How do you calculate a heat exchanger quote price?

Multiply quoted units by base cost per unit and the capture factor, then add fixed adders. With 100 units at $45, an 80% factor and $250 of adders, the quote totals $3,850, or $38.50 per unit.

What is the pricing capture factor?

It is a blended percentage that captures your effective margin and discount posture relative to the base figure. At 80% it pulls the $45 base down to $36 per unit before fixed adders, reflecting a competitive bid that still holds target margin.

Should the base figure be cost or price?

Either, as long as you set the capture factor to match. If you enter fully burdened cost, the factor adds margin; if you enter a list price, the factor applies your discount. Be consistent so the per-unit result is meaningful.

What do fixed quote adders cover?

One-time, volume-independent costs: tooling, fin dies, first-article inspection, NRE and qualification testing. The $250 adder here spreads to $2.50 per unit over 100 units but would be $25 per unit on a 10-unit prototype run.

How does volume change the per-unit quote?

Higher volume dilutes the fixed adders across more units, lowering per-unit price. Doubling from 100 to 200 units in the example drops the fixed-adder share from $2.50 to $1.25 per unit, letting you sharpen a competitive bid.

What is a good per-unit quote for a coil?

There is no universal number; it depends on core size, tube and fin material and tolerances. The discipline is to confirm the quote clears your floor margin after the capture factor and that fixed adders are fully recovered, not buried.

Heat Exchanger, Coil & Radiator Manufacturing calculator

Quote Price Calculator

Quoting a coil or radiator job means turning a base cost per core into a defensible sell price that still wins the order. This calculator multiplies quoted units by a base cost-or-price per unit, applies a pricing capture factor that bakes in your effective margin and discount posture, and adds fixed adders like tooling, NRE or first-article costs, then divides back to a clean per-unit quote. Estimators and sales engineers use it to respond to RFQs fast without dropping below floor margin. On competitive OEM coil bids, getting the capture factor and fixed adders right is the difference between a profitable program and a money-losing one you are stuck with for years.

What this calculator does

Build a heat exchanger, coil, or radiator quote price from quoted units, base cost or target value per unit, pricing capture factor, and fixed commercial cost.
Use it when preparing a fast budgetary quote, comparing design options, or checking whether low-volume thermal equipment pricing covers fixed work.
It computes a total quoted price for a batch of heat exchangers and the resulting quote price per unit.

Formula used

Calculated quote price = quoted units × base price or cost per unit × pricing capture factor + fixed quote adders
Quote price per unit = calculated quote price ÷ quoted units

Inputs explained

Quoted heat exchanger units:
Base cost or price per unit:
Margin and pricing capture factor:
Fixed quote adders and tooling:

How to use the result

Use it when responding to an RFQ or revising a bid, to test how unit volume, margin posture and tooling adders move the per-unit price.
The capture factor is a single blended percentage; it does not break out material, labor, overhead and margin separately, so use it as a fast quoting layer over a real cost model.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for copper and brass mill shapes stands at 559.593 (BLS, May 2026), up 76.8% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move. Global copper trades at $13,484 per tonne (IMF via FRED, May 2026).

Common questions

How do you calculate a heat exchanger quote price? Multiply quoted units by base cost per unit and the capture factor, then add fixed adders. With 100 units at $45, an 80% factor and $250 of adders, the quote totals $3,850, or $38.50 per unit.
What is the pricing capture factor? It is a blended percentage that captures your effective margin and discount posture relative to the base figure. At 80% it pulls the $45 base down to $36 per unit before fixed adders, reflecting a competitive bid that still holds target margin.
Should the base figure be cost or price? Either, as long as you set the capture factor to match. If you enter fully burdened cost, the factor adds margin; if you enter a list price, the factor applies your discount. Be consistent so the per-unit result is meaningful.
What do fixed quote adders cover? One-time, volume-independent costs: tooling, fin dies, first-article inspection, NRE and qualification testing. The $250 adder here spreads to $2.50 per unit over 100 units but would be $25 per unit on a 10-unit prototype run.
How does volume change the per-unit quote? Higher volume dilutes the fixed adders across more units, lowering per-unit price. Doubling from 100 to 200 units in the example drops the fixed-adder share from $2.50 to $1.25 per unit, letting you sharpen a competitive bid.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.