MetalQuote · Machine hour rate calculator
Most small shops set their hourly rate on gut feel and quietly lose margin on every job. This works it out properly: depreciation, energy, floor space and overhead in one honest number.
Built by someone who quotes welded steel structures for a living — not a generic template shop. The full quoting app is coming; this piece is free, forever.
Estimate only — a planning tool, not accounting advice. Uses straight-line depreciation and counts energy against productive hours.
A quoting tool is only worth anything if you understand what it does. No black box. Here is the whole method.
Depreciation, energy while running, maintenance, floor space and a share of shop overhead — the costs the machine has to cover before it makes you a cent.
Available hours × utilisation. This is where most gut-feel rates go wrong: they divide by hours the machine is switched on, not the hours it's earning.
Cost per hour plus a loaded operator gives break-even. Your target margin turns that into the rate you should actually put on the quote.
MetalQuote will price a whole fabrication job — cutting, welding, coating, material, margin — in minutes, built for shops too small for enterprise ERP quoting. Join the early list and you'll get it first.
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