HB HB Plastics Wiki

Quote a tank

Quoting Last reviewed Fri Jul 17 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) Edit this guide ↗

Quote a tank

The tank calculator with dimensions and fittings
The tank calculator with dimensions and fittings

What it is

The tank calculator prices custom plastic tanks (HDPE, PP, PVC, PVDF). You enter the tank, it works out the full cost (material, sheet nesting, cutting, labour, weld seams), runs a strength check, and produces a branded PDF with a technical drawing and 3D preview — then pushes it onto a Pipedrive deal.

flowchart LR
  M[Pick mode + dimensions + material] --> F[Add fittings]
  F --> Q[Calculate: pricing, stress check, nesting]
  Q --> P[Generate PDF + drawing]
  P --> D[Push to Pipedrive: deal + note + PDF]

How to quote a tank

  1. Open the Tank Calculator in the PIM dashboard.
  2. Pick a mode — Simple (rectangular), L-Step (L-shaped), or Complex.
  3. Enter the dimensions (length, width, height, wall/baffle thickness, baffles, top type) and choose the material and colour.
  4. Add fittings from the presets (sockets, flanges, inspection hatch, lid, overflow, strainer).
  5. Review the results — price, strength (stress) check, 3D preview, and the sheet-nesting.
  6. Generate the quote PDF.
  7. Click Push to Pipedrive — this creates a deal, attaches the quote as a note, and uploads the PDF to the deal.

Then send it the normal way (see Quotes). You can also get a delivered price via the freight option.

📝 What it works out for you

Geometry and material, the cheapest sheet layout (nesting), CNC cutting time, labour and weld seams, a hydrostatic strength check against the material’s limit, plus weight and capacity. It’s a costing model (calibrated from Bell Environmental’s pricing), not a fixed price list.

Gotchas

⚠️ Rates are shared config — changing them changes every future quote

Tank rates live in a settings table (editable via Edit rates). If you change a rate, it affects all future tank quotes, not just yours.

  • Changing only the baffle thickness can shift the price noticeably, because same-thickness panels get nested together to save sheets.
  • Very complex tanks hit an internal limit on the nesting calculation and fall back to a simpler estimate — sanity-check those.
  • Always eyeball the stress check result before sending — it’s telling you whether the wall thickness is safe for the tank size.

Common questions

  • Does it attach the drawing? Yes — the PDF (with the technical drawing and 3D preview) is uploaded to the deal.
  • Does pushing create a new deal or use the open one?

    TODO: confirm whether push-to-Pipedrive reuses an existing deal or always creates a new one.

Who to tell if it breaks

Tell Daniel or flag in #whats-new. For anything about the pricing model or rates, check with Daniel before changing rates.

Derived from: the tank-builder skill and tank-ops. If this looks wrong, the source changed — update the source and re-generate, don’t just patch this page. See also Quotes.