A quote spreadsheet can be simple and still be reliable. The danger is not that the sheet lacks dozens of tabs; it is that important assumptions are hidden, units are mixed, or the final price cannot be explained later.
Use this nine-point review before sending a machining quote.
1. Separate one-time and per-part work
Setup, programming, first-article work, and special tooling usually belong to the batch. Cycle time and material repeat for every expected start. Keeping those groups separate makes quantity breaks defensible.
2. Label every time unit
Write “hours” or “minutes” next to each input. A 12-minute cycle entered as 12 hours can destroy a quote; a hidden /60 conversion is almost as dangerous because the next estimator may not see it.
3. Decide what the hourly rate represents
State whether the rate is break-even cost, fully burdened cost, or customer-facing sell rate. If a sell rate already includes profit, do not apply margin again at the bottom of the sheet.
4. Model scrap as yield
To plan for a scrap rate, calculate expected starts as:
good quantity / (1 - scrap rate)
Adding the scrap percentage directly to quantity understates the expected starts.
5. Keep outside services visible
Heat treatment, plating, grinding, inspection, freight, and certifications should be separate entries. A reviewer should not have to guess what a miscellaneous multiplier contains.
6. Show margin and markup correctly
Margin uses price = cost / (1 - margin). Markup uses price = cost * (1 + markup). Label the chosen method and do not use the words interchangeably.
7. Compare quantity breaks side by side
For each requested quantity, show total cost, fixed cost per good part, unit selling price, and total selling price. This makes it clear whether a price change comes from setup allocation or from a real process assumption.
8. Add a minimum-charge check
After the formula produces a price, compare it with the shop's documented minimum charge. Keep that commercial adjustment visible rather than overwriting the calculated cost.
9. Preserve a review snapshot
Save the customer name, part number, revision, estimator, quote date, validity period, and notes with the values used for the quote. A good spreadsheet is also an audit record.
I work on ShopQuote Flow. We publish a free machine-shop quote spreadsheet template that organizes these inputs without requiring an account. It is designed as a starting point, not a substitute for a shop's own costing policy.
The goal is not to create the biggest workbook. It is to create a quote that another estimator can review, reproduce, and defend.
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