PCB Quote Preparation: Building a Price
Quote preparation is the point where engineering data becomes a commercial promise. A quotation states a price, a quantity, a lead time and a set of assumptions, and every one of those has to be defensible a month later when the order arrives and the material has moved. The shops that quote well are not the ones with the cleverest pricing formula; they are the ones that capture the right inputs, write the assumptions down, and keep the arithmetic simple enough that anyone can check it.
What a Quote Must Carry
A quotation carries more than a number. It carries the quantity and the price breaks, the material and finish assumed, the layer count and the board thickness, the panel size if the customer supplied the outline, the test method, the lead time and the validity period. Each of those is an assumption that changes the cost, and leaving one out transfers the risk to the shop in a way that only becomes visible when the order is placed.
The assumptions should be written on the quotation in plain language rather than buried in terms. If the price is based on a standard finish and the customer later asks for a different one, the note is what allows a revised figure to be offered without an argument. Written assumptions also protect the customer, because they show exactly what has been priced and what has not, which is more useful than a single figure that hides its own basis. A quotation that states its basis can be revised quickly when something changes, and a revision offered early is far cheaper than a dispute settled late.
Inputs Before Pricing
The quotation needs a package of data before any board pricing can start: the gerber or ODB++ data, the stackup, the material, the finish, the tolerance callouts, the quantity with its delivery schedule, and the test requirement. Missing data has to be requested rather than assumed, because an assumption that is wrong is discovered after the tooling is ordered, and by then the correction costs far more than the question would have.
The data should also be checked for manufacturability at this stage. A feature smaller than the shop can produce, an aspect ratio beyond the plating capability, or a finish that requires an outside process will all change the quotation, and finding that out during quoting is much cheaper than finding it out during production. A short checklist applied to every package keeps this consistent.
Building the Cost Breakdown
A cost breakdown has a small number of lines: material, fabrication process, tooling and setup, test, assembly if applicable, and overhead with margin. The lines are calculated separately because they behave differently with volume. Tooling is charged once, material scales with area and quantity, process time scales with panels, and overhead is applied as a rate on the total.
Keeping the breakdown in this form makes the quotation explainable. When a customer asks why a small quantity costs so much more, the answer is in the fixed lines, and the discussion moves from a negotiation about the number to a conversation about quantity and scheduling. That is a much more productive conversation, and it usually ends with a better order for both sides. A clear price build up also shortens the negotiation, because the customer can see which line changes when the quantity or the specification changes and can argue about the assumption rather than about the total.
Volume and Price Breaks
Price breaks exist because the fixed costs are divided by the quantity. The break points should follow the shop’s own cost structure rather than a habit of quoting at one hundred, five hundred and a thousand pieces, because a break that does not correspond to a real step in tooling or setup gives away margin without changing the customer’s behaviour.
The material also has a purchasing dimension. A quantity that uses a whole sheet of laminate or a whole panel without waste is cheaper per board than a quantity that leaves offcuts, so the breaks should be placed where the material utilisation improves. Showing two or three meaningful breaks is more effective than a long table, because the customer can see the logic and choose deliberately rather than guessing which line is intended.
Errors That Cost Money
The most expensive quoting error is a missing assumption. A price built on the assumption of a standard finish and a standard tolerance, quoted without saying so, will be read as a commitment to whatever the drawing shows. The second most expensive is an unchecked stackup, because the material may not exist in the thickness required or may only be available in a size that wastes panel area.
Currency and material movements are the third recurring source of loss, especially on quotations with a long validity. Copper and laminate prices move, so a validity period shorter than the production lead time protects the shop, and a longer one has to carry a risk premium. Recording every quotation, won or lost, with the assumptions used, is what allows these errors to be found and the cost reduction effort to be aimed at the right line.
Records and Follow Up
A quotation log is a commercial asset. It shows which customers are asking for what, which features drive the enquiries, and where the shop wins and loses. When the log is kept with the board data and the fabrication notes, a future order for the same board can be quoted in minutes rather than rebuilt from the gerbers.
Follow up matters as much as the arithmetic. A quotation that is not followed up teaches nothing about whether the price or the lead time was the obstacle, and the customer’s answer is the fastest market research available. Recording the outcome and the reason, even briefly, turns quoting from a chore into a source of information about quality expectations and price sensitivity.
Practical Rules
Get the data before the price, write the assumptions on the quotation, and keep the breakdown in a form that can be explained line by line. Set price breaks where the cost actually steps, and keep the validity period shorter than the exposure to material movement.
Log every quotation with its outcome, and review the log monthly for patterns. The purpose of systematic quote preparation is to make the price defensible and repeatable, so that the same board quoted twice by two people produces a similar answer and the shop can tell, with evidence, which enquiries are worth pursuing. The log is also the only way to know whether a lost order was lost on price, on lead time or on a capability the shop does not have, and each of those points in a different direction.
FAQ
How long should a quotation stay valid? Long enough to be useful and short enough to cover material movement. Thirty days suits most board work, and longer periods should carry a risk premium.
Why do small quantities cost so much more? Because tooling, artwork and setup are fixed. Dividing those costs across a small quantity raises the unit price sharply.
Should every enquiry be quoted? Not necessarily. Checking manufacturability first avoids quoting work the shop cannot build, which protects time and reputation.
