Supplier Quote Comparison — Normalise to Landed Cost

Three quotes arrive on three different bases — one EXW, one CIF, different carton sizes, different motor efficiency. Ranking them by unit price is usually wrong. This restates them on one basis.

A comparison aid using the figures you enter. It does not verify supplier claims — efficiency, lifetime and lead time should be confirmed against documentation before they are relied on.

Incoterms first, everything else second

Until two quotes are on the same Incoterm they are not comparable at all. EXW leaves origin haulage, export clearance, ocean freight, duty and delivery with you; DDP leaves you almost nothing. The gap between an EXW and a DDP price for the same goods is routinely 20–35%, which is larger than any discount either supplier will offer.

Energy usually decides it on anything that runs continuously

A fan running 6,000 hours a year consumes many times its purchase price in electricity over its life. A 90 W difference in input power at typical industrial tariffs outweighs a $20 difference in unit price within the first two years. For equipment that runs continuously, input power at the duty point is a commercial specification, not a technical footnote.

Compare at the duty point, not at nameplate

Two fans rated for the same airflow can draw very different power at your system pressure. Ask for input power at the actual duty point from the fan curve rather than the nameplate figure — nameplate is the motor rating, not what the fan draws in your installation.

What this tool deliberately leaves out

Lead time, payment terms, warranty length, spares availability and the cost of a supplier failing mid-programme are all real and none of them are in the arithmetic above. Where two quotes come out close, those factors should decide — not a few dollars of computed difference.

Link to or cite this tool

If this calculator is useful in a specification, tender document or forum answer, please link to it rather than copying the figures — the assumptions behind it are stated above and may be updated.

https://www.hvacrnexus.com/tools/quote-comparison-calculator/

Working out the fan side

Once the refrigeration duty is fixed, the evaporator fans and any condenser fans are a separate calculation. Longwell publishes a set of fan-side tools — airflow, static pressure, fan laws and motor sizing — at longwellfans.com.

Equipment this calculation points to

Questions about this calculation

Why can the cheaper quote end up more expensive?
Three common reasons: it is quoted on a different Incoterm so freight and duty are still to come; its packaging is bulkier so it costs more per unit to ship; or it draws more power and the energy difference outweighs the purchase saving. Any one of these can reverse the ranking.
How much does motor efficiency actually matter?
On continuously running equipment, a great deal. At 6,000 hours a year and typical industrial electricity prices, each 100 W of extra input power costs roughly $90 a year per unit. Across a few hundred units and several years that dwarfs the purchase price difference between an AC and an EC motor.
What should I ask suppliers so quotes are comparable?
Specify the Incoterm and destination port in the enquiry, ask for packed carton dimensions and gross weight, and ask for input power at your duty point rather than nameplate. Those three things make quotes comparable; without them every quote is on its own basis.

Send us the duty and we will quote matched equipment

Give us the figure this calculator produced, your room temperature and your location — we will come back with condensing unit and evaporator options, price and lead time, usually within one working day.