When the Same Drawing Comes Back at a Different Price

A buyer in Penang orders a batch of stainless steel brackets in March. In September, the same buyer sends the same drawing again and asks for the same quantity. The holes, the thickness and the finish are all unchanged, but the new quote is higher. Sometimes it is lower.

The buyer wants to know why, and the answer they usually get is one word: nickel, or freight, or paperwork. That word may be correct, but it does not tell the buyer how much of the change it explains, or whether anything else has changed too.

How to split a fabrication quote

A quote arrives as one total, but that total is made of different costs added together. It helps to look at them one at a time, because each one changes for a different reason.

The first cost is the metal. The workshop buys stainless steel sheet, plate, tube or bar by the kilogram, at a price set by the steel market, not by the workshop. The metal arrives with a mill certificate, which is the document from the steel mill that records the grade and the batch it came from.

The second cost is the workshop hours. These cover cutting, bending, machining, welding, finishing and packing. They change when the drawing changes, or when the quantity changes, because a larger batch spreads the setting-up time over more parts. They do not change because the world price of nickel has gone up.

The third cost is freight. This includes bringing the metal to the workshop and sending the finished parts to you. It can rise or fall while the other costs stay the same.

If you look only at the total, you cannot tell which of these costs has changed, so you may end up questioning the wrong one. You do not need the workshop's full cost sheet. You only need enough detail to see whether the extra money is for the metal, the hours, the freight, or a document that was not needed on the last order. Please ask for the quote to show these costs separately.

The same approach helps when you compare two workshops. Compare the metal cost with the metal cost, and the hours with the hours. A lower total may mean a thinner sheet, a missing certificate, or freight that has not been included. None of those is a real saving if the parts have to be exported. So please ask each workshop to show the same costs under the same headings, and the quotes will be easy to compare.

For what the workshop needs from you before it can quote at all, see What a Fabricator Actually Needs to Quote From Your Drawing. This article is about the quote that comes back when nothing in that pack has changed.

Why the price of stainless steel changes

Stainless steel contains nickel, and nickel is traded on world markets like oil or copper. Its price rises and falls with supply and demand in other countries. Since 2020, for example, Indonesia has banned the export of nickel ore, so that more of the processing takes place inside Indonesia. The OECD steel outlook for 2026 lists trade restrictions like this as one reason steelmaking costs change.

When the nickel price falls, stainless steel sheet usually becomes cheaper. When it rises, or when large buyers all order at the same time, the sheet becomes more expensive. Your bracket drawing has not changed, but the metal it is cut from now costs a different amount.

There is a second question worth asking. Is the metal price on the quote based on a new order from the steel supplier, or on sheet the workshop already has in stock? These can be quite different numbers. A quote in March and a quote in September may be based on metal bought at two different times, at two different prices.

Why the mill certificate matters for Europe

From 1 October 2026, an importer bringing certain steel products into the European Union must show two facts. The first is the country where the steel was first melted and cast. The second is the heat number, which identifies the batch at the mill. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1963 names the mill test certificate as the document for this. Until 30 September 2027, other documents may be accepted if they show the same two facts.

The legal duty belongs to the importer in Europe, not to the workshop. But the importer can only meet that duty if the certificate has been kept. If you ship steel sheet, plate or tube into the European Union, the certificate is part of the delivery. But a welded frame made from that steel in Penang may have a different customs code, so the rule may not apply in the same way.

What the workshop can do is keep the mill certificate with your job. Once the sheet has been cut into brackets, the mill's markings on the sheet are gone, and nobody can work out the heat number later. So if a European customer might need the certificate, please ask for a copy in your first email.

Why freight should be shown separately

Freight costs change for reasons that have nothing to do with your part. A queue at a port, a longer shipping route or a rise in fuel prices can all make the same crate more expensive to send. When that happens, please ask for the increase to be shown as freight, rather than included in a general statement that stainless steel has become more expensive.

There is also freight inside the supply chain, before the parts reach a port. Suppose a bracket is cut by one company, bent by a second and polished by a third. It has been transported three times before it is finished, and each move adds cost. Each move is also a chance for the finish instruction to be lost. If you are comparing a single Penang workshop with a chain of suppliers, see Single-Source Fabrication: How Drawing-to-Assembly Under One Roof Cuts Project Risk. That article explains the risk of splitting the work between several companies.

What to send so the quotes can be compared

A new quote is only useful if it is for the same job as the old one. Please send the previous quote number or date, and confirm that the drawing revision has not changed. Then add the details below, because each of them can change the price on its own.

• The destination: a crate for a site in Kulim and a crate that must clear customs in Europe are different jobs, even when the drawing is the same.
• The certificate: if your freight forwarder or customer now needs the mill certificate, say so in your email.
• The quantity: a different quantity can change the workshop hours per part.
• The delivery date: a different date can mean the metal is bought at a different price.

With this information, the workshop can explain the difference between the two quotes cost by cost.

What we will not do

We will not describe a higher metal price as extra workshop time, or the other way round. Each cost will be shown for what it is.

We will not tell you which European customs code applies to your part, because only the importer and their customs adviser can decide that. We can pass on the mill certificate that came with the metal, if you ask for it. We cannot create a certificate for metal that was bought without one.

Send the drawing, the grade, the quantity and the destination. If you have an older quote for the same drawing revision, please send that too.