Why a structured quote estimate matters
Underquoting a job because a cost got left out, or overquoting because margin was tacked onto an already-padded number, both cost a shop money: one on the job itself, the other on winning the work in the first place. Breaking a quote into material, machine time, and tooling before applying a single overhead and margin percentage keeps every quote built the same repeatable way.
How the numbers are calculated
Base cost per part is simply the sum of material cost, machine time cost, and tooling cost per part. Quoted price per part takes that base cost and multiplies it by one plus your overhead and margin percentage, so a base cost of 20 dollars with a 40 percent overhead and margin figure quotes out at 28 dollars per part.
Practical tips
Machine time cost should reflect your actual shop rate multiplied by cycle time, not just an estimate, since this is usually the largest and most variable of the three cost inputs. Revisit the overhead and margin percentage periodically rather than treating it as fixed forever, since shop rates, material prices, and competitive pressure all shift over time and a stale margin number quietly erodes profitability on every job quoted with it.