Quoting is where machining knowledge meets arithmetic, and shops lose money at the arithmetic far more often than at the machine. The good news: every defensible quote is built from the same five ingredients. Get honest numbers for each and the price justifies itself — to you and to the customer.
1. Setup and programming time
This is the fixed cost of the job: fixturing, tool setting, CAM programming, and proving out the first article. It doesn't matter whether you make one part or a thousand — this cost happens once. On small quantities it often dominates the price, which is why a one-piece job can cost nearly as much as a ten-piece job. Estimate it in hours and multiply by your shop rate. For repeat jobs where the program and fixtures exist, this line drops toward zero — which is exactly why repeat work is the best work.
2. Cycle time
Minutes of spindle and operator time per part, including load and unload. Forgetting load/unload is one of the most common quoting mistakes — 45 seconds of handling on a 4-minute cycle is a 19% error, repeated on every part. Multiply cycle time by your hourly rate to get run cost per part.
3. Material — with a scrap allowance
Stock cost per part, plus an allowance for fallout. If you expect 3% scrap, you're buying material for — and running — 3% more parts than you ship. On tight-tolerance or new work, use a bigger number. Material also carries a hidden cost most shops skip: the time to order, receive, and handle it.
4. Tooling, consumables, and outside services
Special cutters bought for the job, inserts you'll burn through, and anything you send out — anodizing, heat treat, plating — plus the handling and shipping time those vendors cost you. Outside services are usually priced per part; job-specific tooling is a per-job cost like setup.
5. Margin — on the price, not the cost
Applied last, and applied correctly: a 30% margin means cost ÷ 0.70, not cost × 1.3. The difference sounds pedantic and is worth real money on every single job — here's the full explanation.
A worked example
Say a customer wants 25 aluminum brackets. Your shop rate is $75/hr; setup and programming total 2 hours; cycle time is 6 minutes; material is $8 per part; you'll spend $40 on tooling; you plan for 3% scrap and want a 30% margin.
| Line | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Setup & programming | 2.0 hrs × $75 | $150.00 |
| Run time | 6 min × 26 parts run × $75/hr | $195.00 |
| Material (incl. scrap) | $8 × 26 | $208.00 |
| Tooling | — | $40.00 |
| Total cost | $593.00 | |
| Quote price | $593 ÷ 0.70 | $847.14 |
| Price per part | $847.14 ÷ 25 | $33.89 |
Note the 26: quantity 25 plus the 3% scrap allowance, rounded up. Now here's the part customers love: the same job at 100 pieces comes out to $25.52 per part, because the $190 of fixed cost is spread across four times as many parts. Putting a quantity price-break table on the quote costs you nothing and frequently gets you a bigger order.
Do this in 30 seconds instead
The free quote calculator runs this exact math — with the price-break table — in your browser. The full Excel workbook adds multi-operation jobs, your burdened shop rate, a customer-ready quote sheet, and win-rate tracking.
Free Quote Calculator Full Workbook — $29The mistakes that quietly eat quotes
- Using an hourly rate you never calculated. If your rate came from what the shop down the road charges, calculate your real burdened rate — most shops find they've been undercharging.
- Quoting markup and calling it margin. Costs you 5–8% of revenue invisibly.
- Forgetting load/unload, deburring, and inspection time. Anything that touches the part belongs in cycle time.
- Not tracking wins and losses. If you win 90% of quotes you're too cheap; below 20%, too high or quoting the wrong customers. You can't tune what you don't measure.