QuotedPartAnswers · Updated 2026-10-30
How do I quote a 50-line RFQ package without losing a week?
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.
Triage first, price second. In the planning example below, a 50-line RFQ quoted line by line at 40 minutes each takes 33.3 hours; sorted in a two-minute pass into 12 no-quotes, 4 part families and 20 single parts, it takes 12.2 hours, and costs $732.00 of estimator time at $60 an hour instead of $2,000.00. The minutes are assumptions, not measurements; the method is what to take: decide before you price, price families once, and send what you can before the rest.
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Step 1: one pass to sort every line (about two minutes each)
Open the package and go through all lines once, spending a minute or two on each. Put every line in one of four piles. No-quote: a process you don't have, a size you can't hold, a material you don't buy, or a part you wouldn't want to win. Family: a group of parts that are the same shape in different sizes, or the same part with dash numbers. Single: a one-off that needs its own estimate. Missing: lines whose drawings or models are incomplete.
Write a note on each line as you go, with the reason. Those reasons become the explanation on your quote. Then send the questions for the missing pile at once, as one email, so the answers come back while you work.
Step 2: price families once
A family is where the time is saved. If four lines are the same bracket in four lengths, build one routing and one set of setup and cycle times, then change the length, the stock and the finish for each variant. Our planning budget: 40 minutes for the first line of a family and 8 for each additional variant. Singles that are simple parts get 15 minutes each; complex ones get a full estimate.
Be careful with families that look alike. A change of material or tolerance can move the price more than a change of size. Keep a column for what differs between lines and look at the outliers.
| Pile | Lines | Minutes per line | Total minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sorting pass, every line | 50 | 2 | 100 |
| No-quote (decide and reply) | 12 | 5 | 60 |
| Families (4 families, 18 lines) | 18 | 40 first, 8 each after | 272 |
| Singles, simple | 20 | 15 | 300 |
| Total, triaged | 50 | 732 | |
| For comparison: 50 lines at 40 minutes | 50 | 40 | 2000 |
Step 3: partial quotes, and how to send them
Send what you have as soon as you have it. A buyer with fifty lines is working through them too, and a quote on twenty of them on day one is more useful than all fifty on day five. Mark the lines you can't or won't quote, with a reason, and say when the rest will follow. Don't hold the finished lines to deliver one document.
Be clear about volume. If the package is a bundle the buyer wants to award to one shop, say what your price assumes: all lines awarded together, or a minimum number of lines. If you only want some of them, say which. A package award can change prices (one material buy, one setup for several parts), and that's a legitimate reason to offer a package discount. Say what it depends on.
Use the same quote number and a line number for each part so the buyer can match them to the package. If your quoting tool can do multi-line quotes, use it; the point is that every line has a status the buyer can see: quoted, no-quote or waiting for information.
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.
- The pile sizes, minutes per line and $60 hourly cost are planning assumptions chosen to show the arithmetic; they are not measurements or survey results.
Questions
Should I quote all fifty lines?
Only the ones you want to win. A reasoned no-quote on the rest costs five minutes and keeps you on the buyer's list.
How do I know a family is really a family?
Same process, same material class, similar size, similar tolerances. If any of those differ a lot, quote it as a single.
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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