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
- hello@open-factory.com
- 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 $87,995, verified 31 August 2026 via MachineToolIndex against the Haas price list. What the benchmark will show is how far a delivered, optioned, rigged machine lands from that list, and what Mazak, Okuma and DMG Mori machines with no public list actually sell for.
How a quote becomes a cell
- Contribution. A quote or invoice, uploaded or transcribed, with the configuration fields for its class (spindle speed, travels, tool changer, probing, automation for a machining center; payload, reach, controller for a robot; kVA, voltage, impedance for a transformer; ampacity, sections, breaker frame for a switchboard; kW, fuel, tier for a genset). The contributor confirms there is no confidentiality clause.
- Normalization. The price is reduced to the class’s unit convention ($/machine at base configuration with options listed, $/kVA, $/section, $/kW) and tagged with region and quote month.
- 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.
- 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.
Articles built on this model
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Fiber Laser Cutters: What a $500,000 Price Gap Buys
A Chinese 6 to 12 kW fiber laser sells for $45,000 to $85,000 FOB in December 2025 and lands at about $128,000 after the 41% duty stack, while federal buyers paid $645,000 to $1.75 million in 2025, a $504,000 gap to the cheapest award Open Factory's Equipment Price Benchmark itemizes.
Tariffs, September 2026: The Actual Schedule for Machinery and Electrical Gear
As of September 2026 a 2,500 kVA pad-mount transformer pays 25% US duty from every origin and 50% from China, while a low-voltage panel with its PLC pays 0% from Mexico, 10% from Germany, 12.5% from Japan and 40.2% from China, per Open Factory's Tariff Exposure Calculator.
SendCutSend: How a Bootstrapped Reno Shop Became a $1 Billion Parts Factory
SendCutSend cuts an aluminum bracket in 2 to 4 production days with no minimum quantity, has shipped more than 30 million parts to 300,000 customers from three US plants, and raised $110 million at a $1.01 billion valuation in May 2026. Open Factory's Lead-Time Monitor tracks the turnaround.
The Recommended Spares List Is Where the Margin Hides
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800 VDC Will Strand Your White-Space Frame Agreement
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CloudNC and Limitless Labs: AI Is Coming for the CNC Programming Bottleneck
CloudNC and Limitless Labs raised $40 million between them from 16 June to 8 September 2026 to automate CNC programming for the 4,790 CNC tool programmers in America's 16,619 machine shops, and Open Factory's seat math shows a 50% CAM cut returns about $22,139 a year per programmer.
OFCI vs Design-Build: How Hyperscalers Buy Chillers and Colo Developers Do Not
Owner-furnished, contractor-installed chillers and CDUs for a 20 MW liquid-cooled hall cost $27.9 million against $32.8 million through the mechanical subcontract, a saving of $4.9 million or 14.9%, because OFCI strips a 15% subcontractor markup and 10% GC fee, per Open Factory's Datacenter MEP Cost Table as of June 2026.
Grainger's 2017 Confession: The Year a Distributor Admitted Its List Prices Were Fiction
On April 18, 2017, W.W. Grainger told investors its first quarter fell short because customers responded to across-the-board list price cuts and new web prices on about 450,000 SKUs, and US gross margin fell 1.7 points in one quarter, a reset Open Factory's Bid-Tab Price Book traces through 2026.
1,250 Hours: Reading BMW's Humanoid Pilot as a Buyer
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The $306k Machine: A Record Half-Year With Fewer Units
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A Robot Costs $61k. The Cell Costs $150k
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Nox Metals: The Detroit Startup Cutting Aluminum Plate in 36 Hours
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What a Haas VF-2 Really Costs in 2026
A new Haas VF-2 lists at $70,995, which is 35% of the roughly $172,523 net ten-year bill for a one-shift job shop once maintenance, one spindle, power, coolant and cutting tools are added, per Open Factory's Bid-Tab Price Book worked example as of September 2026.
Copper at $6.77: How a 50% Tariff Shows Up in a 200-Amp Panel
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The Used and Refurbished Market Nobody Indexes
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1872, Foundational Industries and Hadrian: Three Blueprints for the Autonomous American Factory
Between July 2025 and August 2026, 1872, Foundational Industries and Hadrian raised $1.41 billion to build autonomous American factories: $15 million, $25 million and $1.37 billion respectively, with Hadrian's four plants totalling just under 3 million square feet. Open Factory's Lead-Time Monitor will track each one's delivered lead time.
Japan Is Eating the US Capex Boom
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Transformer Lead Times Hit 143 Weeks: Who Gets Delivered First
A generator step-up transformer ordered in the United States was quoted at 143 weeks in the second quarter of 2025, a substation power transformer at 128 weeks and medium-voltage switchgear at 44, per Wood Mackenzie, against about 50 weeks in 2021, and Open Factory's Lead-Time Monitor lists both readings.
Quote Check: What Your Switchgear Quote Should Have Said
Open Factory's Quote Check tool places a switchgear quote against public awards: Riverside Public Utilities paid $2,254,387.50 for a 15 kV metal-clad lineup in May 2025, 52% above the $1,481,321 median of 12 public awards dated December 2016 to May 2025 in the Public Bid-Tab Price Book.
One Steel Mill Gates Every US Transformer
Every pound of domestic grain-oriented electrical steel in a US transformer core is melted at Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works, a plant with a 920 mm maximum coil width, and the transformer PPI is up 91% since December 2019 at 381.8 in July 2026, per Open Factory's Lead-Time Monitor.
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The Copper and Wire Price Sheet, Weekly
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The $2,850 Report That Says Nothing
IBISWorld's $2,850 ProcurementIQ switchgear report prices the whole category at one $37,300 benchmark, while the 118 public awards in Open Factory's Public Bid-Tab Price Book run from $12,492 for a pad-mount switch in 2019 to $3,827,000 for a 34.5 kV lineup in September 2024.
Building the Missing Index: Realized Auction Prices for Used CNC Machines
Used CNC machines lose about half their hammer value every 3.9 years, based on 144 realized auction lots from June 2023 to September 2026 in Open Factory's Bid-Tab Price Book, and a five-year-old Haas VF-2SS hammered at $36,600 in November 2025, 43.6% of its $83,995 list price.
Introducing the Public Bid-Tab Price Book
Open Factory's Public Bid-Tab Price Book launches as version 0.1 with 2,712 public award lines and 51 price bands, and across 297 lines dated January 2024 to August 2026 the median three-phase pad-mount price runs from $153 per kVA at 75 to 167 kVA to $30 at 1,500 to 2,500.
Book-to-Bill League Table, Q2 2026: Every Electrical OEM
Powell Industries posted a book-to-bill of 3.0 in the quarter to June 30 2026, booking $934 million of switchgear orders against $312 million shipped, and all eight electrical OEMs that print a ratio sit above 1.0, down to Eaton at 1.2, in Open Factory's Book-to-Bill League Table.
Introducing the Open Factory Lead-Time Monitor
Schneider Electric quotes low-voltage switchgear at 50 weeks from release to manufacturing in its September 2026 Lead Times Guide, and Open Factory's Lead-Time Monitor, launched as version 0.1, puts all eleven equipment classes in one table, of which only four have an OEM-published lead time.