How to price a sheet metal job
A cutting price comes down to four things: the material, the machine time, the handling, and what you add on top. Here is a real job worked through from start to finish, then a calculator to do your own.
The four parts of the price
Material
What the sheets cost you, plus your markup. Work it out from the sheets the job really needs, not the area of the parts.
Machine time
The cut length divided by your cutting speed, plus a pierce for every part, every hole and every cut-out.
Handling
Loading each sheet, clearing the parts, deburring and stacking. It is easy to forget and it adds up on jobs with lots of small parts.
Your rate
Machine time and handling are charged at an hourly rate that covers what the machine costs you to run, plus a profit.
A worked example
42 parts in mild steel on 2500×1250mm sheets at £95 a sheet: 6 covers at 600×400, 12 brackets at 300×200, 4 base plates at 450×450 and 20 gussets at 150×150. The rates: 4 m/min cutting speed, 2 seconds a pierce, 5 minutes to load a sheet, £60 an hour, 20% on material.
- Material. Nested with a 4mm gap the parts need 2 sheets. 2 × £95 = £190, plus 20% = £228.00.
- Cutting. The outlines add up to 43.2m. At 4 m/min that is 10.8 minutes, and 42 pierces at 2 seconds is 1.4 minutes more: 12.2 minutes. At £60 an hour, £1 a minute, that is £12.20.
- Loading. 2 sheets at 5 minutes is 10 minutes: £10.00.
- Job price. £228.00 + £12.20 + £10.00 = £250.20 before VAT.
For a price per part, each part takes its share of the material by area, its own cutting time and a share of the loading. A 600×400 cover is 0.24m² of the 3.42m² of parts, so 7% of the £228 material: £16.00. Its 2m of outline and one pierce take about half a minute, 53p, and its share of the loading is 24p. £16.77 each.
On thin sheet like this the material is most of the price, which is why the sheet count matters so much. On small, detailed parts or thick plate it swings the other way, and the cutting time and pierces take over.
Price your own job
The worked example is already filled in. Change the sheet, the rates or the parts.
Working out your machine rate
Add up what the machine costs you over a year: the finance or what it loses in value, servicing, power and gas, consumables, and its share of the rent. Divide that by the hours it actually cuts in a year, not the hours the shop is open. Then add the profit you want on top.
If an operator’s time is not in that rate, charge it separately for handling, or the jobs with lots of small parts will lose money without you noticing.
Things that catch people out
Ordering by area
The total area of the parts divided by the area of a sheet was too few sheets on more than 1 job in 5 in our 1,000-job test. See how many sheets do I need?
Holes and cut-outs
Each one adds cut length and a pierce. A part with twenty holes has twenty-one pierces.
Small jobs
Loading, setting up and programming cost the same for one part as for a hundred. A minimum charge or a setup fee covers it.
Grain on brushed sheet
Parts that can’t turn may need another sheet. Price it before you promise it.
Questions
Try it on your own job
Free, in your browser, no account. Your cut list stays on your computer.