Use this article when an estimator is ready to send a quote and you need a quick sanity check on the total, the route, and the breakdown. After this you will have compared the calculated quote to your shop's reference data, decided whether the result is sendable, and corrected any setup gap that fed a wrong number.
Steps
1. Confirm the spec on the quote matches what the customer asked for
Open the quote and read the spec form one field at a time against the RFQ or customer email:
Quantity — total finished count matches the RFQ, including any range the customer asked you to price.
Finished size — width and height match. Catch a swap between portrait and landscape, A4 vs A5, or metric vs imperial here.
Substrate row — the row picked in the substrates dropdown is the correct weight, coat, and sheet size for the spec. If two rows share the same display name (for example two SRA1 rows at different weights), confirm you opened the right one.
Colours — 4/4, 4/0, 1/1, and any spot or PMS request the customer specified.
Finishing — every operation the customer asked for is present in the spec form, and any options you added under Additional Options match the RFQ.
A spec read against the source RFQ catches the most common cause of a wrong total — wrong inputs.
2. Compare the total against a reference price
For categories that are new to Estimator, run the same spec through your current MIS or against a previous quote for a comparable job. Pick three to five representative quantities (for example 250, 1,000, 5,000) so the comparison covers the quantity curve, not just a single point.
Exact matches are not the goal. The result is sendable when the totals sit inside the tolerance your business uses for a comparable spec and quantity band.
3. Open the price breakdown and check the cost lines
On the calculated quote, click See price breakdown. The Estimation breakdown modal opens and lists the cost makeup for the selected option: substrate, make-ready, run, finishing, markups, delivery, and any applied rebate.
Read each line against what you would expect for the spec. Most price deviations surface here:
Substrate line — sheet cost matches the substrate row's price per ton and the imposition you expect on the press's sheet size.
Make-ready and run lines — minutes and rates match the press's configured make-ready time, run speed, and machine rate.
Finishing lines — the right number of finishing steps appear (no duplicates), and each step's cost matches its configured rate.
Markups — the right markup template applies, and any pricing rule that should fire for this customer or category shows up.
Rebate — the applied rebate matches the customer's standing rebate or any override you applied to this quote.
4. Check the production route
Inside the price breakdown, click View estimation path to open the Issue analysis dialog. Confirm the press, finishing, and binding records Estimator picked are the ones you would have chosen, and read the Excluded machines section to see why alternatives were skipped.
A wrong route is almost always a setup signal — usually a missing tag, the wrong sheet size, or a substrate not configured for the press.
5. Decide if the deviation is sendable, or fix the cause
When the breakdown lines and route match shop reality and the total is inside your tolerance band, save the quote and send it.
When a step cost or the route is wrong, fix the cause in Estimate Setup rather than masking it on the quote:
Wrong substrate cost — open the substrate row and check the price per ton, sheet size, and weight.
Wrong make-ready or run — open the press row and check make-ready time, run speed, and machine rate per hour.
Wrong markup — review the pricing rule or the category's default markup configuration.
Wrong route — see Troubleshoot wrong route selection.
After you change setup and apply the change, click Recalculate on the quote and re-run steps 3 and 4.
A worked example
Northgate Press' estimator validates a 2,500 A5 Folded Leaflets quote on Silk 115gsm SRA1 routing to the XL105 offset press. The total comes back 9 % above the shop's reference price.
The estimator opens See price breakdown and reads each line. The make-ready and run lines look right against the XL105's configured rate of €190 per hour. The substrate line is fine. The fold line is fine. The gap is on the markup row — a pricing rule for the volume customer cohort applied a 15 % markup instead of the 5 % the sales lead agreed.
The estimator opens the pricing rule in Estimate Setup, corrects the markup, applies the change, returns to the quote, and clicks Recalculate. The breakdown now sits 0.4 % above the reference. The estimator saves and sends the quote.
Things to know
Set markups to zero only during validation, never on a sent quote. Some shops zero markups in setup during the validation run to isolate raw cost accuracy. If you do that, restore production markups before any quote leaves the shop.
A repeating gap across categories points to a shared record. If every finishing line in every category is 8 % high, the issue is almost certainly the finishing machine's rate or speed, not each category's setup. Fix the shared record once.
Set rebate values aside during step-level validation. Validate step costs first against the base price, then re-add the rebate and confirm the gross-up math lines up with what the customer expects to pay.