What tolerance should count a job as accurate?

Use the tolerance your shop already manages to, and keep it fixed between reviews. Classify each closed job against it first, then enter the counts, so the rate means the same thing every quarter.

Why split the misses into over and under estimate?

Because the direction tells you what to fix. A good estimate has no steady tendency to run high or low. Overruns that dominate mean low estimates and leaking margin; dominant underruns mean prices that may be losing bids.

Why enter total hours as well as job counts?

Counts show how often you miss; hours show by how much. Ten small misses and ten large ones give the same count, but the net hours overrun shows whether the estimates bought enough shop time in total.

Should jobs with customer drawing changes count as misses?

Not if the change was re-quoted. Compare actual cost with the revised estimate so an approved change is not scored as an estimating error. Changes the shop absorbed without a re-quote still count.

Contract Manufacturing, Job Shop Quoting & Make-to-Order calculator

Quote Accuracy Score Calculator

Find the share of closed jobs that finished within your tolerance of the estimate, and whether the misses lean over or under. You need job counts by outcome and total estimated and actual hours.

What this calculator does

Measure how often closed jobs land within tolerance of their estimates, and which way the misses lean.

Formula used

Closed jobs = jobs within tolerance + jobs over estimate + jobs under estimate
Quote accuracy rate = jobs within tolerance ÷ closed jobs × 100
Gap to target = target accuracy rate − quote accuracy rate
Share over (or under) estimate = jobs over (or under) estimate ÷ closed jobs × 100
Net hours overrun = (total actual hours − total estimated hours) ÷ total estimated hours × 100

Inputs explained

Jobs Within Tolerance: Closed jobs whose actual cost landed within your tolerance of estimate.
Jobs Over Estimate: Closed jobs whose actual cost exceeded the estimate beyond tolerance.
Jobs Under Estimate: Closed jobs whose actual cost fell below the estimate beyond tolerance.
Total Estimated Hours: Estimated setup plus run hours, summed over these jobs.
Total Actual Hours: Hours booked to the same jobs, from the job cost reports.
Target Accuracy Rate: Share of jobs your shop expects to land within tolerance.

How to use the result

Best suited to quarterly estimating review with the shop manager, checking a new estimator's first closed jobs.
Each job counts once regardless of size, so one large overrun weighs the same as a small one. A small sample moves the rate a lot: one job in 20 is 5 points.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The U.S. prime lending rate is 7.00% (Federal Reserve via FRED, 2026-10-02). Payback and financing math should start from today's rate, not a remembered one.

Common questions

What tolerance should count a job as accurate? Use the tolerance your shop already manages to, and keep it fixed between reviews. Classify each closed job against it first, then enter the counts, so the rate means the same thing every quarter.
Why split the misses into over and under estimate? Because the direction tells you what to fix. A good estimate has no steady tendency to run high or low. Overruns that dominate mean low estimates and leaking margin; dominant underruns mean prices that may be losing bids.
Why enter total hours as well as job counts? Counts show how often you miss; hours show by how much. Ten small misses and ten large ones give the same count, but the net hours overrun shows whether the estimates bought enough shop time in total.
Should jobs with customer drawing changes count as misses? Not if the change was re-quoted. Compare actual cost with the revised estimate so an approved change is not scored as an estimating error. Changes the shop absorbed without a re-quote still count.

Last reviewed 2026-10-01.