How to write a machine frame RFQ that gets a real quote

Most slow quotes are not a shop being difficult. They are a shop waiting for an answer to a question your RFQ never asked. Every field missing from a request gets filled in with an assumption, and a shop protects itself against its own assumption by quoting high. The fix is not a better shop — it is a more complete first email.

This is every field a machine frame RFQ needs, why it moves the number, and a template at the end you can copy directly. For what comes before and after the RFQ, see our guide to machine frame fabrication sourcing.

Why an incomplete RFQ costs you money, not just time

A shop pricing a weldment is really pricing risk. Material it has to source instead of pull from stock, a tolerance it has to guess the intent of, a quantity that might be one piece or might be the first of fifty — each unknown gets a margin added to cover the shop if the real answer turns out worse than assumed.

Send the full picture and the margin for uncertainty comes out of the price. This is the same mechanism covered in more depth in what drives the price of a machine frame quote; an RFQ is where you either supply that information or force the shop to price around its absence.

The fields, and what each one changes

Drawing file. A STEP or PDF with real dimensions, not a photo of a sketch or a reference to “similar to our current part.” A shop cannot quote geometry it has to reconstruct from a description.

Material and form. Grade, temper if applicable, and whether it starts as plate, bar or casting. State “or equivalent” if a local substitute is acceptable — see steel grades for machine frames for what actually varies between a Q345 plate and an A572 Grade 50 plate beyond the name.

Which features are critical. Not every dimension needs a tight tolerance, and marking none of them tight is as expensive as marking all of them tight — the shop assumes the stricter reading either way. Name the mounting faces, bolt patterns and mating surfaces that matter, with the datum each is measured from.

Welding standard, if one applies. AWS D1.1, ISO 3834, EN 1090 or none — each changes which shops can even quote the job and what documentation ships with it. The standards reference compares them by typical buyer.

Stress relief requirement. Thermal, vibratory, or none. If you have not decided, say so and ask the shop to recommend one based on the tolerance you need held after machining.

Surface treatment. A coating spec, a plating callout, or “as machined.” Silence here does not mean no coating — it means the shop guesses, and guesses are usually wrong in the direction of extra cost.

Quantity now, and expected annual usage. A single prototype and the first of a fifty-unit annual order are priced differently even at the same unit quantity today, because tooling and fixturing amortise across the second number, not the first.

NDT scope. Which joints, which method, what sample percentage. “NDT as required” is not a specification — it gets quoted at whatever the shop assumes is the minimum defensible scope. The NDT methods table states what each method actually finds.

Inspection documents. First article report, dimensional report, mill certificate, certificate of conformity — name the ones you will actually read. Each one is real work for the shop and a real cost line in the quote.

Weight and envelope. Overall size and mass per piece, stated even when it is on the drawing, because it decides handling, crating and whether the shipment is a standard container or breakbulk.

Date parts are needed, and the destination. A calendar date the shop can plan against, not “as soon as possible” — and the country, port or address, since that decides the Incoterm conversation before it starts.

Preferred Incoterm. EXW, FOB or DAP change the quoted number by a meaningful fraction for the same part, because they move different cost blocks inside or outside the price. See shipping heavy weldments: crating and Incoterms for what each term actually shifts.

A template you can copy

Part: [name / drawing number]
Drawing: [STEP/PDF attached]
Material: [grade, form — plate/bar/casting — "or equivalent" if open]
Critical features: [list, with datum for each]
Welding standard: [AWS D1.1 / ISO 3834 / EN 1090 / none]
Stress relief: [thermal / vibratory / recommend]
Surface treatment: [spec, or "as machined"]
Quantity: [now] — [expected annual usage]
NDT: [method, joints, sample %, or "recommend"]
Inspection documents required: [FAI / dimensional report / mill cert / CoC]
Weight / envelope: [kg, mm]
Date needed: [date]
Destination: [port or address]
Incoterm preference: [EXW / FOB / DAP]

Not every field will have an answer on a first enquiry, and a shop worth using will ask for what is missing rather than silently price around it. But the closer the first email gets to this list, the closer the first number is to the real one — and the fewer rounds of questions sit between the drawing and a purchase order.

Send a drawing with as much of this filled in as you have, and it goes through a manufacturability review before it reaches a shop — request a quote.