The Six Reasons You Lost That Weldment Enquiry
Shops usually explain a lost weldment enquiry with one word: price. Sometimes that is true. More often the buyer had a reason they never said out loud.
Written for shops.
1. The quote arrived too late to matter
Buyers working to a project date have a window. A quote that lands after they have committed is not competitive, it is irrelevant, no matter how good the number is.
You do not need to be fast. You need to be predictable. A same day reply saying “we can make this, full estimate Thursday” keeps you in. A week of silence does not.
2. The number had no explanation attached
Two shops quote the same frame and the numbers differ by 40 per cent. Both are honest. One assumed level C welding and one assumed level B. One planned two setups on a horizontal machine, one planned four on a bed mill.
The buyer sees two numbers and no reason. In the absence of a reason, most people pick the lower one.
A short assumption list on the quote fixes this, and it is the cheapest competitive advantage available in this niche. State the weld quality level you priced, the inspection scope, the machining allowance and the number of setups.
3. You signalled the wrong capability
Buyers on weldment work are checking one thing above all: do welding and machining happen in the same building.
If your website leads with welding and mentions machining in a sub-bullet, a buyer scanning for a machined weldment supplier may not get far enough to find out. If you subcontract the machining, say so plainly and say who to, because being straight about it beats being discovered later.
The other signal is capacity numbers. Machine travels, table load, crane capacity, oven size. Shops publish machine names. Buyers need dimensions.
4. You asked no questions
A complex weldment quoted immediately with no questions reads, to an experienced buyer, as a shop that has not understood the part. It is often the quote they discount first.
Two good questions signal more capability than a fast number: how much machining stock do you want left, and is this part stress relieved before machining.
5. You priced risk the buyer did not know they were creating
The RFQ said “NDT per drawing” and named no method, no welds and no extent. You priced it conservatively, because you had to. The buyer, who only wanted dye penetrant on six joints, saw a high number.
Naming it turns a lost quote into a conversation: “priced on visual inspection throughout plus magnetic particle on the six joints marked, tell us if you need more”.
6. You were never actually a fit
The part was 5 m and your table takes 3 m. The buyer needed EN 1090 EXC3 and you hold EXC2. The tolerance was beyond what you can measure, let alone hold.
This is the good kind of loss and the important thing is to make it happen quickly. Decline within 48 hours, say specifically why, and say what you do take. Serious buyers remember shops that were honest about a poor fit, and they come back with the part that does fit.
What to change this week
Three things, none of them expensive:
- Publish your capacity numbers. Travels, table load, crane, oven, largest part you welded and machined last year.
- Add an assumption list to every weldment quote. Quality level, inspection, allowance, setups.
- Reply within 48 hours even when the answer is no. It is the cheapest reputation you will ever buy.
Where we fit
We match enquiries on envelope, weight, material and whether machining is in house, so shops only see parts they can actually take. Each preview carries the part type, size, weight, quantity, weld quality level and inspection scope before you decide whether to pay for it.
Register your shop. No subscription, no commission on the order, and you talk to the buyer directly.
Frequently asked questions
Is it usually price?
Less often than shops assume. On weldments the buyer is frequently comparing numbers built on different assumptions and cannot tell why they differ. A quote that explains its assumptions often wins against a cheaper one that does not.
How fast do we need to respond?
Fast enough that the buyer knows where they stand. Replying within 48 hours, even to say you need three days for a proper estimate or that you are passing, keeps you in the process. Silence for a week removes you from it.
Should we quote when the RFQ is incomplete?
Quote with the assumptions listed, or ask the two or three questions that unlock it. What loses work is quoting the worst case silently, because the number looks unreasonable and nobody can see why.
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