QuotedPartAnswers · Updated 2026-10-30
How should I price parts that run lights-out or unattended?
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.
Split your hourly rate into a machine rate and an operator rate, and charge the operator only for the share of the cycle someone attends. On a 4 × 3 × 1 in aluminum bracket, our pricing engine gives $40.00 each for 100 with an operator at the machine for every run minute, and $33.24 when the operator attends 10% of the cycle: 17% less. The saving is real only when the machine really runs without you and the setup, example part and first-article are done on a day shift.
See how QuotedPart connects to your workflow with its API, MCP server, autonomous quoting and shop-specific learning.
One blended rate hides the difference
A shop rate of $95 an hour for a 3-axis mill is a blend of the machine (payments, power, tooling, space) and the person standing at it. When the person is somewhere else, the blended rate overcharges the buyer for hours nobody works, and a competitor who prices the split correctly takes the order. The reverse mistake is also common: pricing every run hour at the machine-only rate while a person still loads, checks and clears chips at every cycle.
Our example splits the $95 rate into $60 for the machine and $35 for the operator. Our pricing engine prices setup at the operator's rate (the machine is idle while a person sets up) and run time at the machine rate plus the operator rate times the attended share. Even with the operator on every minute of the run, the split price comes out lower than the blended one, because setup is billed at the operator's $35 instead of $95; the fair comparison for unattended running is the third column against the second. At 10% attended, the run hour costs $60 + 0.10 × $35 = $63.50 instead of $95.
The bracket, three ways
The routing is the same in all three columns: three setups, 9.9 minutes of milling a part plus deburr and inspection. Only the way the mill's hour is charged changes. The table shows price each.
| Quantity | One blended rate ($95/h) | Split rate, operator on every minute | Split rate, operator on 10% | Saving at 10% attended |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $83.77 | $72.07 | $65.31 | 9% |
| 100 | $41.17 | $40.00 | $33.24 | 17% |
| 400 | $30.59 | $30.30 | $24.83 | 18% |
What has to be true before you quote it
Unattended only works for a part that a machine can finish without help: a stable example part, tool life that lasts the lot, chips that evacuate, in-process probing or a way to catch a broken tool, and a loader (a bar feeder, a pallet system or a robot). If a part needs the operator to deburr or flip it between cycles, the cycle is not unattended, and the 10% in the example is a fiction.
The saving also doesn't apply to the lot's first part. The first article is proved on the day shift with the operator present, so setup and inspection are charged at the full operator rate. Your quote should say it: the lights-out price applies to the production run only.
Account for risk. A crash at 3 a.m. with no one present can scrap the lot and damage a spindle. Shops that run unattended price in some of that risk as a cost (insurance, probing, a monitored spindle load) rather than hoping.
Should you pass the saving on?
That's a business decision, not an engineering one. If the lights-out hours let you win a repeating order against a quote you would otherwise lose, passing most of it on is sensible. If your machines are already full, the unattended hours are capacity you could sell to another customer, and the right price is the one the next job would pay. A common compromise is to price the production lot on the split rate and keep the setup and first article at full rate.
Whatever you choose, show it. A buyer who sees "first article and setup attended; production run unattended" understands why the unit price falls after the first lot, and it supports the next negotiation.
Rate assumptions
- • Part: fictional 4 × 3 × 1 in 6061 bracket, 3 setups, 12 toolpaths, pockets and holes, no finish.
- • Blended: 3-axis VMC $95/h for setup and run.
- • Split: machine $60/h plus operator $35/h; setup at the operator's rate; run at the machine rate plus the attended share of the operator's.
- • Markup 30%; US starting catalog for everything else.
| Quantity | Blended | Operator on every minute | Operator on 10% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $837.70 | $720.70 | $653.10 |
| 100 | $4,117.00 | $4,000.00 | $3,324.00 |
| 400 | $12,236.00 | $12,120.00 | $9,932.00 |
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.
- Prices are from QuotedPart's pricing engine; the $60 machine and $35 operator split of the catalog's $95 mill rate, and the 10% attended share, are example assumptions.
Questions
What share of the cycle is 'attended'?
It is the portion of the run time someone is working on this machine: loading, probing, chips, checks. A pallet pool may be well under 10%; a manual-load job near 100%. Estimate it from your own floor, per part.
Do I discount the first article?
No. Setup, first article and proving the program need a person and are billed at the attended rate.
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.
Related QuotedPart guides
Answers
How long should it take to quote a machined part? A minutes-per-step budget
A planning budget for quote time by part complexity, where the minutes go, what a quote costs your shop at your hourly rate and win rate, and which steps are worth automating.
Answers
A customer cancelled an order part-way through: what can I charge?
Charge for what you've spent and what you can't recover, stage by stage: material, programming and setup, machining done, finishing. A cancellation schedule on a 100-piece bracket order and the clause wording to put in your terms.
Answers
A customer compares your quote to Xometry's: how do you compete?
How to compare your price with a marketplace quote on the same basis, which jobs to stop chasing, and what a local shop can offer that an instant quote doesn't. With a priced 6061 bracket.
Answers
A customer wants a cost breakdown of your machine-shop quote
Decide what to disclose, protect confidential methods and still give the buyer a useful scope and price explanation.