Guides / Quoting

Building a Heavy Machining Quote That Holds Up

September 23, 2026

Quoting a milled bracket is a cycle time calculation. Quoting a three tonne housing is a production plan, and the number falls out of the plan rather than the other way round.

Work in this order and the quote holds up.

1. Check the part is physically possible before anything else

Four gates, in this order, because each one can end the exercise in a minute:

• Envelope against travel, with fixture and tool stack allowed for
• Finished and blank weight against table rating, at the load you would accept for this tolerance
• Crane capacity and hook height over that machine
• Door and route out of the building

If any of them fails, say so today. A fast, clear no is worth more to a buyer than a slow maybe, and it costs you nothing.

2. Work out what the blank really is

This drives more of the number than anything except machine hours.

Weldment, casting, forging or solid stock. Who supplies it. What machining allowance it arrives with, and whether that allowance is even across opposing faces. What condition the material is in.

If the buyer has not said, ask, and state your assumption in the quote either way. Quoting a fabrication at 5 mm allowance when it turns up at 18 mm is the single most common way a heavy job goes underwater. See machining allowance on large blanks.

3. Decide the sequence, then count the setups

Now plan it properly:

• Where are the datums, and can one clamping reach enough of them?
• How many times does the part have to be turned over?
• Does stress relief belong between roughing and finishing?
• Does the part need to stabilise thermally before the finish cuts?
• Which features come last, and why?

Setup count is the number to get right. Each one is rigging, crane, set down, indicate in, prove the datums. On a heavy part that is commonly half a shift with two people and a crane that nothing else can use.

4. Price the machine hours honestly

Roughing hours from the stock volume and a realistic removal rate for that material on that machine, not the best rate you ever achieved. Finishing hours from the surface areas and the finish called for.

Then add what actually happens: tool changes, in-process probing, the re-cut when the probe says the part moved, the pass you take again because the first one chattered at full spindle extension.

More on what an hour has to cover in pricing heavy machine hours.

5. Price the things that are not cutting

This is where heavy quotes leak.

• Rigging and handling per setup, with crane and second operator
• Fixture design and build, and whether you keep it for the repeat
• Programming, which on a multi-setup heavy part is real engineering time
• Stress relief, including transport each way if the oven is off site
• Sub-contract steps, plus their queue
• Inspection, including a laser tracker hire if you do not own one
• Preservation, crating and lifting points
• Floor space, if the part will sit in your shop between operations for weeks

A shop that prices the cutting perfectly and forgets four of these will be the cheapest quote and the least profitable job.

6. Build the schedule, and name the constraint

Do not quote a lead time. Quote a sequence with dates, and say which step is the constraint.

It takes five minutes, it is far more credible than a round number, and it protects you: when the oven queue moves, you have already told the buyer the oven was the constraint.

7. Write the risk down

Find the one thing on this part that could go wrong and say what you plan to do about it. Thin wall after boring, a casting with unknown soundness, position across a long span, a blank of uncertain flatness.

Naming it does not lose the job. It is usually the paragraph that wins it, because it proves you read the drawing. It also sets up the conversation if the risk materialises.

8. Offer one change

Before sending, find the callout that costs the most and is worth the least. Offer to relax it.

“If the flatness outside the rail strips can go to 0.3 mm, we save a finishing pass and about a day.” That one sentence does more for your win rate than any discount, and it does not cost you margin.

The order matters

Most shops that lose money on heavy work did the arithmetic well and the plan badly. They priced cutting hours accurately for a sequence that turned out to need two more setups, an oven cycle and a re-cut.

Plan first. The number is the easy part.

What to do next

Take the last heavy job that lost money and rebuild the quote in this order. The step that was missing is almost always between two and five, and it is almost always setups or handling.

Related for shops: why shops lose large part quotes and take it or pass, reading an RFQ preview.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Pricing a Field Machining Job Instead of Shop Work
• What to Ask a Buyer Before You Spend Hours Quoting