Comparing three subcontracting quotes without getting it wrong

A marked price gap between two quotes almost never means that one of the workshops is “wrong”. Offers differ in what they include, in the assumptions made, in how fixed costs are presented, in the lead time promised and in the delivery terms. Comparing means first bringing the three proposals to the same scope. The price comes afterwards.

The method comes down to four steps: record, normalise, work out the full cost, then weight the non-financial criteria. It assumes that the three workshops received the same package: see the manufacturing specification.

Fill in this grid for each workshop, with the same rigour: an empty box signals a question to ask, not a detail to guess.

The following example is fictional: it shows the method, not market prices. You request 200 surface-treated, deburred parts with a 3.1 material certificate, delivered to you. Three workshops reply; after your questions, the missing items appear.

The ranking is reversed: the workshop that looked cheapest at first reading comes second, and the gap between B and C becomes small, around 1.5%. Lead time, quality and risk then decide. The offer that looks cheapest at first reading can also be the riskiest: a low price without a certificate or deburring leaves those costs, or defects on receipt, with you. To gauge the weight of fixed costs, ask for prices for several quantities: see the price of CNC machining.

Lead time. A lead time of “four weeks” means nothing as long as its starting point is unknown: order, drawing approval, receipt of the material or approval of the first article? On Meaflow, the lead time of a quote is expressed in days between order confirmation and delivery: check that the workshop understands it that way.

Terms. Offer validity period, deposit, payment term, late-delivery penalties, ownership of tooling and drawings, confidentiality.

Incoterm. Incoterms, the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (2020 version), allocate transport, risk and formalities between seller and buyer. They do not settle the price, the quality or the transfer of ownership.

• EXW (Ex Works): you arrange and pay for transport, and the risk passes to you as soon as the goods are made available to you at the workshop.
• FCA: the workshop hands the goods to your carrier, at an agreed place.
• DAP: the workshop delivers to the agreed address, before unloading; import duties remain at your expense.
• DDP: the workshop also bears import duties and formalities.

Between French workshops, people often write “franco” or “ex-workshop” rather than an Incoterm: simply ask who pays for transport and who bears the risk in case of breakage. If a workshop is based outside the European Union, compare on delivered prices, including import duties and VAT.

1. A unit price without fixed costs. “Does this price include programming and fixtures?”
2. A quantity different from the one requested. “Can you quote exactly 200 parts, then 100 and 500?”
3. An equivalent material or grade, not flagged. “Which exact grade, with which certificate?”
4. Relaxed tolerances or surface finishes. “Have you quoted the tolerances on the drawing, dimension by dimension?”
5. Treatments or finishes excluded. “Who carries out the treatment, and at what cost per part?”
6. An offer with a short or expired validity. “Does this price remain valid until my decision?” Meaflow’s comparison page shows “Expired” when the validity has lapsed.
7. Cascading subcontracting. “Which operations do you subcontract, and to whom?”

An offer markedly lower than the others deserves an explanation before being rejected or accepted: it may rest on a misunderstanding of the drawing or on a reduced scope.

Once prices have been brought to the same scope, you still have to weigh what the figure does not tell you: lead time, quality, risk, relationship. Assign a weight to each criterion according to your project, score each workshop from 1 to 5, multiply, then add up. A critical part will put more weight on quality and certifications, an urgent job on lead time, a recurring need on the workshop’s ability to keep up a rhythm.

Keep the completed grid: it justifies your choice internally and serves as the basis for the order. Then confirm in writing what has been agreed (drawing reference and revision, quantity, price, lead time and its starting point, delivery terms, quality documents).

On Meaflow, you post a request, suppliers reply with a quote, and you compare them on a page reserved for the author of the request. It opens from the request (“View quotes”) or from the “Quotes received” tab of the dashboard. Each quote is visible only to you and its author: each workshop prices without knowing the other offers.

• Cards or comparison table, as you prefer, sorted by lowest price, shortest lead time, best rated or most recent.
• For each quote: price excl. VAT, total or unit (a unit price is converted into an estimated total from the quantity in the request, when it is filled in), lead time, validity period, rating from reviews, “Verified company” badge, message and attachments, including the detailed quote.
• Badges “Best price”, “Fastest” and “Best rated”: they identify the best value among the active quotes, nothing more. They say nothing about scope.
• Position against your budget, “Within budget” or “Over budget”, if the request states a maximum budget.
• A summary at the top of the page: number of active quotes, price range, lead-time range.

The “Verified company” badge indicates that the Meaflow team has checked the company’s SIRET number (the French company registration number); it does not replace checking certifications or references. A quote consists of a price, a lead time, a validity period, a message and attachments: assumptions, fixed costs and Incoterm are read in the message and the attached quote, and requested through the messaging system if they are missing.

The “Discuss” button opens a conversation with the workshop, linked to the request. While a quote is pending, the workshop can edit it; the public questions asked on the request and your answers are visible to all suppliers, which aligns their pricing bases.

“Accept this quote” notifies the chosen workshop and declines the other pending quotes, whose authors are informed; you can then cancel this choice, and the request reopens. Declining a quote, on the other hand, is final: clear up your doubts first.

• The same files for everyone, with the same drawing revision.
• Quantities by price break and a reference quantity for the comparison.
• The exact material, the certificate, the tolerances, the treatments and the finishes (deburring, marking).
• What the price must include: transport, packaging, quality documents, with the delivery location or the Incoterm you want.
• The starting point of the lead time, the delivery date you want and the deadline for replies.
• A separate presentation of fixed costs and unit price, with the assumptions and exclusions.

The specification generator helps you leave nothing out, and the glossary explains what a request for quotation is. Once prices have been brought to the same scope, weight the non-financial criteria with the grid in the guide choosing an industrial subcontractor. Ready to compare? Post your request: it is free and commission-free. To discover the trades available, browse the areas of expertise.