ModelVersion 0.0Coming

Equipment Price Benchmark

Contributed quotes and invoices for machine tools, robots and electrical gear, normalized to spec. Launches as a contribution form and a promise; distributions publish only when a cell has five or more contributors and eight or more quotes.

Contribution form openno distribution is printed until a cell meets the size rules; contributions received so far: none

0
Contributions received. The count prints here and nowhere else, and only when true.
5 and 8
Minimum contributors and minimum quotes per cell before any distribution publishes; no contributor above 40% of a cell
3 months
Minimum age of every quote in a published cell, so no live negotiation is exposed
$70,995
Haas VF-2 list price, the one published machine-tool list in the US, verified 31 August 2026; the benchmark's first reference point

What it covers

Quotes and invoices for vertical and horizontal machining centers, 5-axis machines, Swiss lathes, industrial robots and cobots, PLC and drive packages, LV switchgear and switchboards, pad-mount transformers and standby gensets, normalized to configuration (spindle, travels, tool changer, payload, reach, kVA, ampacity, kW, tier) and to region and quote date. Published as distributions per cell: median, interquartile range, n and contributor count. Never an individual quote.

Cadence
Quarterly, once any cell clears the threshold
Compiled from
Contributions (none yet); Haas published price list; Public Bid-Tab Price Book awards as the public-record anchor for each cell
Delivered as
Web distributions per cell, CSV of cell statistics
Updates
Quarterly once cells clear the threshold
Onboarding
Contributor guide
Support
[email protected]
Tier
Contribute to see

Who uses it and what it decides

  • Job shops and plant managersWhether a machine or robot quote is in line with what other shops paid for the same configuration.
  • Sourcing managers at multi-plant groupsWhich plants are paying above the distribution for the same gear, and by how much.
  • Contractors buying gear for their own jobsWhether a distributor's switchboard quote is inside the band before the bid goes in.

Methodology

Where it stands

The Equipment Price Benchmark is a contribution form and a promise, nothing more. Zero contributions have been received. No count, no distribution and no band will print until a cell holds five or more contributors and eight or more quotes, with no contributor above 40% of the cell and every quote at least three months old. Those rules are on the methodology page and will not be relaxed to get a number out sooner.

The one public reference point today is Haas, the only US machine-tool builder with a published list: VF-2 $70,995, VF-2YT $78,995, VF-2SS $83,995, VF-3 $87,995, verified 31 August 2026 via MachineToolIndex against the Haas price list. What the benchmark will show is how far a delivered, optioned, rigged machine lands from that list, and what Mazak, Okuma and DMG Mori machines with no public list actually sell for.

How a quote becomes a cell

  1. Contribution. A quote or invoice, uploaded or transcribed, with the configuration fields for its class (spindle speed, travels, tool changer, probing, automation for a machining center; payload, reach, controller for a robot; kVA, voltage, impedance for a transformer; ampacity, sections, breaker frame for a switchboard; kW, fuel, tier for a genset). The contributor confirms there is no confidentiality clause.
  2. Normalization. The price is reduced to the class’s unit convention ($/machine at base configuration with options listed, $/kVA, $/section, $/kW) and tagged with region and quote month.
  3. Cell test. A cell is a class, a configuration band, a region and a rolling four-quarter window. It publishes only when it meets the size rules.
  4. Publication. Median, interquartile range, n and contributor count. Nothing else.

What is free and what is paid

  • Contribute to see: contributors see the distributions for their cells.
  • Pro: all published cells.
  • Institutional: cell statistics as CSV and API, with quarterly updates for a year, an onboarding call and ad hoc calls. Never rows.

Articles that set it up

What a Haas VF-2 Really Costs in 2026 is the first cell’s public anchor. Reading a Switchgear Quote and How to Write an RFQ for Capital Equipment in 2026 define the configuration fields for the electrical cells. Public awards from the Public Bid-Tab Price Book anchor each cell before any contribution arrives.

Version history

  • 0.0 (September 2026). Contribution form open. No contributions. Cell rules published.

What version 1 adds

Version 1 exists when the first cell passes the size test. It will print the cell, its n and its contributor count, and merge into the Bid-Tab Price Book bands where the classes overlap. A lawyer’s memo on information exchange and defamation precedes the first publication.

Known gaps

Everything. This page exists so the rules are public before the data is.

Questions

Who sees my quote?

Nobody outside Open Factory. Contributors are anonymous, quotes are stored without contributor identity, and only distributions publish. OEMs and distributors never see an individual quote, price or document.

What do I get for contributing?

Access to the distributions for the cells you contributed to, once they publish. That is the 'contribute to see' tier.

Why the three-month rule?

So no cell can expose a negotiation that is still open. A quote enters a cell only after it is at least three months old.

What if my quote is under NDA?

Do not send it. The form asks you to confirm the document carries no confidentiality clause. The benchmark publishes distributions, never a document.

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