This page picks up where Getting started leaves off. Once your machines, materials and cutting modes are in place, CUTL takes you from a single Quick Calculation all the way to a full commercial offer in PDF. This guide covers the coefficients, contour analysis and pricing controls that turn a rough estimate into a quote you can send to a customer.
From Quick Calculation to a quote
The fastest way to price one part is Quick Calculation. Drop in a DXF (or a STEP file for a 3D part), let CUTL analyse the geometry, then pick a material and cutting mode. The estimate appears at once. If your material already has a default cutting mode assigned, choosing the material alone is enough.
Quick Calculation is ideal for a single part or a fast phone quote. When a customer sends several parts with different quantities, group them into a Project (covered further down) so you can price them together and export one offer.
Material and cutting mode
Every calculation rests on two choices:
- Material sets the price per square metre and the thickness. If you buy by weight, use the built-in cost calculator (below) to convert price per kilogram into price per m².
- Cutting mode sets the cost per linear metre of cut and per pierce, tied to a specific machine, material type and thickness.
CUTL multiplies the cut length from the drawing by the mode's per-metre cost, adds the pierce cost, and adds the material charge: the part's bounding rectangle (its width times height from the drawing) times the m² price. That is your baseline part cost before any adjustments. Note the material baseline is the bounding rectangle, not the part's true outline, so the gap between a concave contour and its box is already included in the price.
Cutting and complexity coefficients
Two coefficients let you nudge the baseline to match reality on the shop floor.
- Cutting coefficient accounts for material used beyond the part's bounding rectangle: sheet skeleton, edge trim, poor layout. (The gap between the contour and its bounding box is already billed in the baseline, so do not add it again here.) Increasing the area by, say, 30% raises the material cost by 30% and the total updates instantly. For tighter layouts, see Nesting, which reduces this waste directly. The coefficient applies to sheet materials only: profile (linear) materials are priced per metre, and that rate already reflects utilisation.
- Complexity coefficient covers difficulty that the drawing does not show: uneven stock, awkward customer requirements, or extra care on thin webs. It scales both the cutting length and the piercing time, so the quoted cost and the machine time rise together.
Both coefficients can be applied at the same time. Use them deliberately, they are a quick way to reflect real conditions, not a place to bury margin.
Do
- Raise the cutting coefficient when real sheet usage exceeds the part footprint.
Avoid
- Inflating the complexity coefficient to hide profit margin; set your prices in the material and mode instead.
Contour Table and contour analysis
The Contour Table tab shows every contour CUTL found in the drawing: its length, whether it is closed, its enclosed area (the quantity that drives area-priced operations such as engraving and painting), and its detected line type. Selecting a row highlights that contour on the preview so you can confirm what you are pricing.
The table is also where you control what actually gets cut. You can exclude individual contours from cutting, for example holes that will be drilled after bending rather than laser-cut. Excluded contours turn red on the drawing, and the total cutting length (and cost) drops accordingly. Pierce count follows the contour count, each cut contour needs one pierce, so excluding a contour removes both its length and its pierce from the price.
Adjusting the material price
Two ways to set the material price for a calculation:
The cost calculator
CUTL prices everything per square metre, but many shops buy metal by the kilogram. Next to the Material price per m² field there is a small calculator icon. Click it to open the cost calculator, which converts price per kg into price per m².
Pick the material type and grade, set the thickness, and enter your price per kg. The tool multiplies your price by the weight per m² (material density times thickness) and fills in the price per m² automatically.
| Material | Density (kg/dm³) | Example: 8 mm at 3.00/kg |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon steel | 7.85 | 188.40 per m² |
| Stainless steel | 7.93 | 190.32 per m² |
| Aluminium | 2.70 | 64.80 per m² |
| Copper | 8.96 | 215.04 per m² |
| Brass | 8.50 | 204.00 per m² |
The weight per m² is pre-filled from standard densities. For grades missing from the list, such as Hardox or Domex, use Add your own grade under the Grade dropdown. Override the weight per m² only when the density genuinely differs from the default, for example titanium (4.51 kg/dm³), bronze, or non-metals such as acrylic. The calculator offers two ways to apply the result:
- Apply uses the price for this calculation only, handy for a one-off quote at a different supplier price.
- Apply and save also writes the price back to the material in your dictionaries, the right choice when setting up a material for the first time.
Manual price adjustment
You can also type a price directly over the calculated one. When you set a value above the base rate a green mark appears next to it; a value below the base rate shows a red mark. This makes any hand-tuned price obvious at a glance, and manual changes are flagged in the exported report so nothing is hidden from the customer or your colleagues.
Adding operations
Cutting is rarely the whole job. On a Project part, the Operations tab lets you add post-cutting work that adds to the part cost, for example:
- Bending, priced per bend using length ranges: a 2 m bend can carry a different price from a 200 mm one, and when a bend matches no range the operation's base price applies.
- Drilling, for holes excluded from cutting.
- Engraving and painting, priced by area (mm², cm² or m²), using the contour's enclosed area as the quantity.
- Welding, thread cutting, grinding, assembly, typically priced per piece.
Each operation must first exist in your operations dictionary with a price rule (per piece, per length range, or per area); you can then set or override its price directly in the operations table on the part.
Operations detected from line types
CUTL can find operations straight in the drawing. Detection is driven by each contour's line type (Continuous, Dashed, Dash-dot, Dotted), optionally combined with colour, not by the layer it sits on.
- Map each line type to an operation under Dictionaries, Line Types, for example Dashed to Bending.
- Tick Exclude from cutting on line types that must not be cut (bend lines), so they are never counted as cutting length.
- One contour can drive two operations at once: a dotted outer contour can be cut and painted, with the painting priced from the same enclosed area.
- The Contour Table shows a Line Type column so you can verify what each contour was detected as.
After adding operations, the Calculation tab shows two figures:
- Price per piece, material and cutting only.
- Total price, including all added operations.
If a part also consumes bought-in items such as plugs or fasteners, add them under Additional materials (defined in Dictionaries first) and they fold into the part price too.
Grouping parts into a Project
A Project collects all the parts of one customer order so you can price and quote them together.
Processing can take a few minutes per file depending on part count and complexity. When it finishes, every part appears in the project's Parts section. Enter the quantity for each, and CUTL rolls up the total project cost and total material consumption across the whole order.
Each part carries two comments: an internal note for your team and a customer note that appears in the shared public view. You can send the customer a public project link so they see the result and their comments without your detailed cost breakdown. Public links are read-only: the customer can view the quote but cannot change anything.
Generating the quote
With every part priced and quantities set, CUTL produces two different documents. Keep them straight: one is internal, one goes to the customer.
- Technical report (project PDF) is the internal document. It opens with a summary table of all parts, columns flag whether Additional materials (M) or Operations (O) were included, any manually changed price is marked, and the following pages give a detailed cost breakdown per part.
- Commercial offer PDF is the customer-facing document. It shows client prices and never exposes your markup percentage or internal cost breakdown. Download it, or send it by email straight from CUTL. Tick Send copy to me to receive the same message at your registered address for your records.
Markup and the client price
The customer sees your cost with margin applied: client price = cost x (1 + markup % / 100). Set a Markup % on the part or project, and a Default markup (%) under Dictionaries, Organizations that new projects inherit. A manually typed price always takes precedence over the computed markup, and is flagged as a manual change in the technical report.
Regular customers can carry their own pricing profile: a per-customer discount on the material term and on the cutting and piercing terms. When a project references that customer, the discounts apply automatically, so negotiated rates do not depend on the estimator remembering them.
Quote validity
Each project carries a Valid until date that is printed on the commercial offer. Once the date passes, the project list flags the quote with an Expired badge and the public link shows an expiry notice. Nothing is blocked: you can still re-send the quote with a new date after reviewing the price.
That is the full loop: a customer request in, a costed commercial offer out, cutting, bending, drilling, materials and margin all accounted for in one place.
For volume pricing tiers, discounts and more advanced rate structures, continue to Extended cost calculation.