In practice

Quote it by saying it

Every operation in the app is a tool the chat can call, so a fab shop can price work by describing it — with your materials and your rates doing the arithmetic.

Metal Fabricators Chat

Price 40 off of the bracket in A36, quarter inch, laser cut and formed, powder coated black

Called 5 tools

  • find_material("A36 plate, 0.25in")
  • part_weight(qty: 40, nesting: "auto")
  • machine_time(laser: 22, brake: 14)
  • outside_process("powder coat, black")
  • price_quote(qty: 40, margin: 0.30)

186 lb of plate, 36 machine minutes, coating at $2.10/part. $14.62 each at 40 off — $10.90 at 250.

Every number here came from your costing engine. The model picked the tools and filled in the arguments — it never does the arithmetic.

What makes costing hard in a fab shop

  • Material priced by weight, quoted by part, bought by the stick or sheet
  • Drop and remnant that is real inventory but never gets counted
  • Consumables — gas, wire, discs, tips — that vanish into overhead
  • Machine time on the laser, brake and welder billed at different rates

Typical materials

  • Plate and sheet, by alloy and gauge
  • Tube, angle and bar stock
  • Welding consumables and gas
  • Coatings, powder and plating

Costed in

pounds, feet, each

A formula might look like

(part weight × $/lb × scrap factor) + (cut minutes × machine rate) + (weld hours × labor rate)

What it does

Built to handle exactly this

The same four pieces, set up around how a fab shop actually works.

Materials with your attributes

Define the fields your fab shop tracks, not a generic SKU with a quantity. Plate and sheet, by alloy and gauge sits alongside everything else you buy.

Purchase units to usage units

Set the conversion and the waste factor once. Quote in pounds, feet, each without redoing the arithmetic every time.

Your real labor rates

Separate rates per operation, so the expensive steps carry their own cost instead of hiding inside an average.

Your pricing formula

Minimums, quantity breaks and margin, applied the same way on every quote regardless of who wrote it.

Reprice when costs move

Change one material price and see every affected quote immediately — before a customer finds it for you.

A defensible breakdown

Show materials, labor and overhead separately when someone asks why the number is what it is.

Early access

Get in early as a fab shop

Set up your materials and rates once, and quote the way a fab shop actually works — by clicking or by asking.

  • Founding accounts lock their price for life
  • No card, no trial clock, no sales call
  • Import your existing parts list to start

No card required. Unsubscribe any time.

Know what the job costs before you quote it

Built around how a fab shop actually prices work.

Founding accounts lock their price for life. No card required.