Quoting Inspection and FAI Costs Right

Most shops know how to price machine time and material. Far fewer have a repeatable way to quote inspection — especially First Article Inspection (FAI) — so it often ends up as a flat fee, a guess, or a line item buried in overhead. The result: you either lose money on every FAI or scare off customers with a padded number.

Inspection isn’t overhead. It’s a deliverable with measurable inputs: CMM time, gauge setup, documentation formats (AS9102, PPAP, custom), and the engineering review that ties it all together. If you treat it like a real process, you can quote it like one.

Break Inspection Into Billable Steps

Start by listing every discrete activity your team performs when a part needs formal inspection:

• Reviewing the drawing and inspection plan (ballooned print, spec list, sampling strategy)
• Programming or setting up the CMM / vision system / hand tools
• Running first-piece or FAI measurements
• Documenting results in the required report format
• Internal review and sign-off before the customer sees it

Each step has a time cost. Track actuals for a month — even roughly — and you’ll have a baseline to build a rate card.

Separate FAI From In-Process Inspection

FAI is a one-time event per part number (or per revision). In-process inspection happens every run. Quote them differently:

• FAI: Full ballooned report, AS9102 Forms 1-3 (or equivalent), customer-specific forms, photo documentation, material certs review. Price per part number.
• In-process: Sampling plan (e.g., 3 per lot), key dimensions only, shop traveler sign-off. Price per lot or per shift.

Don’t blend them. A customer ordering 50 pieces with FAI on the first lot pays for FAI once, then in-process for subsequent lots.

Factor in Documentation Overhead

The measurement takes 20 minutes. The report takes 90. That ratio is common — and the report time scales with customer requirements. A simple Excel sheet is fast. AS9102 with 40 characteristics, bubble reports, and a cover sheet is not.

Build documentation tiers into your quote engine:

• Tier 1: Shop traveler / internal checklist only
• Tier 2: Customer Excel template, 10-20 characteristics
• Tier 3: Full AS9102 / PPAP package, 30+ characteristics, material & process certs

Each tier gets a documented time estimate. When the RFQ specifies “FAI per AS9102,” you select Tier 3 and the quote reflects reality.

Account for Fixturing and Programming

If the part needs a dedicated CMM fixture or a new program, that’s NRE — not overhead. Quote it as a separate line item: “CMM fixture design & build” or “CMM programming (offline).” Even if you absorb the cost to win the job, show it. Visibility creates leverage for future orders: “Fixture already exists — FAI setup reduced 60%.”

Build It Into Your Quote Template

Hard-code the inspection tiers, FAI baseline hours, and documentation rates into your quoting system. When an estimator selects “FAI required,” the engine should auto-populate:

• Inspection plan review (0.5 hr)
• CMM setup & measurement (1.5 hr)
• AS9102 report generation (2 hr)
• Quality review & sign-off (0.5 hr)

Adjust up or down for complexity, but start from a defensible baseline. Solvi lets you configure these inspection rate cards once and apply them consistently across every quote — so FAI pricing stops being a guess and starts being a process.

Communicate the Scope Clearly

Your quote should tell the customer exactly what they’re buying. Compare:

• Vague: “FAI included”
• Clear: “First Article Inspection per AS9102 Forms 1-3: 32 characteristics measured on CMM, ballooned report with material certs review. Additional characteristics at $X each.”

The second version justifies the price, reduces back-and-forth, and protects you from scope creep (“Can you also check surface roughness on all 50?”).

Track Actuals and Refine Quarterly

Set a calendar reminder: every quarter, pull the last 20 FAI jobs. Compare quoted hours vs. actual hours for measurement, reporting, and review. Adjust your rate cards. If Tier 3 consistently runs 3 hours over, increase the baseline. If you’re consistently under, you’ve found margin to reinvest or compete with.

Inspection is one of the few quote line items where better data directly improves both win rate and margin. You’re not guessing anymore — you’re pricing a known process.

Ready to stop guessing on inspection costs? Solvi helps you build repeatable inspection rate cards into your quoting engine so every FAI quote is accurate, defensible, and fast.