Request separate prices for every line below. Otherwise quotations from two suppliers may appear comparable when they are not.
Use it: When issuing a request for quotation.
Two quotations that look comparable frequently are not, and the difference is almost never in the headline machine price. It is in what each supplier has assumed is included.
A price that excludes guarding, fire suppression, commissioning, operator training and freight is not a lower price. It is an incomplete one, and the gap appears after the order is signed when those items become variations.
Requesting separate prices for each line does two things. It makes comparison honest, and it tells you which supplier has actually thought about your application rather than quoting a machine from a price list.
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Line items to price separately
Consumable prices — harvester
Obtain before signing, then model annual expenditure.
Consumable prices — mulcher
Consumable prices — stump grinder
Consumable prices — chipper
Interpreting the answers
What a good answer looks like
Ticking a box is not the same as being satisfied with the answer. These are the lines where the response itself tells you something.
What you asked
A good answer
A answer that should worry you
Attachment priced separately from the base machine
Itemised, with the specific head or attachment model named.
Bundled as a package price, which makes it impossible to compare against another supplier's configuration.
Consumable prices
Supplied at quotation stage, with part numbers, so annual expenditure can be modelled.
"We'll sort that out later." On a high-utilisation mulcher the annual tooth bill can rival the finance cost.
Commissioning and operator training
Specified with hours or days, and a named trainer.
Omitted entirely, or described as "included" without scope.
Extended warranty
Priced separately with the covered components listed.
Offered as a percentage with no schedule of what it actually covers.
Working through it
How to use this checklist
Send the same line list to every supplier so the quotations are structurally comparable
Price consumables before signing and model annual expenditure per unit produced, not per month
Add up the excluded items before comparing headline prices
Ask each supplier which lines they have assumed you do not need, and why
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Why does the consumable list matter so much?
Because consumables are production costs rather than maintenance overheads, and they scale with how hard the machine works. Teeth, chain, bar, rollers, knives, hammers and tips are what a machine spends money on between services, and in abrasive Australian conditions they can rival finance cost on a high-utilisation machine. Get prices at quotation stage and model them per cubic metre, hectare or tonne.
Is it reasonable to ask for this level of itemisation?
Entirely. A supplier who has understood your application can produce it, and one who resists is telling you something useful. The request also protects the supplier — it establishes scope clearly, which reduces disputes about variations later.
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