Back

Express Estimator Newsletter 2026 - Top Features of the Year

This year Express Estimator grew up. In January we released its second generation, and since then we have shipped 15 versions, each one with the same goal: helping job shops quote faster and more accurately, with less manual work.

 

Below are the features I believe will make the biggest difference to your quoting. Each of them removes a step that used to be done by hand.

 

 

CNC punching, without the homework

Punching used to be the part of the job you had to work out before you could trust a price. Now you just add a CNC punch tooling operation to the part and Express Estimator processes the punching automatically, using the tools from your predefined Tool database. The result is calculated once and reused by every later punching operation on that part.

Want to see what it came up with? Open the zoomable preview and check the part with the punch tooling drawn in blue. Change the geometry and the result is recalculated by itself, so your quote never rests on stale numbers.

 

Profile parts with Importer 3.0/3.1: quoted as easily as sheets

Profile jobs no longer have to be the awkward ones. Describe the part in the Part Processor, with its material, dimensions and cutting, and Express Estimator nests it on the bar lengths you really use and picks the one that wastes the least, exactly as it does with sheets.

Bring a 3D model and the rebuilt Importer does the reading for you: it recognises profile section types, their parameters and cutting lengths. And it is fast. Large assemblies are processed more than 4.5 times faster and perforated parts unfold more than 30 times faster, so the wait between “file received” and “price ready” keeps shrinking.

 

Welding and finishing, priced as one job

A weld rarely ends at the weld. Grinding and dressing take real time and consumables, and they belong in the price. MIG and TIG welding operations now include dressing: tick the option and it is calculated together with the welding, with no combo operations to juggle.

Prefer to treat dressing as its own step? Choose “In separate operation” and a Dressing Welds operation appears in the workflow, pre-filled from your weld definition.

 

Never define the same part twice

Is your new part a close cousin of one you have already done? Copy its definition, or even its complete engineering, and change only what is different. Minutes of clicking become seconds. See how it works in the video.

Copy part definition

 

Drop the files, get the RFQ

Customers send a pile of DXF, DWG, STEP, PDF and image files. Attach them to the RFQ and Express Estimator builds the products for you, pairing files with the same name into a single product. When you create the part, everything is already attached where it belongs. See it in the video.

Generate RFQ products from files

 

Price every operation by what really drives its cost

Time, kilogram or square metre: you choose how each operation is calculated, so even your most unusual processes can be priced properly. Outsourced work quoted per kilogram? Enter the supplier’s price and the part weight is filled in for you. The video shows how.

Calculation types of internal operations

 

A fresh face for the second generation

Express Estimator 2.0 is cleaner, calmer and quicker to read, with plenty of small time-savers added. Need several quantities quoted? Type each one and press Enter, no mouse required.

 

 

And there is more

  • Cones and cylinders in a few clicks: pick the shape, enter its dimensions and the DXF, rolling length, nesting and Rolling operation are all created for you.
  • Tools and Aids: add the clamps, jigs and consumables that go into a job and show them in the quote as one-off charges, included or not as you wish.
  • See how a quote was built: every operation, material, price and markup behind a past quote is one click away.
  • Express Estimator API: new calls for RFQ products, recent quotes and the detailed breakdown of how a quote was calculated, ready for your own systems.
  • Print-ready pages: every page prints or saves to PDF cleanly.

 

In conclusion

Quoting should not be a bottleneck. Every feature above has one purpose: to let you go from a customer drawing or 3D model to a reliable price with fewer clicks and fewer assumptions. And we are not slowing down, more is already on the way.

If you would like to see how Express Estimator would handle your own parts, visit the Express Estimator page or write to us at przoomfab.com.