Estimating engineering time on machine design

selling custom production machinery. Costs have

you like to have a copy? It's in Word format.

Sure thing. You can get a valid email address for me by looking at my web site. And thanks.

Mark 'Sporky' Stapleton

Customers (and particularly this customer) go

not) or that is late. That's one of the

with the project (lost money!!) and was

money" on a project, you shouldn't have taken it

you'll go broke (NOT GOOD). Your

you can or can't do..either you know them or

people in your companies engineering

paycheck rather than you having to do it (correct

You're wrong. If I quote a job for fixed price of $15K and it actually takes $18K worth of time and materials for the exact job quoted on, the customer gets a bill for just the $15K and I eat the rest. By the same token, if it takes $12K to do the job, they get the same bill. You guys do a bit different kind of work than I do, perhaps more measurable and predictable, perhaps not. Quoting time + materials is safer, but I don't like doing it.

I do agree 100% with Sporky that some customers are more difficult than others. A no-bid may be your best choice in such cases. You can still go broke, but at least you won't be tired. ;-)

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Customers (and particularly this customer) go

not) or that is late. That's one of the

money with the project (lost money!!) and was

money" on a project, you shouldn't have taken it

you'll go broke (NOT GOOD). Your

you can or can't do..either you know them or

people in your companies engineering

paycheck rather than you having to do it (correct

Very interesting thread, one question- how do you define a "Detail"?

There was much talk of 2 hours per detail, or 1/4 hour per detail, etc, curious what you meant by that.

Thanks Whit

curious what you meant by that.

A "detail" is a single engineering drawing of a single part. It might be one independent sheet or one sheet of several (if several parts are delineated in a multi-sheet drawing) or it might be a couple of sheets (for a complex part). An assembly drawing can contain details, but generally it is considered a separate thing besides a detail.

'Sporky'