The quote updates as you draw. The Quote tab of the Takeoff sums it up, and Open full quote table lists every part line by line. The browser and the server use the same formulas, so the total you see while drawing is the total stored with the estimate and shown in the estimate list.
The Quote tab#
At the top: the Price and the Total area, then the price split into Material, Cutting and Printing, then your Cost, Margin and Margin %.
Warnings follow when something is missing: parts with no scale aren't in the total, and parts with no material aren't priced. Fix jumps to the Parts tab.
By material lists each material group, most expensive first:
- the pieces and the material used;
- how it was priced: "Nested — 35.4 ft × 54″ roll", or "Area + 10 % waste" when it isn't nested;
- the group's price and cost;
- a Cutting line with its time and price, when the group is cut;
- a Printing line with its time, print mode and price, when the material is printed.
Where each number comes from#
Material, priced by area (no up-to-date nest):
- net area = area of each part × quantity;
- area used = net area × (1 + waste %);
- price = area used × the material's sell price per ft² or m²; cost the same with its cost.
Material, nested (an up-to-date nest): area used = roll width × length used, priced the same way, with no waste percentage. Each part line gets a share in proportion to its net area. See Nesting and yield.
Board, box blanks (boxes on the Blanks route): board used = the blank's rectangle × quantity × (1 + waste %), priced per 1,000 ft², ft² or m² of the made-to-size board, with no printing or cutting lines. See Cartons and boxes.
Boxes planned on their own (cartons on Offset or die-cut, corrugated on the flexo folder-gluer or die-cut): the box's steps are worked out backwards from the quantity, each machine adding its run and setup waste: folder-gluer blanks, then die-cut sheets (blanks ÷ ups), then the sheets printed with the press's makeready and spoilage. Each step is priced as setup + run time on its machine (plus its consumable), never less than its minimum; the board is the sheets printed (or the MSF made to size) × its price, and finishing follows the sheets or boxes. A die or plates billed separately are their own one-off row. See the worked examples in Cartons and boxes.
Printing (printed materials with a printer): the group's area used, printed in the chosen mode (the printer's default mode unless you picked one on the production card):
- time = setup + area ÷ mode speed × efficiency factor (+ board handling on flatbed and hybrid printers);
- cost = hours × hourly cost + m² × ink cost;
- price = the larger of the minimum charge and hours × hourly rate + m² × ink price.
See Printers.
Cutting (nested groups with a cutter): the estimated cut time of the nest, cost = hours × hourly cost, price = the larger of the minimum charge and hours × hourly rate. See Cut time.
Printing both sides (roll parts): a part printed on two sides counts its share of the area used twice, and a part marked as not printed isn't counted, so the printer's setup is charged once for the whole group.
Line totals: each group's amounts are rounded to the cent, then shared out over its parts in proportion to their material and area, so the part lines always add up to the group to the cent (a leftover cent goes to the part that is higher in the list). Each part's own finishing is added to its line.
Finishing on a part is priced per operation: its setup price plus its units × the price per unit, never less than the operation's minimum charge (cost the same, without the minimum). The units follow the operation's pricing: per piece, per 1,000, per ft² or m² of the parts, per linear ft or m of their edges, per each (for example one grommet every 24 in of edge, at least 4) or once per job.
A price you type on a part replaces its computed price (the difference shows as an override, and your cost stays as computed). A part that can't be priced yet (no scale or no material) can still take a typed price; its cost is then unknown and counts as 0 in the margin.
Rounding and minimum: when the estimate rounds prices up to $1, $5 or $10, each line total that isn't a typed price is rounded up; a minimum order price tops the total up to that amount. One-off tooling is never rounded and counts toward the minimum.
Totals: price = the line totals (material, cutting, printing, finishing, typed prices and rounding) + one-off tooling billed separately + any minimum top-up; cost = the lines' costs; margin = price − cost; margin % = margin ÷ price. Every amount is worked out to the cent, the same way in your browser and on the server.
Tooling rows#
A box's die is one row under its line: "Cutting die on hand: D-2001 (6-up), no charge" when a die on hand is used, or "New cutting die, 8-up" with its price. Billed separately it is a one-off counted in the total; included, it is inside the price each (see Cartons and boxes). Under a die row, staff also see the other choice the box had, for example "vs new 8-up die: +446.29 all-in" (a new die would cost that much more, line and die together) or, at a larger quantity, "vs new 8-up die: −324.65 all-in" (it would save that much). The difference is in cost; staff who can't see costs see it in price. That line is advice for you only: it never reaches the customer's quote, and the quote uses the die the box's die policy picked (see Cartons and boxes). When the die used belongs to this customer, the row also reads "customer already paid for this die". A die on hand reads "no charge" only when nothing is added at that quantity; a missing stripping or blanking tool or a re-rule shows its price, or asks for the rate card when there is none. The one-off row is the box's main quantity; a quantity alternate that needs more (a re-rule once its run passes the die's life, wear) has the difference in its own price. A customer's quote shows only "One-off: cutting die" and its price.
The full quote table#
The table lists every part: its preview, name, material, scale, width, height, area each, quantity, total area, waste, material usage, unit price and line total (the whole line: material, production, finishing or a hand price). Parts are grouped by route and material with a subtotal, and the groups' cutting and printing lines follow; custom lines and parts without a size come last under Other lines. The footer has the material, cutting and printing totals, the total area, your cost and margin, and the Total price.
- Copy CSV opens a menu. See Reading the quote.
- Print prints it.
Copy CSV#
Copy CSV on the Quote tab, and the same control on the full quote table, opens a small menu.
Copy parts is the full table: one row per part, then each group's cutting line, printing line and subtotal, then the totals. With the default columns this is the same file Copy CSV used to write: Part, Material, Scale, Width, Height, Area each, Qty, Total area, Waste %, Material usage, Usage unit, Unit price, Line total and Notes. Width, height and area use the estimate's units (inches and ft², or millimetres and m²).
Copy materials only is one row per material. It does not list the parts, and it does not add cutting or printing unless that work is already a material row. The quantity is the material used after nesting when the group is nested: the roll area the nest consumes, in the unit that material is sold in (ft², m², per 1,000 ft² or per 1,000 in²). When the group is not nested, the quantity is the same area the quote already uses for that material (the parts' area plus waste, or the sheets the plan used). The default columns are Material, Quantity, Unit, Unit price and Line total. Unit price is the material's sell price. Line total is the material's extended price, not the cutting or printing on top of it.
Unit price and Line total are left out of either copy when you can't see prices.
Which columns are copied#
Settings on the Estimating page is where the shop chooses the columns, separately for Copy parts and Copy materials only. The list is the real quote columns: part name, material, quantity, unit, unit price, external id, and the columns the part copy already writes (scale, width, height, area, waste, material usage, line total, notes). A team that has never chosen keeps the defaults above, so the copy is not empty. Columns are written in the order shown on that page. There is no formula language: a column is either included or not.
When the quote changes#
The quote follows your edits at once. It is also re-priced when a material's price, waste or settings change, when a printer or cutter's rates or speeds change, and when the team's default printer or cutter changes. A box is planned again when the estimate's customer or the tooling settings change, or when the die it uses is retired or archived.
What customers see#
A customer opening a designer link sees the sell prices only if the link allows it, and never your costs, margins, machine rates, plans or ups; a separate die or plate is a "One-off" row with its price only. See Designer links for customers and staff.