Guides / Quoting

Quoting a Repair Job Versus a New Build Part

October 3, 2026

A new build part comes with a drawing, a material spec and a blank you control from the first cut. A repair comes with a part that has already lived a life you did not witness, and the first job is finding out what that life did to it. Treat the two the same way in your quoting process and one of them will lose you money.

Why a repair does not price like a new build

On a new build, uncertainty sits mostly in the machining plan: setups, cycle time, tool wear. You can price that with a stock allowance and a contingency line and be close.

On a repair, uncertainty sits in the part itself. A shaft journal that measures 0.4 mm undersize on the outside might be fine at 0.6 mm all the way round, or it might have a crack starting at the fillet radius that only shows up once you take a skin cut. A casting with surface corrosion might clean up in one pass, or the corrosion might run deeper than the machining allowance you priced. You cannot know which until you look, and looking often means starting the job.

That is the core difference. A new build’s risk is in the plan. A repair’s risk is in the part, and it is not fully visible from the outside.

What to inspect before you commit to a fixed price

Do not quote a repair the way you quote a drawing. Ask for, or take, these before you name a number:

• Photos of the actual damage or wear, not just a description of the symptom. “Bearing seat worn” and a photo of a scored, out-of-round bore are different quoting problems.
• Measurements at more than one point. A single diameter reading tells you nothing about ovality or taper, both of which change how much material has to come off to clean up.
• Failure history, if the customer has it. A part that has failed the same way twice points at a design or load problem that a repair alone will not fix, and that is worth saying before you quote.
• Material condition, especially on anything that has seen heat, corrosion or a prior weld repair. A part that has been welded once already may not take a second repair the same way.
• What “good” looks like. Get the original print or the nominal dimension if it exists. Repairing to a number nobody can confirm is a guess dressed up as a quote.

If you cannot get this before quoting, say so in the quote rather than pricing around the gap.

Structuring the quote: fixed price, not-to-exceed, or time and materials

Three structures cover most repair work, and the right one depends on how much of the damage you can see before you start.

Fixed price fits when the damage is fully measured and bounded, and the fix is a known sequence, such as reboring a housing to an oversize bushing with a documented diameter.

Not-to-exceed fits when the general scope is known but the depth of damage is not confirmed. State the number you will not go past, the step where you will know more (usually after a cleanup pass or a dye penetrant check), and what happens if the damage runs beyond the number. This protects the customer’s budget and your margin at the same time.

Time and materials fits when the part arrives with more unknowns than knowns, on-site work with limited prior inspection, or a failure investigation folded into the repair. Set an estimated range so the customer is not quoting blind internally, even though the final number floats.

Whichever you choose, write it in the quote in plain terms. “Fixed price, scope as described” or “not-to-exceed $X, subject to confirmation after cleanup cut, revised quote issued before proceeding if damage exceeds allowance” both tell the customer exactly what they are agreeing to.

Pricing the risk of finding more once you open it up

Build a specific line for this rather than folding it into a flat contingency. On a not-to-exceed structure, that line is the gap between your best estimate and your ceiling, and it should reflect what you have actually seen of the part, not a habitual percentage.

A few things widen that gap honestly: a part with no maintenance or repair history, damage near a stress concentration like a fillet or keyway, or a customer who cannot say how the part failed. A few things narrow it: a clean visual inspection, a known and stable material, and a customer who has repaired this exact part before and can tell you what they found last time.

Say which factors pushed your number, even briefly. It reads as competence, not hedging.

Deciding when a repair should not be quoted at all

Some repairs are not worth taking on at a fixed price under any structure. A crack running into a load-bearing section, a part where the base material is unknown, or a housing that has already been repaired twice in the same location are all candidates for a straight no, or for a proposal to replace rather than repair. Turning that down fast, with a reason, is a better use of your quoting time than carrying the job through a not-to-exceed structure that was never going to hold.

What to do next

Pull the last repair job that ran over its quote and check where the overrun actually came from. If it came from damage you could not see before you started, the fix is a not-to-exceed structure next time, not a bigger contingency line on a fixed price.

Related reading: how to quote a large part, pricing heavy machine hours and on-site machining and line boring.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

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