The Job Shop Quoting Process: From RFQ to Sent Quote

Most articles about the quoting process are written for companies that sell configurable products from a catalog: pick options, apply a price list, send. A fab shop or machine shop does not work like that. Every RFQ arrives as a pack of drawings, specs and sometimes a BOM, and the price has to be built from what is on the paper. This guide walks through that drawing-driven process step by step.

What is the quoting process in a job shop?

The job shop quoting process is the sequence of steps that turns a customer's RFQ package into a priced, written offer: log the request, decide whether to bid, read the drawings, build the bill of materials, route and cost every part, set quantity breaks and margin, get approval, send the quote and follow it up. Done well, it is repeatable enough that two estimators would land within a few percent of each other on the same job.

Here is the whole process in one view. The sections below explain each step and what to check.

1. 1

   Intake and logging

   Log the RFQ the day it arrives with customer, due date, part count and a quote number, and save every file in one folder.

2. 2

   Bid/no-bid

   Score the job against your capacity, capability and customer value before anyone spends hours estimating it.

3. 3

   Read the package

   Go through every drawing, revision, spec and note, and list conflicts and questions.

4. 4

   Build or check the BOM

   Turn the drawings into a parts list with material, thickness, finish, hardware and quantity per assembly.

5. 5

   Route each part

   Write the operation sequence and work center for every part, including outside processes.

6. 6

   Cost it

   Price material, labor at work-center rates, outside processing and hardware for each part.

7. 7

   Set quantity breaks

   Recalculate at each quantity so setup and lot charges are spread correctly.

8. 8

   Apply margin and approve

   Add margin, check the total against similar past jobs, and get sign-off.

9. 9

   Write and send the quote

   State price, lead time, validity, assumptions and exclusions clearly.

10. 10

    Follow up and track win/loss

    Chase the quote on a schedule and record the outcome and the reason.

How do you log an RFQ when it comes in?

The RFQ process starts with a log, not an estimate. Give each request a quote number, record the customer, contact, date received, due date, number of line items and who owns it. Save the email and every attachment into one folder named by the quote number. This sounds basic, but RFQs lost in an inbox are one of the most common reasons shops miss bid dates. A shared spreadsheet or your ERP's quote module is enough, as long as everyone uses it.

At intake, also check that the package is complete: are all the drawings referenced in the BOM actually attached? Is there a revision on every drawing? Is a quantity given? Ask for missing items now, because the due date does not move while you wait.

How do you decide whether to bid on a job?

A bid/no-bid decision protects estimating time, which is usually the scarcest resource in the front office. Use a short scoring checklist so the call is quick and consistent. Score each line 0, 1 or 2:

• Capability: can we make it with our own equipment and normal outside vendors? (0 no, 1 with a stretch, 2 yes)
• Capacity: do we have room in the requested lead time? (0 no, 1 tight, 2 yes)
• Customer value: existing account, strategic target or one-off? (0 one-off with no history, 1 occasional, 2 key account or target)
• Win odds: are we one of two quoting or one of ten, and have we won similar work? (0 low, 1 unknown, 2 good)
• Package quality: are drawings complete, legible and current? (0 poor, 1 some gaps, 2 complete)
• Fit: materials, tolerances and volumes we make money on? (0 poor fit, 1 neutral, 2 sweet spot)

What should you check when reading an RFQ package?

Reading the package is where most quoting mistakes are made or avoided. For every drawing, capture part number, revision, material and gauge or stock size, finish, quantity, critical tolerances and any notes that add work (deburr all edges, mask threads, certs required). Then compare documents against each other: the BOM revision against the drawing revision, the material on the drawing against the material in the spec, the finish callout against the customer's email.

• Revisions: quote only to a stated revision, and write it on the quote.
• Specs: look up referenced specs (plating, paint, weld, inspection) and note any that drive cost or require certification.
• Tolerances: flag anything tighter than your normal process holds, and decide whether it needs a different method or a question to the customer.
• Finishes: confirm color, gloss, thickness, masking and which surfaces matter.
• Conflicts: list every disagreement between documents and send one consolidated question list, rather than guessing.

How do you build or check the BOM for a quote?

If the customer sent a BOM, check it against the drawings line by line: part numbers, revisions, quantity per assembly and purchased items. If they did not, build one from the assembly drawing and its balloons. Each line needs make or buy, material, stock size or blank size, quantity per assembly and total quantity at each break. Purchased hardware (PEM nuts, studs, fasteners, bushings) gets its own lines so it is priced, not forgotten. Our BOM extraction guide covers this step in more depth.

How do you route and cost each part?

A routing is the ordered list of operations a part goes through, each with a work center, setup time and run time. A typical sheet metal part might be laser cut, deburr, press brake, hardware insertion, powder coat (outside), inspect and pack. A machined part might be saw, mill op 1, mill op 2, deburr, anodize (outside), inspect. Our post on routing in manufacturing shows two full routings with times and costs.

Costing then turns the BOM and routing into dollars. Cost each part from four buckets:

• Material: blank or stock size times price, plus an allowance for nesting yield or saw kerf and drops.
• Labor and machine time: setup hours and run hours at each work center's rate. Use your own rates per work center, not one blended shop rate. See our shop rate calculator.
• Outside processing: plating, anodize, powder coat, heat treat, galvanizing. Use current vendor quotes, include lot minimums and freight, and add your handling markup.
• Hardware and purchased parts: per-piece price at the quantity you will actually buy.

Cost per part = Material + (Total setup cost / Quantity) + Run cost per part + Outside processing per part + Hardware
Price per part = Cost per part / (1 - Target margin)

Steps 3 to 6 (reading, BOM, routing, costing) take most of an estimator's time on a multi-part RFQ. AI quoting tools such as Customiser now compress them: it reads every drawing into key data, flags conflicts between documents instead of guessing, builds or checks the BOM, routes each part through the shop's own processes and costs it with the shop's own labor standards and rate cards. Every figure links back to the drawing it came from, and the estimator still reviews and approves the price.

How do you set quantity breaks on a quote?

Quote at least three quantities: the requested quantity, one below and one or two above. Unit price falls with quantity mostly because setup time and outside-processing lot charges are spread over more parts. Recalculate each break properly instead of applying a percentage discount. Here is an illustrative bracket (example figures; use your own):

Notice that at 10 pieces, setup and the powder coat minimum are more than half the cost. That is the number customers rarely see, and it is why small-quantity prices look high. Showing the breaks side by side often moves a buyer to a larger order.

How should margin and approval work?

Set margin by job, not by habit. Raise it for rush lead times, difficult tolerances, new customers or poor packages; lower it for repeat work you run well or a target account. Then sanity-check: compare the total and the price per pound or per hour against similar jobs you won and lost. Anything over a set value, or with a margin outside your normal range, gets a second pair of eyes from the owner or lead estimator. Keep the approval quick, a same-day check, or it becomes the new bottleneck.

What should a job shop quote include?

A good quote removes every chance of a different reading later. Use the table below as an RFQ and quote template: copy the fields into your quote form or ERP layout.

How do you follow up on a quote and track win/loss?

Follow up on a schedule: a short check two or three working days after sending, then again near the customer's decision date. Ask whether they have questions, not just whether they have decided. When the job is awarded or lost, record the outcome in your RFQ log with a reason code (price, lead time, capability, no response, project cancelled) and, if the buyer will tell you, the gap to the winning price.

After a quarter, sort the log. If you lose mostly on price for one part type, look at your rates or routings for that work. If you lose on lead time, the problem is capacity or turnaround, not price. Speed matters too: the first credible quote back often gets the first call. Our guide to quote turnaround time covers how to shorten it, and the RFQ automation guide covers intake.

What are the most common quoting mistakes?

• Quoting to the wrong revision, or not stating the revision at all.
• Using one blended shop rate, which overprices simple work and underprices machine-heavy work.
• Forgetting outside-processing lot minimums and freight on small quantities.
• Missing purchased hardware because it was only in a note, not the BOM.
• Discounting quantity breaks by percentage instead of recalculating setup spread.
• Leaving out assumptions and exclusions, then absorbing scope changes later.

If you want to see steps 3 to 6 done in minutes rather than hours, with your own rates and the estimator still approving every price, see how Customiser works or check the pay-as-you-go pricing.