Billet
Solid stock a part is machined from, and shorthand for the make-from decision that sets both the material line and the machining hours before any cutting starts.
The quoting argument billet belongs to is buy weight against finish weight. A part hogged from solid starts as a block that may weigh 5 or 10 times what ships, and the difference leaves as chips that were bought at full price per pound. So a billet quote carries 2 linked costs, the material at gross weight, and the machine hours spent converting most of that material into scrap. When the ratio gets extreme, the same print is often cheaper as a forging or casting with machining only on the surfaces that matter, and the right quote sometimes says so.
That make-from decision is the first line of the takeoff, and it moves everything downstream. Solid means longer cycles, heavier roughing, more tool wear, and a material line that dominates the sheet. A near-net starting point means a tooling or pattern cost up front, a supplier lead time, and far fewer machine hours per piece. Which one wins depends on volume, and the crossover is arithmetic rather than opinion, tooling amortised across the program against chips saved per piece.
Where it costs money is quoting the print instead of the material market. Billet availability in odd alloys swings, mill minimums force buying more than the job needs, and a material line priced from an old quote in a moving market is wrong by the market’s movement. Date the stock quote behind the line, the same discipline the material section of how to quote a machined part applies to bar, and treat the remnant and the chips as the real costs they are.