Quoting software for manufacturing that prices from your own BOM
Quoting software for manufacturing, built for the small shop that quotes repeat parts from a spreadsheet and memory. Pick the part, the quantity and your markup. The price comes from its bill of materials, the scrap you allow, and the setup and run minutes at each station's hourly rate.
When the customer says yes, the quote becomes the order, so nobody keys the job in by hand.
Free. Every module, the whole team, no card.
Q-0012 sent
50× Mounting bracket
- Materials
- $415.60
- BOM rollup
- Labor
- $532.08
- setup + cycle
- Margin
- 30%
- on top of cost
- Price
- $1,231.99
- $24.64 each
Routing setup + run × 50
- 1Laser cutLaser · $95.00/hr115m$182.08
- 2Brake formPress brake · $70.00/hr120m$140.00
- 3Weld and finishWeld bay · $60.00/hr210m$210.00
Accept → order: 50 brackets at this price
Your quote sheet works until it doesn't
You already know how to price a job: the material, the hours times your shop rate, and your markup on top. That's the right math, and a spreadsheet holds it fine.
material + hours × shop rate + markup
What costs you money is everything around the math.
Five places it leaks
Steel went up.
You typed in $6.40 a blank when you built the sheet. Your last two steel orders came in higher, and the cell still says $6.40.
Setup got charged on every part, or forgotten.
A 20-minute brake setup belongs on the job once. Charge it on each of 50 brackets and that's 1,000 minutes, about 17 hours, and you lose the bid. Leave it off and you ran 20 minutes free.
Scrap got left out.
50 brackets at 8% scrap take 54 blanks. Quote 50 and the other 4 come out of your pocket.
The yes got re-typed.
The customer takes the quote. Someone keys it into an order by hand, and 50 goes in as 500, or at last month's price.
Last spring's quote is gone.
They want the same part you quoted them last spring. The number is in an old email, a file called bracket-final-v3, or your head.
When the sheet is still enough: a few quotes a month, each one a different job. Keep it. The leaks add up when most of what you quote is repeat parts at new quantities, and the same five moments hit every job.
Three kinds of quoting software, and which one this is
Quoting software for manufacturing turns what a job costs you into a price for your customer. Search for it and three kinds of tool come up. The difference is what each one starts from.
Reads the CAD file
Starts froma 3D model or drawing
You upload the customer's part file and it measures the geometry to estimate machining or sheet metal time. Many add an upload page so customers can get a price online.
Fits better when most of your quotes are new parts from customer files, and you need a number on a part you've never made.
Configures a product with options
Starts fromoptions and pricing rules
You or your buyer pick size, material and finish, and rules price the combination. This is what manufacturing CPQ software usually means, and it is often set up alongside an ERP.
Fits better when you sell one product line in many optioned variants (doors, windows, enclosures) and quote from a catalogue.
- This is TrackFinch
Prices from your own BOM
Starts fromyour BOM and routing
Each part at its cost plus the scrap you allow, setup once and run minutes per part at each station's hourly rate, then your % on top. It lives in the system that runs the job, so a yes becomes a sales order.
Fits when you quote parts and products you already make, mostly repeats at new quantities.
TrackFinch is the third kind. It isn't CPQ software for manufacturing: there are no options, rules or configurator, and it doesn't read drawings or CAD files. If your quotes start from a customer's model or a catalogue of variants, one of the first two will serve you better. If you quote what you already make, price a sample job below.
Price a sample job yourself
Don't take our word for the numbers. Here's a steel bracket priced the way TrackFinch prices a quote: each part at its cost plus the scrap you allow, setup once, run minutes per part at each station's hourly rate, then your % on top. Change the quantity or the markup and watch where the money goes.
Sample job · made-up costs and rates, not a customer's job
BRK-210
Mounting bracket
Your % on top of cost, so 30% on $100 of cost is $130.
50× Mounting bracket
- Materials
- $415.60
- BOM rollup
- Labor
- $532.08
- setup + cycle
- Margin
- 30%
- on top of cost
- Price
- $1,231.99
- $24.64 each
Setup costs $57.08 of shop time whether you run 10 or 200. At 50, with your 30% on top, it adds $1.48 to each bracket's price.
Cost breakdown for 50 units
- Materials2 components$415.60
- Labor3 routing operations$532.08
- Costmaterials + labor$947.68
- Margin30% on top of cost$284.31
- Quoted price$1,231.99
The math runs unrounded, the way TrackFinch prices a quote, so a hand check can land a cent off.
Materials for 50 brackets, with scrap
Scrap is priced as a share of each blank: 8% scrap adds 0.08 of a blank's cost to every bracket.
- 10-gauge steel blankSTL-10GA · 1.08/unit (incl. 8% scrap) · $6.40$345.60
- 3/8" boltHW-0375 · 4.00/unit · $0.35$70.00
Routing for 50 brackets, setup once
- Laser cutLaser · $95.00/hr15m setup + 2m × 50115m$182.08
- Brake formPress brake · $70.00/hr20m setup + 2m × 50120m$140.00
- Weld and finishWeld bay · $60.00/hr10m setup + 4m × 50210m$210.00
Same math on your own parts, your scrap and your station rates.
Where every number on the quote comes from
Every figure on a TrackFinch quote traces back to something you already know and set yourself: what a part costs, the scrap you allow, how long setup and each part take, what a station's hour is worth, and your %. Here's the sample job from above, line by line.
Sample job · BRK-210 Mounting bracket · 50 brackets at 30%
Materials
from your BOM and part costs
$415.60for 50 brackets
Each component's quantity, plus the scrap % you allow on it, at that part's cost.
10-gauge steel blank · 1 of 2 components
- 1per bracketBOM
- ×1.081 + 8% scrapBOM
- ×$6.40cost per blankPart cost
- ×50bracketsQuote
- =$345.60steel blanks
The quantities and scrap live on the item's BOM, built in TrackFinch's bill of materials software. The cost keeps up with what you pay: receive a purchase order at a new price and the part's cost moves to a weighted average, with the old cost kept in its history. 100 blanks on hand at $6.40 plus 100 received at $7.00 makes $6.70.
3/8" bolts: 4 × $0.35 × 50 = $70.00, no scrap.
Labor
from your routing and station rates
$532.08for 50 brackets
Each step's setup once, plus run minutes for every part, at that workstation's hourly rate.
Laser cut · step 1 of 3
- 15msetup, onceRouting
- +2m × 50run, per bracketRouting
- =115mon the laser
- ×$95.00/hrLaser rateWorkstation
- =$182.08laser cut
Setup is counted once per job and run minutes once per part, each at the hourly rate you set on that workstation. So setup is a number on the step, not a guess you pad.
Brake form $140.00 and weld and finish $210.00 work the same way.
Price
cost, plus your % on top
$1,231.99for 50 brackets
Your % goes on top of cost.
50 brackets at 30%
- $947.68materials + laborCost
- ×1.30your 30% on topQuote
- =$1,231.99$24.64 each
The quote screen labels it Margin %. It goes on top of cost, so 30% means 1.30 times cost, not 30% of the price. If you set prices by margin, the markup calculator shows markup and margin side by side.
Outside operations add $0.00
A routing step with no workstation, like plating you send out, carries no labor on the quote. Price those yourself and allow for them in your % or in the number you give the customer.
Reopen an old quote and it prices at today's steel
A draft or sent quote keeps the item, the quantity and your %, not a price, so it prices at today's costs, not last spring's. If costs move after you've given the customer a number, open the quote and check the price before you accept it. Once accepted, the order holds the price each.
Worked unrounded and shown to the cent, so a hand check can land a cent off.
When they say yes, it's already an order
On a spreadsheet the quote ends at the price, and the yes gets typed into an order by hand. In TrackFinch the quote is the first step of the job: when the customer says yes, the item, the quantity and the price each carry straight into an order your shop can plan from.
Sample job · BRK-210 Mounting bracket · 50 brackets at 30%
Send marks it sent
Hit Send and the quote is marked sent, so it shows under Sent on your quotes list and you can see which ones are out with customers. TrackFinch doesn't email it or make a PDF. You get the price to your customer the way you do now: a call, an email, your own quote form.
Q-0012sent50× Mounting bracket · your customer
Price$1,231.99$24.64 eachDeclineAccept → orderAccept makes it a sales order
When they say yes, Accept turns the quote into a confirmed sales order (SO): the same 50 brackets at the quote's price on the day you accept (in the sample, $24.64 each), due in 14 days unless you change the date. From then on the order holds that price. The quote links to the order. If they pass, Decline closes the quote for good.
SO-0031confirmedBRK-210Mounting bracket×50$24.64Q-0012acceptedView SO-0031Planning shows what you're short
The open order goes into TrackFinch's production planning, which sets it against your stock and shows what you're short. From each row you plan the work order (WO) for the brackets or draft a purchase order (PO) for the parts you buy. A planned work order goes straight onto your crew's phones, due first at the top, in TrackFinch's shop floor management software. Quote, order, plan: that's the shop side of ERP for small manufacturers, in one system.
PlanningSteel blanks: enough on handBRK-210Mounting bracketfor open ordersshort 50Plan WO ×50HW-03753/8" boltbracket componentshort 200Draft PO ×200
Every quote stays on file
Each quote shows on that customer's record, and all of them sit in one list. Filter by draft, sent, accepted or declined, search by quote number, item or customer, and see cost and price on every row. When they want last spring's bracket again, one search finds the quote, already repriced at today's costs. If they accepted it back then, its order still holds the price you sold at.
What it takes to send your first quote
Four steps, and most of what they ask for is already on your quote sheet. You don't have to load the whole shop first. Set up one part you quote all the time, price it, and add the rest as jobs come in.
Add your parts and what they cost
The material and hardware in the job, each with its unit cost, or import the CSV you already keep. They're the same parts TrackFinch's manufacturing inventory runs on, so receiving a PO at a new price updates the cost.
ItemsImport CSVSTL-10GA10-gauge steel blank$6.40HW-03753/8" bolt$0.35Add your workstations and an hourly rate
One for each place the work happens: the laser, the press brake, the weld bay. Give each one an hourly rate. Your one shop rate on all of them works, or set a rate per machine.
WorkstationsLaser$95.00/hrPress brake$70.00/hrWeld bay$60.00/hrGive the product a BOM with its steps
List the parts in one unit, with a scrap % where you lose material. Then the routing: each step, its workstation, setup minutes once and run minutes per part. New to BOMs? Here's what a bill of materials is, and a costed bill of materials example to copy.
BOM · BRK-210STL-10GA10-gauge steel blank×1 · 8%HW-03753/8" bolt×4Routing1 · LaserLaser cutsetup 15mrun 2m+ 2 more stepsNew Quote: pick the item, quantity and markup
Click New Quote, pick the item, enter the quantity, and put your % on top of cost in the Margin % box (it starts at 30). TrackFinch prices it from steps 1 to 3.
New quoteItemMounting bracketBRK-210Quantity50Margin %30Price$1,231.99$24.64 each
Sample job · BRK-210 Mounting bracket · 50 brackets at 30%
A part you've never made? The BOM is the estimate.
You'd work out the material and the minutes to quote it anyway. Here you write them down once, as its BOM, and they're there the next time that part comes up.
Nothing to buy before step 1
TrackFinch is free: every module, the whole team, no card. The details are on TrackFinch's pricing page.
Where TrackFinch stops
Better you hear it here than after an afternoon of setup. This is what TrackFinch doesn't do, and what you'd do instead.
When another tool fits better
If you quote dozens of one-off CNC or sheet metal RFQs a week from customers' part files, a CAD-quoting tool is the better fit. It reads the geometry. TrackFinch doesn't.
If most of your quotes are parts you've made before, at new quantities, that's the job TrackFinch is built for.
It doesn't read CAD files or drawings
No upload, no geometry. You enter the parts and minutes once, as the item's BOM, and every quote for that item prices from it.
It isn't a CPQ configurator
No options, no pricing rules, no product builder. It prices the BOM you built for that item.
One item per quote
A product with sub-parts is one item with its BOM. Two different parts are two quotes.
No PDF, email or customer portal
Send marks the quote sent in TrackFinch. You get the price to your customer the way you do now.
No tax or shipping lines
The price is materials, labor and your % on top. Add tax and freight on your own paperwork, as you do today.
Outside work adds nothing
A step you send out, like plating or powder coat, has no workstation, so it adds $0.00 labor. Allow for it in your % or add it to the number you give the customer.
No integrations
It doesn't sync with QuickBooks, Xero or another system. You can export your data, quotes included, as CSV files.
Questions shop owners ask about quoting software
The short answers, before you set up your first part.
Does it read my drawings, like the CAD-upload quoting sites?
No. It prices from the BOM you build for each item: its parts with their scrap %, and the setup and run minutes on each routing step. That suits a shop quoting parts it has made before, at new quantities.
Where do the numbers come from, and will they be right?
From numbers you already set yourself. Each part's cost plus its scrap %, each step's setup and run minutes at that workstation's hourly rate, then your % on top of cost; receive a purchase order at a new price and the part's cost moves to a weighted average. They're as right as what you enter, and the quote breaks out materials and each step's labor so you can check every line.
Can I send the quote to my customer from it?
Not from the app. Send marks the quote sent in TrackFinch; there's no email, PDF or customer portal, so you get the price to your customer the way you do now. When they say yes, Accept turns the quote into a sales order at the quote's price that day, and the order keeps that price from then on.
What does it cost? Is there a catch or a sales call?
Nothing. TrackFinch is free: every module, the whole team, no card. It's free because we're building it with our first shops, and right now your feedback on real jobs is worth more to us than your card. Signing up is one short form (name, email and shop) and a confirmation email, with no call to book first.
How much setup before I can send my first quote?
Less than you'd think, since most of it is on your quote sheet already. Add your parts with their costs (or import a CSV), your workstations with an hourly rate, and a BOM with its routing for the item, then click New Quote. Start with one part you quote often; you don't have to load the whole shop first.
Is TrackFinch manufacturing CPQ software?
No. CPQ stands for configure, price, quote: you or your buyer pick options like size, material and finish, and set rules work out the price of that combination. TrackFinch has no options, rules or configurator; it prices the BOM you built for the item.
Runs on the same ledger.
Everything in TrackFinch shares one source of truth — start anywhere, the rest is already connected.
Put your next quote on real numbers.
TrackFinch is free quoting software for manufacturing. Set up one part you quote often, price your next job today, and when they say yes, it's already an order.
Free · Every module · No card needed