Fab shop quotes

Hi

I am not sure what you are saying but if you are looking for a quote please email me your dxf file

We have laser, folder etc

email snipped-for-privacy@occuk.co.uk

Thank you

John O'Connell

Wood burning camp stoves

How do you come to your pricing? If the parts are so simple, why not do them yourself? Then, maybe, you will have an idea how others arrive at the price they do. Are you getting multiple bids? If so, does there seem to be a fairly close range in quotes? Personally, I use a dart board. I'm not a very good player, so my prices on the jobs I get are usually kinda low. That must be why I don't make a whole bunch of money.

michael

I don't mind negotiating, but I can't stand chiselers.

That sounds to me like something someone would do if they had far too much time on their hands.

This is based on experience. One learns (usually by underbidding) how much time it takes to complete each step necessary to bring the project from your drawing to completion. Other factors might be the type of material you specify, as an example if your project requires material that has to be purchased in 4X8 sheets and you only need a portion of that you are going to buy the whole sheet.

If your project requires some novel fabrication technique or your design doesn't take into consideration how the project will be be fabricated, this can increase your costs.

It is always a fair question to ask the fab shop what you can do to get your work done cheaper.

-- Roger Shoaf If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.

Thanks Roger....makes sense.

I've had alot of parts done, there really doesn't seem to be any specific guidelines as I can get vastly different quotes from different shops.

Was just wondering.

Thanks!

You might want to try the pricing feature from these guys - never used them myself though. Looks like a great service nonetheless

Tom

Several thoughts (I used to make quotes for a sheetmetal shop):

-for a shop with a full production schedule to run your parts costs them overtime

-no shop has a completely 'standard' set of tooling - lots depends on who has brought their parts their before you arrive. As an example, if a shop does 95% flat stuf with the occasional bracket and your part requires a 3 foot long multipart die with custom recesses for preinserted pem's it is a good bet the cost will be passed along. Sometimes it makes business sense to just buy a tool and not include it in the part cost because it will get lots of use, other times not.

-shops often have an interesting mix of modern and archaic machinery. Securing a contract for a long profitable job sometimes warranted buying specialized equipment (like an automatic pem-serter) that would allow ditching slower processes. Obviously no two shops get all the same jobs...so capabilities vary.

-experienced quoters also keep up with the shop skillset and cost out setup times accordingly. Our most experienced press brake man had a sudden stroke one weekend and passed away. Tragic loss. The fellow who had to take his place was nowhere near as experienced/fast. This was a bit of a pinch: adjust quotes to match real costs or try to stay the same level of competitive and just absorb the difference...

-if the shop forte is one thing and your part(s) aren't it, then quotes must reflect the cost involved in training, extended setup times, ruined parts while debugging parameters, etc.

-we would get the occasional Scrooge company trying to get us to work for close to free, and pay their bills _very late_. Repeat jobs from them were either turned down or priced to compensate for the trouble.

-processes that cannot be done in-house (powder coating, plating, heat treating, etc.) have to be put out for bids and the (sometimes volatile) cost passed along.

hope that helps

StaticsJason