Outsourced Estimating for Machine Shops, Priced on Your Rates

What outsourced estimating means here

Think of the Desk as an estimator you forward prints to, the same way you would forward them to someone down the hall. The difference is that the estimator is me, Malik Carey, working from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and I'm not on your payroll.

It is not a marketplace. Your prints don't go out to other shops, and I never contact your customer. It isn't a software subscription that leaves the estimating to you, either. What comes back is the finished quote: every line worked out and checked, ready for you to look over, change if you want, and send under your name.

How pricing on your own rates works

A quote priced on a generic shop rate tells you what an average shop might charge. It doesn't tell you what the job costs you. So the Desk starts from your numbers, not mine.

Here's how it starts: send me a few prints you've already quoted, with the price you sent or your shop rates. I set up your shop's own account in the Zenith Tool with your machines and your rates, price those jobs, and send them back side by side with yours, so you see line by line where Zenith matches you and where it doesn't.

When a line is off, I look for the input that caused it, like a rate, a setup count, a cycle time or a material price, and I fix that input instead of nudging the total. After that, tell me which quotes you won and which you lost, and my numbers move toward yours.

What every quote shows

Every quote is itemized, so you can check each number instead of trusting one total:

• Material, sized from the bar or tube the part is cut from
• Setup
• Programming
• Run time
• Inspection

Anything I'm unsure of is flagged on the quote, not hidden. You or your estimator still make the final call on every number.

What the Desk covers, and what it doesn't

Covered: turned and mill-turn parts made from bar or tube, quoted from the 2D print your customer sent. A PDF works best, and a scan or a clear phone photo of the print works too.

Not covered: ITAR or export-controlled prints. Every print is checked for export markings first, and a marked print is held and never sent to an AI service. Work outside turned and mill-turn parts from bar or tube, like sheet metal or weldments, isn't part of the Desk. If a print falls outside the scope, I'll tell you instead of guessing at it.

What it costs

Your first 10 prints are free while I learn your shop's rates. After that, it's $399 a month for up to 40 prints, plus $10 per extra print. My first five shops lock in $199 a month for 12 months. Nothing costs money unless you agree to it in writing.

Your own Zenith Tool login

Every shop also gets its own login to the Zenith Tool at app.zenithquoting.com. It shows each value read from the print next to the price line it drives, and you can price a part yourself whenever you want to. Using it is optional; email alone works.