Building an Export Price for a Machine Base

How to build up an export quotation for a heavy weldment: material, weld hours, stress relief, machining setups, inspection, crating and the costs shops forget.

A domestic quote that works in Vietnam can lose money on export, because several real costs sit outside the shop gate and several more only appear on a part that has to arrive thousands of kilometres away in specified condition.

This is the build-up, line by line, with the items shops most often leave out.

Material

Plate, section and consumables. The only line that tracks weight cleanly, and usually well under half the total on a machined base.

Watch for:

• Grade and sub-grade. S355J2 is not S235, and a specified sub-grade may carry a mill lead time of its own.
• Certificate type. EN 10204 3.1 material costs more than uncertified stock. If the drawing calls for it, buy it certified; substituting later is not possible.
• Thickness availability. The theoretically optimal 17 mm plate may not be in stock. Quote what you can buy.

Cutting and preparation

Profiling, bevelling, drilling. Scales with cut length and thickness, not with mass.

Fitting and welding

Usually the largest single line. Estimate by metres of weld by joint type rather than by looking at the whole structure, and add for access: a joint that must be welded from one side only, or reached through a hatch, is not the same as an open fillet.

Check the drawing’s fillet sizes before you price them. Oversized fillets are common, and a fillet twice the required leg is roughly four times the deposited metal and four times the time. Querying it can make you competitive without cutting margin: see reading a Western drawing.

Fixturing

For a first unit this is real money and it is a fixed cost. Decide whether you are amortising it over one unit or the batch the buyer says is coming, and say which assumption you used. A shop that quoted assuming twenty units and got two has a problem it created itself.

Stress relief

Furnace time, crane moves, and the queue behind other work. Vibratory treatment is a fraction of the cost.

These are different products. Price the method the drawing specified, and if it specified neither, ask rather than assuming the cheaper one: stress relief and flatness.

Machining

Setups first, cutting second. Each time a multi-tonne structure is craned onto the table, clocked and re-datumed is hours before a chip is cut. Count the setups the part actually needs, not the ideal number.

Then cutting time, driven by machined area and tolerance rather than by part mass. A tight flatness call may mean a second cut, a temperature-controlled wait, or a second stress relief cycle.

Inspection and documentation

Real hours, not a courtesy. Price separately:

• Dimensional and geometric inspection, including the time to set the part on its support scheme and let it settle.
• NDT to the scope specified.
• Report preparation.
• The document pack: see export documents.

Quoting these as visible lines lets a buyer see what they are buying. Burying them in an overhead rate means you are either losing money or looking expensive for no visible reason.

Finishing

Blast to the specified grade, prime, paint to the specified system and film thickness, and protect machined faces. Price by square metre and check the specification: ISO 12944 categories differ substantially in cost.

Packing

Not a rounding error on a heavy part.

• Bolted steel skid or braced pallet.
• Machined face protection: oil or VCI, plus physical covers.
• Heat-treated timber marked to ISPM 15.
• Lifting points and centre of gravity marked.
• Desiccant and sealing for a long sea leg.

Freight and the Incoterm

Decide what you are quoting and price it properly.

EXW is the simplest for you and the hardest for the buyer, who must arrange collection from your yard, a truck with the right capacity, and a permit if the load is oversize. Many first-time importers cannot act on an EXW quote at all.

FOB means you handle inland haulage, export clearance and loading. Price the inland leg honestly: if you are far from a suitable port, that distance is a real cost and it is one reason a shop nearer the port can beat you on landed price at a worse ex-works number.

CIF or DAP puts more on you and wins orders from buyers who want the problem handled.

Offer more than one. A quote showing EXW, FOB and DAP side by side is markedly more useful than a single term, and costs you one conversation with your forwarder.

The lines shops forget

1. Fixturing, treated as overhead instead of a job cost.
2. Re-machining allowance when the part moves after stress relief.
3. The settling and inspection time on a large structure, not just the measurement itself.
4. Document preparation hours.
5. Inland haulage, especially for an oversize move needing a permit.
6. Crate design and materials, not just the timber.
7. Payment terms cost. Sixty-day terms on a six-month job is working capital you are financing.
8. Currency exposure, where the quote is in USD and your costs are in VND. State a validity period.
9. Third-party inspection attendance, if the buyer will send an inspector.
10. Contingency on a part class you have not built before. Say it is a first-of-type and price accordingly rather than discovering it during the build.

Present it so it can be compared

Show the structure without exposing every internal rate:

Line
Material	certified to EN 10204 3.1
Fabrication	to ISO 13920 class B, ISO 5817 level B
Stress relief	furnace, chart supplied
Machining	2 setups, tolerances per drawing
Inspection and documents	dimensional report, MT on full-penetration welds
Finishing	ISO 12944 system, DFT stated
Packing	bolted skid, ISPM 15
Freight	quoted FOB, EXW and DAP alternatives shown

Plus: currency, validity, lead time and what it starts from, payment terms, and exclusions.

A buyer who can see the structure can tell you which line to remove when the total is too high. A buyer looking at one number can only ask you to reduce it.

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Common questions

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