How We Actually Quote Jobs (And How Midrung Does It)

Start with the routing

Every quote starts with the routing — the sequence of operations needed to make the part. For a CNC bracket, that might be: saw raw material, CNC mill (first op), CNC mill (second op), deburr, inspect.

For each operation, you need three numbers: setup time, run time per piece, and the hourly rate for that machine. Setup is where most shops get it wrong. They estimate run time accurately but forget about fixture building, program proving, first-article inspection, and the time between "machine is ready" and "first good part off."

Materials are more than raw stock

The obvious material cost is the raw stock — 6061 bar, 4140 plate, whatever the print calls for. But accurate quoting includes: the buy-to-fly ratio (how much material you buy vs how much ends up in the finished part), hardware and fasteners, tooling that's consumed (inserts, end mills), and any outside services (heat treat, plating, grinding).

We've seen shops lose 3-5% margin consistently because they quote raw material cost but forget about the kerf waste, the drop that's too small to use, and the minimum order quantity from the vendor.

Markup isn't margin

This mistake costs shops real money. If a job costs $100 and you add 50% markup, you sell it for $150. Your margin is 33%, not 50%. The formula: Margin = (Price - Cost) / Price. Markup = (Price - Cost) / Cost.

In our experience, healthy job shop margins range from 30-45% on production work and 50-65% on prototypes and short runs. If you're consistently below 25%, you're either under-quoting or your overhead allocation is wrong.

How Midrung speeds this up

In Midrung, you build a quote by adding operations to a routing. Each operation has a machine (with a pre-set hourly rate), setup time, and run time. Materials get added with current costs that update when vendor prices change. The margin calculates live as you build.

For repeat work, you import the routing from the part master — the quote is 90% done before you start. For new work, you build the routing once and it becomes the baseline for every future quote on that part. Price breaks calculate automatically across different quantities.

The quote that took 2 hours in a spreadsheet takes a fraction of the time. And the margin is accurate because the costs are real, not estimates from memory.