How to compare supplier quotes against your estimate

You priced the panels at one rate in the estimate. Three supplier quotes come back: one is a PDF with a different line order, one is a screenshot of an email, and one is a total with a list of exclusions. Which is cheaper? Honestly, you can't tell yet — and this is where a lot of margin is won or lost before the job has even started.

Why compare supplier quotes against your estimate at all?

Because your estimate is the budget you won the job on. Every supplier quote is either inside that allowance or eating your margin, and the only way to know which is to compare the two line by line.

Comparing supplier against supplier tells you who is cheapest. Comparing each against your allowance tells you whether the cheapest is still too dear — or whether a low price is low because something has been left out.

It also makes the next tender better. Every time a real supplier price lands beside the allowance you guessed, you learn whether your price book is current. Skip the comparison and the same out-of-date rate goes into the next ten estimates, and you only find out when the orders start going in.

How do you send an RFQ that gets comparable answers?

Ask every supplier to price exactly the same thing. That sounds obvious, but most RFQs go out as a forwarded drawing set and the words "please quote". The answers then come back priced on different assumptions.

A good RFQ carries:

1. The scope of work, in plain words — what is included, what is not.
2. The line items with quantities and units, taken from your own estimate.
3. The drawings or the specification references each line depends on.
4. When you need the price and when you expect to need the material.
5. What you want stated: freight, lead time, validity and GST.

In Subino you send an RFQ from the job, and the email carries the scope of work and the line items — never your rates (RFQs and purchase orders). The supplier answers on a link, so the answer comes back to the RFQ instead of into one person's inbox.

What should you check when comparing supplier quotes?

Bring every quote back to your own lines before you look at a total. This checklist catches most of the expensive surprises.

The GST row catches more people than you would think. A quote shown with GST beside one shown without it will always look dearer than it is — and the cheaper-looking one may not be cheaper at all.

How do you read a quote back against your allowance without retyping it?

This is the step most offices skip, because retyping three PDFs into a spreadsheet takes longer than choosing on gut feel.

In Subino you drop the supplier's quote on the RFQ — a PDF, or a few screenshots of an email — and the line items, quantities, unit rates and GST come back read out beside your own allowance (drop the supplier's quote on the RFQ). You see where they differ before you press Apply. Like every AI read in Subino, it comes back for a person to check before it is used.

When you are not sure your allowance was right in the first place, look at what you have paid before. The rate finder searches every costed line you have priced by material, supplier or description, and shows the material rate separately from the installed rate (what did we charge last time?). Only the material rate is comparable with a supplier's quote.

What if every quote comes in above your allowance?

It happens, especially when a tender was priced months before the job was won. Before you accept the overrun, work through it in order:

• Check the scope first. Has the drawing changed since you priced? If the builder changed the design, the difference may be a variation, not your loss. Price it and send it.
• Check like for like. Is a supplier quoting a different product, finish or sheet size from the one you allowed for?
• Ask the question. A supplier who sees exactly which lines are above your allowance can often explain or sharpen them — far more easily than one who is just told "too dear".
• If it is real, record it. Accept the best quote, raise the order, and let the forecast show the code over budget now, so the rest of the job can be managed around it.

What you should not do is leave the decision in an inbox for three weeks while the price expires.

When does a quote become a purchase order?

When you have chosen it and agreed the price — before the material ships. A purchase order is the moment the cost becomes committed, and committed cost is what tells you where the job will land.

In Subino you turn the supplier's answer into an order against a cost code, and the committed cost is on the job the day you order. If you have agreed one price for the whole job but need the material in stages, lock it as a master order and draw purchase orders from it in batches, tracked line by line against the master.

When the supplier's invoice arrives, Subino reads it for you to check and proposes the order it belongs to; you confirm it before saving, and the bill comes off that order first so nothing is counted twice (bills read for you, matched to their order).

Why does this matter after the job is won?

Because the choice you make at quote stage decides the cost code for the rest of the job. A supplier quote accepted without being compared against the allowance is how a job loses margin before a single panel is on the wall. The budget review will show it later — but the cheapest time to catch it is now, with the three quotes side by side.

The longer article on committed costs and forecast final cost picks up from here.

What's the quickest way to compare supplier quotes properly?

Send one RFQ with the scope and the line items. Bring every answer back to your own lines. Check units, exclusions, freight and GST before totals. Then turn the right quote into a purchase order against the right cost code, the day you choose it.

That is how Subino treats it: the estimate, the RFQ, the supplier's answer and the order in one place, entered once. The Run the money section has the detail, and pricing shows which plan includes the AI quote reading. To see it on your own job, book a 15-minute demo.