What's the most outdated workflow in your industry that everyone still accepts?

After spending years working with contractors, dealers, and sales teams in the decking industry, I've noticed something interesting:

Many companies are still creating deck and railing takeoffs using spreadsheets, hand sketches, PDFs, and manual calculations.

I've seen projects where the actual estimating process takes longer than the customer conversation itself.

When I started building DeckPlanPro, I assumed there would already be simple, industry-specific tools for this problem. Instead, most solutions I found were either:

• Generic construction estimating software

• Complex CAD tools

• Or spreadsheets that had been passed around for years

I'm curious:

If you work in construction, estimating, or a trade-related business, what's the biggest bottleneck in your quoting process today?

Is it measurements, material calculations, proposal creation, customer communication, or something else?

I'd love to hear how other industries are handling similar challenges.