Forty enquiries and one estimator
The enquiry says 2,500 A4 brochures, 16 pages plus cover, 150gsm silk text, 300gsm cover, matt laminated one side, saddle stitched, delivered to two addresses. It sits in the estimating inbox behind a leaflet job, a set of NCR books and a query about pocket folders that nobody has answered since Tuesday.
To price it, your estimator works out how many pages fit on a sheet for your B2 litho press, checks whether it would be cheaper on the digital press at that quantity, rings the merchant because the silk price moved last month, adds makeready, wash-ups, lamination and the stitcher, then types it all into a quote template. It is right, mostly. It also took the best part of an hour, and there are thirty-nine more.
The rules are real, they are just not written down
Printers usually blame estimating delays on volume. The deeper problem is that the pricing logic is held as experience rather than data. Your estimator knows that anything over a certain run goes litho, that the folder cannot handle a particular stock without scoring, that the laminator adds a pass. None of that is stored anywhere a system can apply it.
- Paper prices come from merchant emails and price files that change without warning.
- Imposition, sheets per job and spoilage allowances are worked out in the estimator's head.
- The choice between litho and digital depends on rules nobody has written down.
- Finishing costs are added from memory, so two estimators price the same job differently.
- If your MIS has an estimating module, it was set up years ago and nobody trusts its numbers.
What slow estimates do to the order book
Print buyers send the same spec to several printers. The one that comes back first with a sensible number often gets the job, particularly for short-notice work like event materials or a product launch. Slow estimates lose work you never hear about.
Inconsistent pricing costs you too. A job quoted low by one estimator and high by another the following month leaves the customer wondering which price was real. And when your senior estimator is on holiday, the whole sales team waits.
The estimating engine we build
- We sit with your estimator and write down the rules: sheet sizes per press, run length thresholds for litho against digital, makeready and wash-up allowances, spoilage by process, finishing machine speeds and setup charges.
- We load your paper list with the merchant's current prices, and where the merchant supplies a price file we import it so stock prices stay current.
- The engine takes a job spec, works out imposition and sheet counts, compares press routes, and prices the job from your own rates.
- Common products such as leaflets, flyers, booklets, business cards and folders are priced automatically. Unusual specs are flagged for the estimator with the calculation shown so they can adjust rather than start again.
- Enquiries from email or your website form are read and turned into a structured spec, with missing details listed so the sales team can ask the customer before the estimator touches it.
- Approved estimates are pushed into your MIS, such as Tharstern or PrintIQ, or into your quote template if you run without one.
| Part of the estimate | Today | With the engine |
|---|---|---|
| Paper cost | Phone the merchant | Current price list applied |
| Imposition | Worked out mentally | Calculated per press and sheet size |
| Press route | Estimator's judgement | Both routes priced, cheaper one shown |
| Finishing | Added from memory | Your machine rates and setups |
| Odd jobs | Priced from scratch | Flagged with the working shown |
What changes in the estimating office
Routine enquiries get a price quickly and consistently. The estimator spends their time on the jobs that need a printer's judgement: the die-cut folder, the mixed-stock booklet, the job that might go to a trade printer. Sales people can see how a price was built, so they can explain it to a customer instead of just repeating it. And the rules survive a holiday or a resignation, because they are written into the system instead of one person's memory.
Is this your estimating inbox?
- Customers ask for a price and chase before it arrives.
- Only one or two people can price a job with confidence.
- Similar jobs have gone out at noticeably different prices.
- Your MIS estimating module exists but nobody uses it.
- You suspect you are losing work to printers who simply reply faster.