Many years ago, I was in my buddy Jim Smith's shop (that's his real name). Right in the middle of an important fishing conversation, in walks a guy in a suit. The man had some prints and wanted to know if Jim would be interested in quoting some parts for him "Sure" said Jim and the suit rolls out the drawings. Jim and I both looked at the prints and they were fairly complicated but nothing extraordinary. There was some outside processing to be done, heat treat, O.D. grind and plating. After about 5 minutes of study, Jim piped up "You'll have to leave these here and I'll get back to you in a couple of days with a price". Well that wouldn't do for this guy, he needed a price right then and there. Jim should have shown the man the door. He just told him to come back in about half an hour. The man left and Jim and I spent the next 30 minutes looking over the drawings, calculating and half-ass guessing costs. Jim finally came up with a price just as the customer came back. Jim had no sooner given the man his number than we found out that he didn't have much of a poker face. The guy was grinning so big he could have eaten a banana sideways.

Jim knew that he had been had! But Jim was a crafty old dude and a whole 2 seconds went by before he brought up the fact that he didn't have a heat treat furnace so heat treat wasn't included in the price. Still....banana grin. A few more seconds go by and Jim remembered that he didn't have an O.D. grinder so this wasn't included in the price either. Smaller banana grin.. "and of course you are going to have to take care of plating" said Jim. The grin was almost gone. "No problem" says the business man. "When can you start?" Jim replies "I can start just as soon as you bring me material and a 50% down payment on the job".

We never heard from the guy again.

This guy gave me a bad feeling from the moment he started talking. Just one of those kind of people that didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Jim almost got that job. Who knows it may have worked out. I would never recommend this method of quoting to anyone.

I have had good jobs and I have had bad jobs. The good jobs never seemed to last very long and the bad ones were like the Energizer Bunny, they just kept going and going and going. I don't have the perfect recipe for quoting work but I may be able to point out a few potentially dangerous situations like my friend Jim almost getting bushwhacked.

1) Never quote over the phone.

2) Always put your quote in writing being very specific on delivery dates, terms, pricing and exactly what is and what is not included in the price.

3) Always note that the quote is only good for a certain period of time (like 30 days) you may have been out of work and hungry when you quoted the job and 31 days later when you are up to your neck in good work, the customer gives you the job.

4) Always know who you are dealing with. Anytime you take on a new customer, find out what machine shops or precision sheet metal shops they have worked with in the recent past and follow up with those shops.

5) Before writing up your quote make sure you read everything on the print including notes, tolerance & title blocks and revisions. Also look for things like (xxxxa shown, xxxxb opposite hand) be sure to match drawing number on the purchace order with the number on the drawing. If you are quoting a job that requires material you are not familiar with, find out everything you can about the material (machinability, stability, etc.) either from the material supplier or another machine shop. You must be able to read every dimension, tolerance and note on the drawing. If you cannot do this call the customer and get these things clarified.

6) Watch out for these red flags:

• Lack of credit references in our trade
• Bad drawings
• Inventors-Most inventors are good natured, creative people but lack a mechanical or engineering background, many times they have difficulty expressing their ideas and usually have no concept of how much it costs to design and develope a working prototype. I would recommend that you refer them to a professional engineer to get proper drawings made up, then quote the job as you see it.

The foudation of the Capitalist System is competition. One of its outcomes is quoting (naming a price) and plays a major role in your success. The sage machinist will see competition for what it is - a tool that compells us to use every resource at our disposal to create superior methods of manufacturing. A wise old man once told me "Do good work ontime and you will do just fine" he never mentioned a word about money and he was right. When you build a solid reputation, the good paying work will come your way.

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