Pricing check

[M-fab]

Hello all

I am new to this whole plasma cutting thing and have been reading through this forum in great depth to learn everything I can. I have essentially run into two different pricing structures on here. Jim colts pricing and the spreadsheet provided by Walker Mfg. Jims pricing structure seems way way cheaper and I am not really sure how to justify the two.

I have a job that rolled into the shop to price out 220 different parts for structural bracing. Here is one of the parts that has to be cut, there are 10 different designs 22 of each 1/4" steel provided by the customer. I come out to 19 pierces and roughly 130 inches of cut for this particular part. When I run walkers spreadsheet that comes out to $27.90 for the cutting. Does this seem fair?

[mdwalker]

A couple of things to consider on the pricing. The spreadsheet allows for you to adjust the price per inch cut to reflect the market conditions in your area. In my area with current market conditions that price would be close to what I would go with. If it was a customer that has the potential to become a repeat customer I may discount a little more. You also have to consider the competition in your area. As far as the customer supplying the material, have a clear understanding of what type of material they will be supplying. Is it full new sheets? Is it drops of various sizes? Is it clean and smooth or rusty and warped? All of these factors can add time and headaches to a job. If it was my customer I would tell him the price quoted is for them supplying full sheets of material in new or like new condition. The spreadsheet should get you in the ballpark but there is still room to negotiate if needed.
Danny Walker
Walker Mfg.

[M-fab]

Thanks for the reply Danny. To clarify a few things this is for a large structural steel erection company here in the Orlando area, they will be providing new sheets delivered to my shop since they receive much cheaper pricing on steel than me due to the quantities they purchase. Consequently they are also a good potential candidate for being a repeat customer.

As far as market conditions are concerned I'm sure there is plenty of competition locally given the size of the city but I am not quite sure how that translates to pricing locally. Yes, I could send these parts out to someone else to quote for a price check but I really don't want to waste someone else's time and money as I hate when that is done to me.

I have a forklift and have set my new plasma table up to be as simple to use as possible with an electric beam rolling hoist and lifting magnets so hopefully I can capture a market share of smaller production runs that the huge shops in town don't want to do.

[DesertFabworks]

In the picture that you show above what would the Total Length and total width be?, I want to plug it into to my system and see what it would be.

[gsi]

I don't have that pricing spreadsheet but I came up with the same exact pricing for those parts. I've done a lot of extremely similar parts for beam tie connectors. That pricing is about right for this area. I don't think I'd give a big discount on these. They are supplying material so you aren't making anything on it.

Another thing to think about, are you dealing with getting the dross off of the parts or are they as cut off the table?