Three prices for one window
- List price — what your price book says the window costs: base price by size, plus options, plus charges such as mull joints and shape tops.
- The dealer's price — what you charge the dealer: list price at their price level, plus or minus any terms agreed with that dealer.
- The homeowner's price — what the dealer charges their customer: the dealer's price plus the dealer's own markup. That number is the dealer's business, not yours.
Percentages and multipliers are the same thing
A price level is usually agreed as a percentage off list and stored as a multiplier. The two are linked by one line of arithmetic:
multiplier = 1 − discount, so 45% off list is a multiplier of 0.55.
| Agreed as | Multiplier | $1,000 list becomes |
|---|---|---|
| 45% off list | 0.55 | $550.00 |
| 30% off list | 0.70 | $700.00 |
| List | 1.00 | $1,000.00 |
| 5% over list | 1.05 | $1,050.00 |
The classic mistake is typing the discount into the multiplier box: a dealer agreed at 45% off, entered as 0.45, pays $450 instead of $550 on every $1,000 of windows — and nothing looks wrong on the quote. A good system lets people type whichever form they agreed and shows the other beside it.
Discounts multiply; they don't add
Two discounts in a row — say a dealer level of 40% off and a 10% promotion — are not 50% off. They multiply: 0.60 × 0.90 = 0.54, which is 46% off. Write down which way your company means a stacked discount ("40 and 10" or "50 flat") and make the system do exactly that, because a four-point difference on a dealer's whole book is real money.
Customer terms: replace or add?
Most manufacturers end up with terms for individual dealers on top of their price levels. They come in two kinds, and treating one as the other is how a dealer ends up with a discount nobody agreed:
- A special rate replaces the level. "This dealer pays 35% off on the 143 series" means 35% off instead of their usual level on those windows — not 35% on top of it.
- A charge adds to the price. A per-window handling charge, a freight rate or a rush charge is added after the price is worked out, and does not get discounted again.
The same applies to one agreed amount off a job — "$250 off the installation". That is not a percentage: as a percentage of a $12,480 job it is 2.0032…%, which no discount field rounds to exactly $250. Keep it as a line of money off, so the paperwork shows the figure that was agreed.
The dealer's markup: margin is not markup
When a dealer adds their own price for the homeowner, check which word they mean:
- 30% markup on a $600 window: $600 × 1.30 = $780.00.
- 30% margin on the same window: $600 ÷ 0.70 = $857.14 — 30% of the selling price is profit.
A dealer portal should let each dealer set this for themselves and should never use it to price the manufacturer's sale. The manufacturer's price to the dealer and the dealer's price to the homeowner are two separate agreements.
Round once
Window prices are built from many small parts — base, glass, grids, color, screen. If each part is rounded to the cent on its own and then added, the total drifts a cent or two from the same window priced as a whole, and a migration comparison is full of penny differences that mean nothing. Keep money in exact cents, and round once, at the line.
How Extrusia handles it
In Extrusia a price level is stored as a multiplier and can be entered as either form; the screen fills in the other. Per-customer terms are scoped to everything a customer buys, a series family or one window type, and a discount term replaces that customer's level on those windows while charges are added. An agreed amount off a job is its own line, and money is kept in integer cents. In Dealer Connect, each dealer keeps their own markup tiers for their customers; Extrusia stores them for the dealer and never prices the manufacturer's sale with them.