QuotedPartAnswers · Updated 2026-10-30
How long should it take to quote a machined part?
Price one of your own parts: Drop a STEP model or PDF drawing — about 90 seconds, no account.
Your part priced in about 90 seconds, no account.
A simple plate part should take about 15 minutes to quote, a typical three-setup part with a finish about 40, and a complex one with tight tolerances, special processes or paperwork 105 or more. Those are a planning budget (the table shows where each minute goes), not a measured industry average. At an example loaded estimator cost of $60 an hour, they cost $15.00, $40.00 and $105.00. Divide by your win rate to see what a won job really cost to quote.
See how QuotedPart connects to your workflow with its API, MCP server, autonomous quoting and shop-specific learning.
Where the minutes go
Most of the time isn't arithmetic. It's reading the package, finding what's missing, and deciding how the part will actually be made. The process plan is the biggest step in every column, and the one that most depends on the estimator's experience. Outside services take the least time to do and the longest to wait for: a finisher's reply can take a day, which is why turnaround and effort differ.
| Step | Simple part | Typical part | Complex part |
|---|---|---|---|
| Read the RFQ, print and model; find the missing information | 3 | 7 | 20 |
| Stock and material: size, grade, price, minimum buy | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| Process plan: setups, cycle time, tools, workholding | 5 | 15 | 35 |
| Outside services: finish, heat treat, test (ask and wait) | 0 | 5 | 15 |
| Price: markup, quantity breaks, lead time | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| Write-up, notes and exclusions, second look | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| Total minutes | 15 | 40 | 105 |
What a quote costs, and what a won job costs
If a quote takes 40 minutes at $60 an hour, it costs $40.00 to send. If you win 25% of those quotes, each won job carries $160.00 of quoting cost, because four quotes were sent to win one. That is the number to weigh against the job's margin. A $300-margin job that took four 40-minute quotes to win has $160.00 of quoting in it, which is a third of the margin gone before you machine anything.
Two consequences follow. A long quote should go only to work you have a real chance of winning, and a very low win rate on one customer or one kind of part means you should either quote it faster or stop quoting it. Track your hit rate by customer, not just overall.
What is worth automating, and what is not
Automate the steps that are the same every time: stock size and material price lookup, the cycle-time arithmetic from a formula you trust, quantity breaks, markup, and the PDF. That is roughly the pricing and write-up rows above, plus part of the stock row. Software that measures a STEP model and reads a drawing can also take most of the reading and stock steps for a simple part; a shop owner should still look at the result, because a wrong assumption is a wrong price.
Don't automate judgment: whether the part should run on the Swiss or the lathe, whether a customer's tolerance is real, whether the job fits the schedule. Those are the minutes a quote can't skip. The point of cutting the mechanical minutes is to spend more of the remaining ones on those decisions.
Speed also wins work. Many buyers send an RFQ to several shops and talk to the first one that answers; a same-day answer on a simple part is often worth more than the last percent of margin. Set a turnaround target by complexity (for example same day for simple, two days for typical) and measure it.
Quote time budget
- • Estimator loaded cost $60/h (assumption).
- • Win rate 25% (assumption).
- • Minutes by step are planning figures for the three part types described.
| Part type | Minutes | Cost to quote | Cost per won job at 25% win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | 15 | $15.00 | $60.00 |
| Typical | 40 | $40.00 | $160.00 |
| Complex | 105 | $105.00 | $420.00 |
Sources and limits
Claims are dated where they can change. Product calculations are examples from the stated inputs, not a promise about a customer's quote. Competitor wording is attributed to the source shown.
- Minutes per step, the $60 hourly cost and the 25% win rate are assumptions chosen to show the arithmetic; they are not survey results.
Questions
What is a good turnaround for a quote?
Same day for a simple part and within two days for a typical one is a reasonable target to set and then measure. Your buyers' habits matter more than any average.
Should I charge for quoting?
On large or engineering-heavy packages, sometimes. See the page on charging for quotes for when it is normal.
Price one of your own parts
Drop a PDF drawing or a STEP file. QuotedPart reads the print, measures the model and prices it in seconds, on default shop rates you can change.
Your STEP file or PDF drawingDrop a PDF drawing, a STEP file or both
Free. No account, no email. Priced at our default US rates until you set yours.
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