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SPEC PIPELINE CALCULATOR

How many specs your target needs

Work backwards from a revenue target to the specifications you need to win, and the months you need to win them in.

Made for building product manufacturers. Six figures give you the answer, and the detailed view adds win rates, named specs and your team's workload.

  • About a minute
  • Quick or detailed view
  • No email needed

Six figures, one answer.

Use your own figures. Best guesses are fine, or mark a figure “Not sure”.

Your target
£
Your projects

What you invoice per project, after any merchant or distributor margin.

£

Specified projects that reach site rather than stalling or being cancelled.

%

Specs that survive tender and value engineering without being switched to another product.

%

Blended from your named and “or equivalent” rates below.

The usual gap between winning the specification and receiving the first order.

months
Winning the spec

Of the live projects your team actively pursues, the share where your product makes it into the specification.

%
Protecting the spec

Specs that name you alone are harder to swap than ones that add “or equivalent”. Split your hold rate by type and the calculator blends them, or leave these blank to use the single rate above.

%
%
%
Timing range

Few projects run to the typical time. Add the quickest and slowest you see to show the full window.

months
months
Higher-risk buildings

Buildings at least 18 metres or seven storeys high with two or more homes. Their design goes to the Building Safety Regulator at Gateway 2 before work can start, so being written into those documents matters more.

%
%

Add both to blend them into your overall hold rate.

The application goes in before work starts. The regulator has up to 12 weeks to decide on a new building.

months
Already won

Specs to win

0

to win for your revenue target

When they need winning

The months to win them in appear here.

    Where you are in the window appears here.

    When higher-risk specs need winning appears here.

    The funnel behind it

    How many projects your team chases for each order appears here.

    What moves the number

      What one point of hold rate is worth appears here.

      The workload

      The load per person appears here.

      Talk it through

      Book a 20-minute call. Your figures go into the booking notes.

      How the calculator works

      Orders needed = revenue target ÷ order value, rounded up.

      Specs to win = orders needed ÷ (share that go ahead × share that hold), rounded up. In the detailed view the hold rate blends your named and “or equivalent” rates by how often you're named alone.

      Projects to chase = specs to win ÷ the share of chased projects where you get specified.

      The window runs from the start of the order year minus your typical time from spec to order, to the end of the order year minus the same time. The wider band uses your quickest and slowest times.

      Higher-risk buildings blend into the hold rate by the share of your projects that are higher-risk. Their window starts from the Gateway 2 submission when that comes earlier than your usual time from spec to order.

      • It uses only the figures you enter. They stay in your browser unless you copy a link or book a call, when they go into the booking notes.
      • It counts a spec as landing when its first order arrives. Orders that call off in stages over a build still count once.
      • It leaves out repeat orders, framework agreements and orders that arrive without a specification.
      • It assumes specs are won at a steady rate through the window.
      • It keeps your order value the same between winning the spec and taking the order, even though prices can move in the 18 months or more between them.

      AFTER THE CALCULATOR

      Turn the number into a plan

      Knowing how many specs you need is the start. Hitting the number depends on who you target, how well your specs hold and whether your systems show what's working.

      That's the work I do with building product manufacturers, drawing on my time leading digital strategy at Knauf.

      See how I help manufacturers