Case Study

Half the Effort, a Clear Structure: Hornbach Baustoff Union Digitizes Its Quoting Process

With currently 39 branches in south-west Germany, Hornbach Baustoff Union is one of the largest building materials distributors in Germany and part of the independent, family-run HORNBACH group.

Its product range and services are consistently geared to the needs of commercial customers in the main and finishing construction trades as well as private builders.

Every branch individually maintains close ties with its local customers and partners. This focus is what makes Hornbach Baustoff Union strong.

Full-range supplier for construction professionals

Hornbach Baustoff Union offers its customers a broad product range – from building materials for structural and civil engineering to landscaping, roofing and timber, tiles and sanitary products, plaster and drywall, building elements and flooring, as well as tools and machinery.

Challenge

The number of tenders Hornbach Baustoff Union receives keeps growing. With it, the demands on the quoting process increased:

Time-consuming supplier requests: Every tender had to be reviewed and split up before requests could go out to suppliers. This first step took a particularly large amount of time.
High organizational effort: Employees and branches managed requests, quotes and supplier prices very carefully in folder structures. This diligence came at a price, however: keeping everything organized took a lot of effort.
Time-consuming quote tracking: Hornbach Baustoff Union keeps track of every quote until the contract is awarded, so it can support its customers in the best possible way – a core task the team has always pursued with great commitment. Without the right tools, however, it took a lot of effort.
Coordination by email and phone: To find out whether another branch had already calculated a project, the branches had to check with each other by email or phone.

Solution

After comparing several providers, Hornbach Baustoff Union chose kinisto. The deciding factor: the system is transparent, logical and intuitive, and fits their own process exactly:

Structure and overview for every request: Workflow features bring structure to every request. All employees have every piece of information on every request at hand at any time – from the processing status to supplier prices.
Supplier requests in a few clicks: Bills of quantities are uploaded to kinisto and prepared automatically. Requests go out to suppliers directly from kinisto, and their responses are transferred into the company’s own quote automatically.
Integration with Unitrade: kinisto is connected directly to the Unitrade ERP system, so data flows into existing processes without manual transfer.
The central hub: kinisto brings together all information on project quotes – from the request and supplier prices to the finished quote. Every project is archived by construction project and can be found quickly at any time.
Collaboration across branches: All branches work on the same platform. Employees see immediately whether another branch has already received a request for a project, and can take over directly.

Working with kinisto is a great support for us. Especially with a high volume of requests, we can process them much more efficiently. I don’t want to go back to the old process.

Robert Weidig

Estimator Building Construction, Saarbrücken-Gersweiler branch

Result

Truck in a Hornbach Baustoff Union warehouse

With kinisto, Hornbach Baustoff Union has noticeably improved its quoting process:

Over 50% time savings: Once familiar with the system, employees create quotes with less than half of the previous effort – and handle far more requests as a result
A clear structure across the entire quoting process: From the request to processing and tracking – every step follows one consistent, logical structure
Archiving without extra effort: Every project quote is archived automatically and can be found by construction project. Separate folder structures are no longer needed
Easier quote tracking: After the bid submission, everyone can see immediately which customers received which quote. This makes it much easier than before to support every quote until the contract is awarded
Transparency across branches: All branches can see which projects have already been calculated. Quotes can be taken over from other branches and flexibly adapted to local needs

Partnership

Hornbach Baustoff Union started with a pilot project, in which kinisto convinced the team on every level:

Easy to use: kinisto is quick to learn and fits the company’s own quoting process very well.
Time-saving in daily use: Every step from uploading the tender to sending the quote is efficient – including a seamless integration with Unitrade.
Everything in one place: Requests are processed, sorted, archived and tracked in kinisto – structured and accessible to everyone.
Fast support: Questions were answered very quickly, and the kinisto team responded flexibly to Hornbach Baustoff Union’s individual requirements.

After less than three months, the decision was made: Hornbach Baustoff Union is rolling out kinisto across the entire corporate group.

The decisive factors in choosing kinisto were the clear system logic and the simple, intuitive operation. In practice, it has become evident that quotes can be prepared more efficiently with the software. In many cases, the effort required has almost halved. The collaboration with the kinisto team was professional and constructive. Requirements and questions were taken up and implemented promptly.

Dirk Haffner

Deputy Branch Manager & Head of Building Construction, Civil Engineering and Landscaping, Schiffweiler-Heiligenwald branch

Measurable results with kinisto:

50%+

less effort in quote preparation

< 3 months

from pilot start to rollout decision

Conclusion

With kinisto, Hornbach Baustoff Union has put its quoting process on a common digital foundation. Employees create quotes with over 50% less effort and handle far more requests than before.

At the same time, kinisto is the central hub for every step – from supplier requests to archiving and quote tracking. With the group-wide rollout, all branches will soon work together on this shared platform. This puts Hornbach Baustoff Union in an excellent position to turn the growing number of tenders into orders efficiently.