RFQ and quote automation
Draft quotes in minutes, priced from your own job history.
Estimators spend days reading specs and digging through spreadsheets to price a job. We read each RFQ, pull up similar jobs you have done, apply current material costs, and hand your estimator a draft quote to check and send.
Example: a familiar bracket in a new size
What comes in
- From
- Buyer at an equipment maker
- Part
- Welded bracket, 3/16 in. A36 steel
- Quantity
- 250
- Quote due
- Friday
What your team seesSample data
- Read the RFQ and spec sheet: material, finish, tolerances
- Found 3 similar brackets quoted in the last 18 months
- Material priced from this week's steel price list
- Needs a look: Powder coat color not on file. Confirm finish cost with your coater
Draft quote ready for your estimator, with the three comparable jobs attached.
Names and numbers in this example are made up for illustration.
How it works
Read the RFQ
RFQs arrive by email or portal with specs, quantities, materials, tolerances and due dates. All of it is pulled out and organized.
Find similar past jobs
Your past quotes and job costs are searched for parts with similar material, size, operations and quantity.
Price it with current costs
Material is priced from your current supplier prices, and labor and machine time are estimated from what similar jobs actually took.
Your estimator reviews and sends
Your estimator gets a draft quote with the comparable jobs shown side by side, adjusts what needs adjusting, and sends it.
Slow quotes lose work
For a job shop or contract manufacturer, quoting is where work is won or lost. Buyers send the same RFQ to several shops, and the first credible quote often gets the order. Yet most quotes still start from scratch: read the spec, work out material and operations, look up what a similar part cost last time, check current material prices, build the number.
That knowledge usually lives in one or two people's heads and a pile of old spreadsheets. When they're busy or out, quotes wait. When they're rushed, margins slip because a cost got missed.
The goal isn't to replace your estimator's judgment. It's to get them to the judgment part faster.
What we need from you
Your past quotes and, if you have them, actual job costs. Spreadsheets are fine. The more history there is, the better the drafts get, and your estimator can see exactly which past jobs each number came from.
Common questions
Will it set our prices for us?
No. It drafts a quote using your own history and current costs. Your estimator decides the final price and sends it.
What parts of an RFQ can it read?
The written parts: specs, notes, quantities, materials, finishes and due dates. Anything it can't determine is left blank and flagged for your estimator instead of guessed.
What if we don't have clean job cost data?
That's common. We start with your past quotes and whatever cost records you have, and the drafts improve as more jobs run through.
Does it send quotes to customers?
No. Nothing goes out to a customer until your estimator approves it.
How long is the pilot?
2 to 3 weeks, using real RFQs you have received, so you can compare the drafts to the quotes your team actually sent.
More we take off your plate
Book your free workflow audit.
30 minutes, no cost. We'll find where your team's hours go and tell you honestly whether automation pays off, even if the answer is no.