What a Millwork Company Should Send a Metal Fabricator for a Quote

A Millwork Company requesting a quote for custom architectural metalwork can get faster and more accurate pricing by providing the right project information from the start.

Complete information helps a metal fabricator understand the scope, calculate material and labor, and identify potential fabrication challenges. It also reduces unnecessary back-and-forth during the estimating process.

This preparation becomes especially important when a project includes custom brass, bronze, stainless steel, decorative metal panels, trims, bases, doors, shelving, or other architectural metal components.

What information should you provide? Here are the key details that help us prepare an accurate metal fabrication quote.

1. Project Drawings

Start with the most current architectural and millwork drawings.

Drawings should clearly identify the components that require metal fabrication while providing enough detail to understand the overall design intent.

Depending on the project, a typical package can include:

• ✔ Plans
• ✔ Elevations
• ✔ Sections
• ✔ Millwork details
• ✔ Enlarged details
• ✔ Door and panel schedules

Specific drawing numbers and detail references are also helpful. They allow an estimator to find the relevant metal scope quickly and reduce the possibility of overlooking an important component.

Clear construction documents improve coordination between everyone involved in a project. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) also emphasizes accurate dimensions, details, cross-referencing, and coordination between drawings and specifications when preparing construction documents.

2. Dimensions

Dimensions directly affect material usage, fabrication methods, seams, transportation, installation, and price.

Consider a large decorative bronze wall panel. It may look simple on an architectural elevation, but the dimensions could exceed the available bronze sheet size. In this situation, the fabricator must determine how to divide the assembly and where to locate seams.

Different dimensions may also require a completely different fabrication method.

For accurate pricing, provide overall dimensions together with important individual component dimensions. With this information, the fabricator can evaluate material requirements and fabrication limitations before preparing the quote.

3. Quantities

Include quantities whenever they are available.

Producing one custom metal panel requires a different approach than producing 30 identical panels. Higher quantities can improve production efficiency, but they also affect material purchasing, setup, programming, finishing, packaging, and installation.

Final quantities are not always available during the estimating stage. In that case, send your best current estimate and identify the quantity as preliminary.

The fabricator can then develop realistic pricing based on the information currently available.

4. Material

Identify the requested metal when the project specifications already define it.

Common materials for architectural metalwork include:

• ✔ Brass
• ✔ Bronze
• ✔ Stainless steel
• ✔ Aluminum
• ✔ Mild steel

Some projects also specify a particular alloy or grade. Include this information whenever it appears in the specifications.

Material selection may still be open during the early design stage. When that happens, explain the appearance, performance, and design intent you want to achieve.

An experienced architectural metal fabricator can often recommend a suitable material based on the application, environment, fabrication requirements, and budget.

Early material discussions can also prevent unnecessary costs. Sometimes a different construction method or material can achieve the same visual result more efficiently.

5. Finish Reference

Finish descriptions can create significant confusion in architectural metalwork.

Terms such as “brushed brass,” “antique bronze,” “blackened steel,” or “white bronze patina” can represent very different colors, textures, and levels of variation.

For this reason, a clear finish reference should accompany the quote request whenever possible.

Useful references may include:

• ✔ An approved physical sample
• ✔ A control sample
• ✔ A finish specification
• ✔ A reference photograph
• ✔ A previous project reference

Physical samples provide the strongest reference for custom patinas and hand-applied finishes. Photographs alone can be misleading because lighting, cameras, screens, and surrounding materials affect how the finish appears.

Defining the expected finish early helps the fabricator choose the appropriate base material and finishing process. Better finish information also makes the original quote more reliable.

6. Substrate Responsibility

One important question can significantly change the metal fabrication scope:

Who provides the substrate?

Many architectural metal components use metal skins, folded panels, trims, or cladding over plywood, MDF, or another structural substrate.

Your quote package should explain the intended division of responsibility. For example:

• ✔ The Millwork Company supplies the substrate
• ✔ The metal fabricator supplies the substrate
• ✔ Completed millwork components go to the metal shop for cladding
• ✔ Finished metal components return to the Millwork Company for installation

Each approach requires different material, labor, handling, and coordination.

Clarifying this responsibility during the estimating stage helps everyone understand where the millwork scope ends and the metal fabrication scope begins.

7. Installation Requirements

Tell the fabricator whether installation needs to form part of the quote.

Site conditions become important when the metal fabrication company also handles installation. Helpful information includes:

• ✔ Project location
• ✔ Floor or installation area
• ✔ Site access
• ✔ Elevator restrictions
• ✔ Loading conditions
• ✔ Installation schedule
• ✔ Union or non-union requirements, when applicable

Shop fabrication represents only one part of a successful installation.

Large finished assemblies may need to travel through elevators, corridors, door openings, and completed areas before reaching their final location. Access limitations can influence the size of individual sections and the location of connections or seams.

Planning these conditions early gives the fabrication team more options. Instead of solving access problems on site, the shop can design manageable sections and cleaner connections during fabrication.

8. Project Schedule

Include the required delivery or installation date when requesting a quote.

Custom architectural metalwork often moves through several stages:

Shop drawings → approvals → material procurement → fabrication → finish samples → finishing → quality control → delivery → installation

Specialty finishes and hand-applied patinas can require additional production time.

With a clear project schedule, the fabricator can evaluate material availability, shop capacity, approval timelines, and finishing requirements before committing to a delivery date.

Early scheduling also gives a Millwork Company time to identify potential conflicts before they affect installation.

9. Sample and Mockup Requirements

Some projects require more than a standard finish sample.

Architects and designers may request prototypes, corner samples, connection samples, or full-size mockups before approving production.

Mention these requirements during the quoting stage so the fabricator can include the necessary material and labor.

Producing a small finish sample may require relatively little fabrication time. By comparison, a full-size mockup of a reception desk corner, door assembly, decorative panel, or custom transition can involve substantial engineering, fabrication, finishing, and coordination.

Including mockup requirements from the beginning helps maintain accurate pricing and prevents unexpected additional costs later.

Better Information Creates Better Pricing

Preliminary budget pricing may be possible with limited drawings and reference images. Accurate project pricing requires a clearer understanding of the actual fabrication scope.

Before requesting a quote, a Millwork Company should make sure the package answers several basic questions:

What are we making?
How many pieces do we need?
What are the dimensions?
Which material should we use?
Which finish does the project require?
Who provides the substrate?
Who handles installation?
Where is the project located?
When do we need the finished metalwork?

Answering these questions gives the estimator a much clearer picture of the project.

Better information reduces assumptions, speeds up estimating, and lowers the risk of scope changes. More importantly, early communication gives the metal fabricator an opportunity to identify potential problems while they are still relatively easy to solve.

Need Pricing for Your Custom Metal Project?

At MNR Custom Metal, we work with millwork companies, designers, architects, and contractors on custom architectural metal fabrication.

Our capabilities include brass, bronze, stainless steel, decorative finishes, custom panels, trims, doors, shelving, bases, and specialty architectural metal components.

If your Millwork Company has a project ready for pricing, send us the available drawings, dimensions, quantities, material and finish requirements, reference images, project location, and schedule.

Our team can review the information, identify potential fabrication challenges, and develop accurate pricing based on the project scope.

Have a project to quote? Send us your drawings and project details to get started.