A quote is a translation: your intent, rendered into process, material, and schedule. Translations are only as fast as the source text is complete — every gap in an RFQ becomes a clarifying question, every question a round-trip, every round-trip a day or three on a calendar that was probably tight to begin with. So here is the checklist, formatted to be used rather than admired. Run a drawing package down it before hitting send, and the quote that comes back is answering your project instead of interrogating it.
The checklist
- ☐ Material and thickness. Named material (acrylic, polycarbonate, PETG — and clear, tinted, or pigmented color) and nominal thickness per part. If thickness is genuinely undecided, state the span and load and ask — that is a real engineering question; a blank is just a blank.
- ☐ Overall dimensions. Every part dimensioned, critical dimensions flagged — the ones that actually matter, marked as such. A part where everything is “critical” is a part where nothing is — flag the interfaces that must fit, and let the rest carry the standard process bands from our Fabrication Tolerances standard.
- ☐ Quantity. The real quantity — plus breaks if you’re exploring: if the program might scale, ask for pricing at the break points you’re weighing. Quantity moves process choices, so quoting one when you mean eighty produces a quote for the wrong project.
- ☐ Quality grade per surface. In Inspection Distance terms per our Quality Standards: Production Finish (judged at approximately 4 feet), Display Finish (approximately 2 feet), or Museum Archival Finish (approximately 1 foot) — assigned per surface, by sightline. One line per surface class is enough.
- ☐ Edge finish per edge. By method, per the Edge Finishing Standards — from raw saw-cut where the edge hides in an assembly to polished methods where it shows. Like grades, assigned by exposure: visible and touchable edges named up; concealed edges named down.
- ☐ File formats. PDF preferred for drawings; DXF/DWG accepted.
- ☐ Print artwork, as vector. AI, EPS, or SVG for anything printed or cut as graphics (PNG/JPG accepted for photographic imagery); brand color references included so the color-managed, proof-approved print process has something to match.
- ☐ Required date. And the tier, if the date is real: when there is a hard date, say so and say why, and name the Production Scheduling conversation you want — work scheduled in sequence with available capacity carries no guaranteed ship date; only Reserved Production, with dedicated capacity, guarantees one. An RFQ that states its date lets the quote address scheduling honestly.
- ☐ Ship-to and site constraints. Destination, plus anything the delivery must survive: dock or no dock, elevator dimensions, install access. Large assemblies are designed differently when the room is known.
The two most-omitted items
Across real RFQs, two lines above go missing far more than the rest, and each has a specific cost:
Thickness. The drawing shows the geometry beautifully and never says how thick anything is. Cost: a full clarification round-trip — the quote cannot proceed on a guess, because thickness moves material, process, edge treatment, and structure at once. Days lost: however long the round-trip takes through your inbox.
Quality grade. Nothing on the drawing says how the surfaces will be judged. Cost: either a question (another round-trip) or a quote built on an unstated assumption — and an assumed grade surfaces at the worst possible moment, acceptance, as a dispute about what “finished” meant. The grade line costs you seconds at the drawing stage and buys a quote, a build, and an inspection that all describe the same object.
Incomplete is still quotable
Now the pressure release, because the checklist should speed you up, not gate you: an incomplete package still starts the conversation. A dimensioned sketch and a paragraph of intent are quotable openers, and the missing checklist lines become the first reply rather than a barrier to sending. The checklist’s purpose is speed and accuracy, not admission. Send what exists today; the difference between a complete package and a partial one is measured in round-trips, and now you know exactly which round-trips you’re choosing. Either way, send it — the fastest quote on record is the one whose RFQ answered these lines before anyone had to ask.
