Every quote starts from your closest past job
For UK firms that make parts, panels and assemblies to their customers’ drawings. When an enquiry comes in, we read the drawing, spec and quantities, find the closest job you’ve made before with what it cost and what you charged, and draft the list of materials and parts. Anything missing or hard to get is flagged, so you can ask the customer on day one. Your estimator sets the price.
From £1,000 a month.Depends on how many enquiries you quote.
Before you send any drawings, we agree a one-page plan and a fixed fee in writing.
Start with a one-page plan
Tell us what you make and how enquiries reach you. We’ll reply to arrange a short call, then send the one-page plan and the fee. You don’t send any drawings until you’ve agreed it.
An enquiry for six panels, ready to price
Say a customer emails a drawing and a one-page spec for six pump control panels. The closest job you’ve made is a panel for the same customer last March, with a smaller drive. What it cost you and what you charged are set beside the new enquiry, with what’s different this time.
The parts list is drafted from the drawing. Two lines are flagged: the spec doesn’t say what IP rating the enclosure needs, so that question can go to the customer the same day, and the new drive isn’t in any job you’ve made, so your buyer checks who can supply it. Your estimator sets the price and the date.
How it works
Enquiries keep reaching you the way they do now, by email with drawings and specs attached.
Each enquiry is read: the drawings, the spec, the quantities and the email itself.
Your own old quotes and job records are searched for the closest job you’ve made, with what it cost, what you charged and what is different this time.
A list of materials and parts is drafted from the drawing and the spec.
Anything missing, unclear or hard to get is flagged, with the question for your customer written out, so it can go the same day.
Your estimator gets the draft, checks it and sets the price and the date.
Your estimator sets every price
It doesn’t work out a price. Your estimator does, as now, starting from the closest job you’ve made and a drafted parts list instead of a blank sheet.
Nothing goes to a customer on its own. Your team sends every question and every quote.
What we need from you
- Your past quotes and job records, from your job system, your spreadsheets or both.
- Ten recent enquiries with their drawings and specs, and the quotes you sent for them.
- An hour of your estimator’s time.
Start with a one-page plan
First we talk to you and your estimator about how enquiries reach you and where your past jobs are kept. Then we send a one-page plan: what it will do for you, what we need, when the first drafts come back, and a fixed fee. You don’t send us anything until you’ve agreed it in writing.
Then you send your past records and ten recent enquiries. We send back a draft for each, so your estimator can set it against the quote they actually sent.
Pricing
Before you send any drawings, we agree a one-page plan and a fixed fee in writing.
From £1,000 a month.
The price depends on how many enquiries you quote each month and how your past jobs are kept. We set it out in the plan, before you send anything.
What it doesn’t do
It doesn’t set prices or delivery dates. Your estimator does.
It doesn’t replace the software that programs your machines. Any cutting times and sheet counts it gives are for quoting.
It doesn’t send anything to your customers. Your team sends every question and quote.
It doesn’t replace your quoting or job system. It works from your own records.
Questions about quotes for parts made to order
Who is it for?
UK firms of about 10 to 100 people that make to their customers’ drawings and specs: machining, fabrication, plastic parts, tooling, control panels, harnesses and cable assemblies. It suits you best when one or two people do all the quoting and much of the work is close to something you’ve made before.
Does it work out the price?
No. It finds the closest job you’ve made, with what it cost and what you charged, and drafts the parts list. Your estimator sets the price and the date.
Can it work out machine times, or nest parts on a sheet?
For flat sheet work, yes, as an estimate for the quote. We can add a step that lays the parts out on the sheets you hold in stock and works out cutting time from the drawing and your own machine speeds. We check it against jobs you’ve already made before you rely on it, each figure shows how it was reached, and your estimator confirms it. For milled and turned parts, it shows the times from your closest past job.
Do our customers need to send 3D models?
No. It works from the PDF drawings, specs and emails your customers send now. That includes enquiries that are only a spec sheet.
What if we’ve never made anything like it?
It says so, and shows the nearest jobs it found so your estimator can judge whether any of them help. It still drafts the parts list and the questions for your customer.
Our past quotes are in spreadsheets and an old system. Does that matter?
No. In the plan we agree which records it reads: your job system, spreadsheets, folders or all three. It only reads them and never changes anything in your system.
What does it cost?
From £1,000 a month, depending on how many enquiries you quote. We agree a one-page plan and a fixed fee in writing before you send anything.
Where do our drawings and job records go?
Drawings are often your customers’ property, so they stay with you. Once it’s set up, it runs on your own server or in your own cloud account, in the UK, and your drawings and records are kept there. For the first ten enquiries you send them to us. Before you do, we agree in writing how we keep them, who can see them and when we delete them, and we can sign your confidentiality agreement.