volume discount) are its competitive edge, and packaged ERP would need heavy customization.
- Packaged ERP: strong accounting and inventory, but pricing usually stops at customer tiers; project pricing needs extra work, and licences plus customization may not be cheaper.
- Open-source ERP: no licence fee, but Chinese reports, Taiwan e-invoicing and monthly statements must be added, and long-term maintenance needs specialists.
- Custom: only the processes you need, with quoting rules matching how sales works; the downside is upfront planning time.
To be honest, with fewer than 500 SKUs, one or two price levels and no monthly-account customers, packaged ERP is usually faster and cheaper.
Architecture and integrations: Laravel back office, sales tablets, e-invoicing
The principle is one price list and one customer record, with every document generated from the same source.
- Back office: Laravel for quotes, orders, shipments, receivables and permissions, on MySQL.
- Sales and warehouse: responsive web first; if sales need offline quoting on site, a Flutter app follows in phase two.
- Integrations: e-invoice provider API, export to existing bookkeeping software, LINE messages for statements and overdue reminders.
Rollout and timeline: five phases, 16–20 weeks
The slowest part is cleaning prices and customer tiers for 3,000 SKUs.
- Weeks 1–3 | Process interviews: interview sales, warehouse and accounting; map quote-to-cash; deliver the spec.
- Weeks 4–6 | Master data: items, unit conversions, customer tiers and floor prices; deliver cleaned master data.
- Weeks 7–14 | Build: fortnightly demos, completing quotes, orders, shipments and receivables in turn.
- Weeks 15–17 | Pilot: two salespeople go first, with Excel in parallel for two weeks.
- Weeks 18–20 | Full launch: everyone switches, Excel quotes retire, manuals delivered.
Cost breakdown: NT$550K–950K for the build, plus four items often missed
ScriptWalker (a Taiwan-based Laravel/Flutter custom development studio) prices ERP at about NT$150K–1.5M depending on scope; this case sits in the middle.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phase-one development | NT$550K–950K | Four modules, permissions, reports |
| Hosting and backup | NT$20K–50K a year | Cloud hosting, daily backups |
| E-invoice provider | Per-invoice pricing | Depends on provider plan |
| Maintenance | From NT$2,000/month | Fixes and spec updates |
| Hidden cost: internal hours | About 150–250 hours | Master data, testing, training |
Post-launch goals: 30/60/90 days
First consistent quotes, then correct invoices, then faster collection.
- Day 30: 100% of quotes come from the system, and every below-floor quote is approved.
- Day 60: late or duplicate invoices fall from 40 a month to fewer than 5.
- Day 90: weekly automatic overdue reports, targeting 10–15 fewer days to collect.
Pitfalls and fixes: five common sticking points
Most problems lie in data and habits, not code.
- Nobody finalizes the price list: the owner appoints one pricing owner; build quoting only after master data is frozen.
- Sales change prices quietly: log every change and route below-floor prices to a manager.
- Messy units: boxes, pieces and metres for the same item; unify conversions during master data work.
- Too many payment-term exceptions: list every special-terms customer and turn them into rules before launch.
- Warehouse resists tablets: keep the picking screen to three buttons and let the warehouse lead pilot it.
Frequently asked questions
Does every building materials wholesaler need ERP?
No. With few monthly accounts and simple pricing, inventory software plus e-invoicing is enough.
Which part of an ERP rollout takes longest?
Master data. Prices, units and tiers for 3,000 SKUs usually take 3–4 weeks.
Can we keep our bookkeeping software?
Yes. Phase one exports to it; integration can be evaluated in phase two to reduce risk.
When is packaged ERP better?
With under 500 SKUs, one or two price levels and no monthly accounts, packaged ERP is faster and cheaper.
Next step: send your quote template and process for a phase-one scope
Custom development starts at NT$80,000 and maintenance at NT$2,000/month. Send us your current quote template, customer count and SKU count, and we will reply with suggested phase-one modules and a timeline within three working days:
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 0916-224-047
- LINE: @ufv9089p