Contract Manufacturer Job Quote Price Calculator
Small shops quote dozens of jobs a week, and a missed setup or forgotten tooling charge can erase the margin. This calculator builds a quote from the real cost elements and shows the quantity price break.
Your numbers
Plating, heat treat, coating, per unit.
Your results
Excludes freight, packaging, payment terms and sales commission. Add these to a cost line before sending a quote.
Unit price vs quote quantity
Sweeps Quote quantity from 1 to 2000, holding your other inputs fixed.
Connect quotes to job costing
Optional: discuss comparing quoted and actual cost in your ERP.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use it
Enter the quantity and per unit material. Add setup hours and run time per unit, priced at your combined machine and labor rate. Include outside processing per unit and any tooling you will not reuse. Set the scrap allowance so the shop starts enough pieces to ship the quoted quantity, then choose the margin on price. The result is both the job total and a unit price.
The calculation
Units to start equal quantity divided by one minus scrap, rounded up. Material and outside processing scale with started units. Setup is paid once, run time scales with started units. Total cost adds tooling, and price equals cost divided by one minus margin. Because setup and tooling are fixed, unit price falls as quantity rises.
- Setup and tooling are amortized over the quantity
- Scrap allowance matters most on small orders
- Margin is on price, not markup on cost
- Round prices up to the nearest sensible unit
Using the price break chart
The curve is steep at low quantities and flattens near the variable cost. Read quantity breaks from the knee: the point where doubling quantity saves less than a few percent. Quote breaks at 1, 10, 50, 100, 500 and so on, and avoid offering a break below the quantity at which the cost curve is still steep.
Common mistakes
Quoters often use a shop rate without setup, ignore the cost of rejects and quote tooling as free to win the order. Also verify the machine rate against actual hours; a rate that ignores idle time leads to quotes that lose money at real utilization.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use margin or markup for quotes?
Margin on price is easier to compare with financial statements. A 30 percent margin equals a 42.9 percent markup on cost. Mixing the two is a common reason shops under price.
How do I price setup for repeat jobs?
If the setup is repeated each run, include it every time. If a fixture is kept, bill the tooling once and quote lower setup afterwards. Make the policy visible on the quote.
What scrap allowance is reasonable?
It depends on the process. Stable turned parts may run under 2 percent, while complex fabrications, castings or first articles can be 5 percent or more. Use your own history and revisit it quarterly.
Does the tool add freight and tax?
No. Add freight, packaging and any commission as extra cost before applying margin, and handle sales tax separately on the invoice.
Once quotes live in your ERP, Netray can compare quoted cost with actual job cost and show where estimates drift.
Related Tools
Scrap Adjusted Product Cost and Price Calculator
Calculate cost per good unit after material scrap and process yield, then the selling price needed for a target gross margin.
Discrete ManufacturingProduction Run Economic Batch Size Calculator
Find the economic production quantity that balances setup cost against carrying cost when parts are made in house at a finite rate.
Discrete ManufacturingMake to Order Promise Date and Lead Time Calculator
Compute the calendar days to promise a customer from material arrival, queue, setup, run hours at your efficiency, and ship time.
ERP Migration & SelectionMRP Seat Pricing and Five Year TCO Calculator
Model what a per user cloud MRP subscription really costs over several years as your user count grows, including base fee, discount and onboarding.
More Costing & Finance tools
See all- SAP QM Inspection Effort and Cost Calculator
- SAP Standard Cost Estimate BOM Rollup Calculator
- Legacy ERP Retirement Cost and Payback Calculator
- JD Edwards World Month-End Close Procedure Template
- Distributor Customer Credit Application Template
- Distributor Customer Profitability Worksheet
- Distributor GMROI and Inventory Turns Calculator
- Vendor Early Pay Discount Worksheet
- SyteLine Cost Rollup Variance Calculator
Keep exploring
Free tools
- CNC Job Quote Estimate WorksheetAn editable CNC quote worksheet that rolls material, setup, run time and outside services into a price per part.
- Epicor Quote Price and Quantity Break CalculatorBuild a unit price from material, labor, setup and subcontract cost, hit a target margin, and see how the price falls with quantity.
- Job Shop Quote Price, Margin and Markup CalculatorTurn cost inputs into a unit price at your target gross margin, including scrap, setup and outside processing, and see the markup it equals.
ERP fixes and how-tos
- How to Create a Quote in E2 Shop SystemHow to build a quote in E2 Shop System, from header setup through routing, material, and outside processing, to converting an accepted quote into a job.
- Contract, MMBE and PPV Reports in SAP MMRun contract reports in SAP MM with ME2M and ME2N, check stock with MMBE, report purchase price variance and build custom MM reports with SQ01 and CDS views.
- Price Book Session in Infor LN: Setup and Order PricingHow price books work in Infor LN sales pricing: where they are maintained, how they link to price lists and order lines, and how to troubleshoot a price not found.
Guides
- How to Quote Medical Device Contract Manufacturing WorkHow medical device contract manufacturers build a quote: materials with certs, cleanroom labor, validation, inspection, sterilization handoffs and NRE.
- How to Quote CNC Machined Parts: A Step by Step MethodHow to quote CNC machined parts step by step: material, setup, cycle time, outside processing, quantity breaks and margin, plus common costly mistakes.
- Job Costing and True Margins for Medical Device Contract ManufacturersWhy medical device contract manufacturers underestimate cost: records labor, inspection, scrap, validation and cleanroom burden, and how to see margin by job.
AI on your ERP
- AI for Epicor Kinetic Job Shops: Quote History, Job Variance and Schedule RiskPrivate AI for Epicor Kinetic job shops: quote-to-job history, JobHead and JobOper variance, subcontract delays and schedule risk, via REST and BAQs.
- AI on Your ERP for Contract Manufacturers and EMS ProvidersPrivate AI on your ERP for contract manufacturers: multi-customer isolation, quoting, consigned inventory, NPI and customer portals, with each customer's data kept apart.