The Stainless Quotes That Go Wrong, and Why

September 25, 2026

Stainless jobs go wrong in a small number of predictable places. None of them are surprises to a shop that runs the material every week, and all of them are expensive to the shop that does not.

1. The grade is not the grade

The drawing says 17-4 PH. It does not say the condition, so it is not a specification yet. H900 and H1150 are different parts with different hardness, different corrosion resistance and different sizes after ageing.

Same problem in smaller form elsewhere: 316 without the L on a welded part, 2205 without a note about who welds it, 440C without saying which features are ground after hardening.

Before you price it: does the material callout fully determine what you have to buy and what you have to do to it? If not, that is your first question to the buyer, and it is a better question than a price.

2. The finishing was not in the RFQ

This is the big one. Passivation to ASTM A967 with a named test and a certificate, electropolishing to ASTM B912, a Ra callout on an internal surface, a bead blast for appearance. Each is a real process, most happen at a subcontractor, and all of them have a lead time you do not control.

A quote that assumed as machined and meets a part that needed citric passivation with a copper sulphate test and a lot traceable certificate is not a small correction.

Before you price it: find the finish callout on the drawing. If there is not one, ask rather than assume, particularly if the part looks like food, pharmaceutical or medical work.

3. The paperwork is real hours

Mill certificates with heat numbers, first article inspection reports, CMM reports, lot traceability, a passivation certificate with the lot number on it.

On 500 pieces this disappears into the unit price. On 5 pieces it can be a large share of the job, and it is office time rather than machine time, so it does not show up in a cycle time estimate at all.

Before you price it: list the documents the buyer asked for and price them as a line. If the RFQ does not say, ask. Buyers in regulated industries assume you know, and they are not being difficult.

4. The geometry is worse than it looks in stainless

A pocket four times deeper than it is wide, a 2 mm wall, an internal corner at R1.5, a fine thread in a blind hole, a long bore held to ±0.02 mm. Each of these is ordinary in aluminium and each is a different job in 316L, because heat stays in the part and the material hardens where a tool rubs.

Before you price it: find the worst feature and price from that, not from the part’s overall size. On stainless the worst feature usually sets the cycle time for the whole part.

5. The tolerance is on everything

A title block that says ±0.02 mm on all dimensions, on a part with forty dimensions of which four matter.

You have two options and only one of them is good. Quote it as drawn and lose to a shop that did not, or ask which features are genuinely critical. The second one takes ten minutes and it often wins the job, because most buyers did not intend the blanket note and nobody has ever pointed it out to them.

Before you price it: ask. It is also the fastest way to demonstrate that you read the drawing, which matters more to a buyer than most shops realise.

6. The quantity is not the real quantity

180 pieces once and 180 pieces quarterly justify completely different fixturing. Quote the first as if it were the second and you have given away the setup. Quote the second as if it were the first and you lose on price.

Before you price it: ask whether it repeats and how often. If the buyer does not know, price the order in front of you and say plainly what changes at volume. That sentence in a quote is worth more than a discount.

What a good stainless RFQ contains

If you take leads from any source, this is the list to judge them against. A request that carries these is worth quoting properly. A request that carries two of them is going to cost you an hour of email before you can even start.

• Grade and condition, not just the alloy family
• The environment the part lives in, in words
• Tolerances marked individually rather than a blanket note
• Surface finish with a number and a unit
• Passivation or electropolishing with the standard and the test
• Documents required back
• Quantity, and whether it repeats
• Whether the part is welded, by anyone, at any stage

That list is the same one we publish for buyers on what to put in a stainless RFQ, which is where a good part of our RFQs get their shape.

Two quick checks before any quote

Is this my work? A shop that cuts mild steel all week can machine 316L. It will just take longer, wear more tooling and discover the finishing chain on the job. Declining is cheaper than learning, and it is also the thing that makes a buyer trust you the next time.

Can I answer today? Across every channel, the shop that replies first while the buyer is still thinking about the project wins a disproportionate share. Buyers regularly tell us they sent an RFQ to four shops and heard from one. Speed is a bigger lever than price on most jobs, and it is entirely within your control.

If stainless is regular work for you, our RFQ previews carry the grade, size, quantity, tolerance, finish and the certificates the buyer asked for, and each one goes to at most three shops. Register your shop, and if you are still weighing channels, what a lead is worth has the arithmetic.

Frequently asked questions

Figures in this guide are published specification limits or published typical values for the alloy, not measurements of any part. Machinability is rated against free-machining carbon steel B1112 at 100 and PREN is chromium plus 3.3 times molybdenum plus 16 times nitrogen. The conventions are set out in thereference section and the editorial standards.

Keep reading

• Work Out What You Can Afford to Pay for a Lead
• The Six Places Machining Work Actually Comes From