NDT Quotation Software for Inspection Companies in the USA

Inspection quotes built from rates, crews and scope, sent for e-signature. Request a demo. Affordable. Accessible. Fully customizable. Quote on request.

How NDT work is quoted in the United States

In the United States, most NDT work does not start with a one-off quote. It starts with a master service agreement. Refiners, chemical plants, pipeline operators and EPC contractors typically qualify a handful of inspection vendors, sign an MSA, and agree a rate sheet that governs every job for the life of the contract. After that, individual jobs are released as work orders, call-outs or turnaround scopes against those agreed rates.

That changes what a quotation system has to do. You still send standalone quotes to fabrication shops, smaller plants and new clients. But much of an estimator's week goes on building turnaround estimates against an existing rate sheet, pricing add-on scope the rate sheet does not cover, and answering bid invitations for the next MSA renewal.

The Quotations app in Atlantis NDT ERP is set up for both. Every quote carries the job type, site, project dates and applicable codes. Lines come from an NDT service catalogue flagged by method and category. Clients accept online, and the quote converts to a sales order. Where you work under an MSA, the agreed rate sheet is loaded as client pricing during implementation, so an estimator quoting that client starts from the right figures without opening a spreadsheet.

Atlantis NDT has a base in Houston, so the vocabulary on this page is the one Gulf Coast inspection managers use every day: MSAs, rate sheets, turnarounds, call-outs, portal-to-portal and per diem.

Turnarounds, MSAs and bid invitations

Spring and fall turnaround seasons dominate the calendar for Gulf Coast inspection companies. From Corpus Christi through Houston, Beaumont and Port Arthur, Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, owners plan unit outages months ahead and ask inspection vendors to bid crew sizes, durations and equipment against a defined work list. The same weeks are wanted by every other plant, so a quote that commits a crew you cannot staff is a real business risk.

The Quotations app helps in three ways. First, the job type and project dates on each quote let you filter every open turnaround bid by date range and see where commitments overlap. Second, lines are built from your catalogue, so Level II UT technicians, a Level III, PAUT equipment, radiography crews and consumables are priced the same way on every bid. Third, the CRM opportunity behind the quote already holds estimated technicians and days, so operations can sanity-check headcount before the bid goes in.

For MSA renewals and formal bid invitations, owners often send their own pricing forms. Your branded PDF becomes the technical and commercial cover letter, with scope, assumptions and exclusions, while the client's form carries the numbers in their format. Both come from the same data, so they agree.

Emergency call-outs are different again: short, urgent and often agreed by phone. Here the value is a quick quote from the MSA rates, sent for online acceptance, so the plant contact confirms scope in writing before your crew pulls up at the gate.

Contractor prequalification and what owners check before they buy

Before a US owner will issue a purchase order, your company usually has to be approved as a vendor. Many operators use contractor management platforms such as ISNetworld, Avetta or Veriforce to collect safety statistics, insurance certificates, written safety programs and training records. Pipeline operators add operator qualification requirements for covered tasks under PHMSA rules. Some owners also audit your written practice and quality manual directly.

The ERP does not connect to these platforms, and it does not need to. What it gives you is the evidence behind them in one place, and a quote that states clearly what you are offering. The Certificates app records company certifications with alert days before they lapse, and technician certifications with scheme, level, method and expiry. When a client asks whether the Level II named on a bid is current, the answer is in the system rather than in a binder in the office.

In the quote itself, standard clauses set up during implementation can state your qualification basis: for example, that personnel are qualified and certified to your written practice under ASNT SNT-TC-1A, or to ANSI/ASNT CP-189 where the client specifies it. Aerospace shops working to NAS 410 will want that referenced instead. The Level III reviewing the quote can confirm the stated basis matches what the client's specification demands.

Getting this right on the quote avoids a familiar problem: winning the work and then discovering the client wanted a qualification or a crew make-up you did not offer.

Codes and specifications on US quotes

The applicable codes field on each quote records what the work is performed to. Typical entries for US work include:

Recording these as structured data matters. When a client revises its NDT specification, you can find every open quote that referenced the old revision. When a Level III signs off a technical proposal, the codes sit next to the method lines. And when the job converts, the codes pass to the project, so technicians work to what the client actually bought.

The quote should also say which procedures you will use. The ERP's Procedures app keeps your procedure register by method, standard and revision, which makes citing the right document on a quote a lookup rather than a memory test.

Rate structures common in US NDT work

US rate sheets have their own conventions, and the catalogue is built around the way you already charge. Structures we typically configure, described in words rather than figures:

Overtime rules and the tax treatment of per diem sit with your payroll advisers. The quote simply needs to make each charge visible. Standby, mobilisation and per diem appear as their own lines, and a global discount is available when you agree a commercial concession on a large bid.

Radiography, safety and site requirements in the quote

Radiography scope in the US carries regulatory obligations that belong in the quote's assumptions. Industrial radiography licensing is handled by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or, in Agreement States such as Texas and Louisiana, by the state radiation control program, and 10 CFR Part 34 sets requirements such as radiographer qualification and the presence of at least two qualified people at temporary job sites. Your quote should state that radiography is performed under your license, how barrier areas will be set up, and which shooting windows the client must provide.

OSHA requirements shape site work too. Confined space entry, fall protection, hot work permits and hazard communication all affect how long a job takes and who provides what. Plants require site-specific safety orientation, and facilities covered by maritime security rules along the ship channels require TWIC cards. Those hours are real, and your quote should say who pays for them.

In the ERP, the employee NDT profile holds radiation safety training, radiation badge number and medical fitness expiry, and the Certificates app sends alerts before technician certifications lapse. None of that prints on a quote, but when you promise a qualified radiography crew for a date, operations can check that the people they plan to send will be qualified on that date. Fleet records, including whether a truck can carry radioactive sources and its transport licence details, support the same check for the vehicle.

Sales tax, payment terms and invoicing in the US

The US has no national sales tax. Whether NDT and inspection services are taxable depends on the state, and sometimes on whether the work is classed as a service to real property, a repair or a testing service. Some states tax certain services and others do not. Your accountant makes those calls; during implementation we configure the tax rules and fiscal positions they give us, so the correct tax appears on the quote for each client and site. We make no tax certification claims.

Payment terms are configured the same way. Large operators often dictate long net terms through their MSAs, and many pay through supplier portals that require your invoice to quote their PO and line numbers exactly. Smaller fabrication clients may pay on shorter terms. Each customer carries its own default payment terms, which print on the quote so there is no surprise at invoice time.

When the quote is accepted and the job runs, technician timesheets marked billable, with any overtime multiplier, feed billing. Invoicing carries the NDT project, the client's PO number and the site on the invoice header, with labour, equipment and consumables subtotals, so the invoice reads like the quote the client signed. That consistency is what shortens the back-and-forth with accounts payable teams.

Branded quotes, online acceptance and 3D deliverables

The custom branded quotation PDF carries your logo, company details and the NDT header fields: job type, site, project dates and applicable codes. For owners who judge vendors partly on presentation, a consistent proposal document matters, particularly when you are bidding against national inspection firms with large proposal teams.

Online acceptance uses Atlantis ERP's standard customer portal. A plant maintenance contact can accept a call-out quote with an online signature from a phone, even while procurement is still raising the formal PO. The acceptance is logged against the quote and converts it to a sales order, so dispatch can move.

Some US owners now want inspection results in a form their reliability and integrity teams can read visually. Atlantis's companion product, Digital Twin Reporting Software, places inspection results on a 3D model of the asset and works alongside the ERP's NDT Reports app. It is a separate product; if a client wants that deliverable, it is one more line in your catalogue.

For the estimator, that means one place to price inspection, reporting and any 3D deliverable, and one document for the client to sign.

From accepted quote to crew on site

Once a quote converts, the rest of Atlantis NDT ERP picks it up. The project carries job type, site, client PO, methods, codes and scope. Team Assignments dispatches crews against the dates, records mobilisation and demobilisation, blocks double-booking of technicians and equipment serial numbers, and warns when assigned equipment is out of calibration. Timesheets record inspection, travel, standby and setup hours by method, and warn if a technician's certificate is not valid.

For a Gulf Coast company running several turnarounds at once, this is where a good quote pays off. The operations manager sees which crews are committed where, which jobs are still at quote stage, and which quotes are accepted but not yet staffed. Nothing is retyped, and the rate structure the client agreed is the one the invoice follows.

Reports tie back as well: the NDT Reports app captures work order, contract, drawing and procedure references, so the report a client's inspector reviews points to the same job that was quoted. The full list of connected modules is on the ERP apps page.

Setting up Quotations for a US NDT company

Implementation covers loading your MSA rate sheets as client pricing; building the catalogue by method and category; setting up job types that match how you work, such as turnaround, call-out, shop, new construction and resident inspector; adding your codes and client specification library; designing the branded PDF with your standard terms and radiography assumptions; configuring state tax rules and payment terms; and enabling online acceptance.

We also import your open quotes and active clients, and train estimators and operations managers on the workflow, so the first turnaround season on the system is not the first time anyone has used it. Anything beyond the listed features, such as a client-specific approval chain, is agreed as part of the customization scope.

The ERP is affordable, accessible and fully customizable, and implementation is quote on request. Book a US Quotations demo and bring a current rate sheet.

Frequently asked questions

Can we load different rate sheets for different MSA clients?

Yes. Each client's agreed rates are set up as pricing during implementation, so an estimator quoting that client gets the MSA rates by default. Rates come from the catalogue and pricing, not from figures typed onto each quote.

Does the app calculate state sales tax on inspection services?

It applies the tax rules configured for each client and site during implementation, based on your accountant's advice about which states tax your services. No tax certification is claimed; the setup follows your advisers.

Can a plant contact accept a call-out quote from the field?

Yes. The quote is sent as a link to the customer portal, where the contact signs online. The acceptance is recorded and the quote converts to a sales order, ready for dispatch.

Can the quote state that we qualify personnel to SNT-TC-1A or CP-189?

Yes. Your standard terms can state your qualification basis, and the Certificates app records each technician's scheme, level, method and expiry so you can back the statement up.

Does it connect to ISNetworld or Avetta?

No. The ERP does not integrate with contractor management platforms. It holds the certifications and records you upload to them, with expiry alerts, so the evidence stays current.

What does the Quotations app cost?

Quote on request. Pricing depends on users, apps and customization scope. Request a quote for your company.

Quote your next turnaround in the system

If your turnaround bids still live in copied spreadsheets, the next season is a good time to change that. Show us one bid and one MSA rate sheet, and we will walk through how both would be built, sent, accepted and carried into dispatch and invoicing. Talk to us about a demo.

Quotations by region

Works with

Send an enquiry about Quotations · All ERP apps · Atlantis NDT ERP

Built for any business that runs on operations

Most companies do not fail at their craft. They lose time, margin and goodwill in the gaps between the tools they use to run the place — a quoting spreadsheet that does not talk to the job sheet, a job sheet that does not reach accounts, and a compliance folder nobody can search when a client asks. Atlantis closes those gaps by putting the whole operation on one platform, so information is entered once and everything downstream stays in step.

What you can run on it

  • Sales and CRM — leads, quotes, follow-ups and the pipeline that tells you what next month looks like.
  • Projects and job costing — plan the work, track the hours and materials against it, and see the margin while the job is still live rather than at final account.
  • Field and service teams — dispatch, schedules, mobile capture that works with no signal, and sign-off from site.
  • Inventory and purchasing — stock, suppliers, reorder points and goods receipt, joined to the jobs that consume them.
  • People — records, qualifications and licences with renewal reminders, timesheets, leave and payroll.
  • Quality and documents — procedures and forms under revision control, with the audit trail an inspection or accreditation body actually asks for.
  • Accounts — invoicing, expenses, multi-currency and the reporting your accountant stops chasing you for.

Affordable, accessible, fully customizable — and we mean each word

Affordable because the whole suite is included rather than sold to you a module at a time, and because implementation is done by people who have run operations rather than by a chain of subcontractors. Accessible because it runs in a browser and on a phone, works for a small team on day one, and does not need a specialist on staff to keep it alive. Fully customizable because your process is the thing that makes you competitive — the software should bend to it, not the other way round.

Industries we configure for

Service businesses and contractors, manufacturing and fabrication, trading and distribution, laboratories and testing houses, engineering consultancies, construction and facilities, and asset owners across energy, marine, aerospace and infrastructure. Inspection and testing is where we started, and it remains the sector we go deepest in — but the platform underneath is general-purpose, and most of what it does has nothing to do with inspection at all.

What happens when you get in touch

A short conversation, not a sales sequence. We ask how the business runs today and where it hurts, show you the platform doing that work, and send a written quote shaped to your region, your team size and the scope you actually need. No obligation, nothing to install first, and no pressure to decide on the call. Reach out and tell us what you are trying to fix.

Related: business management platform · inspection management software · choosing the right category of software · modules · by industry · asset integrity platform. Book a free consultation.

Speak to an ASNT NDT Level III

Atlantis NDT provides ASNT Level III consulting, NDT training to ASNT SNT-TC-1A, inspection management software and independent report validation. Request a free consultation and we will return a tailored quote — affordable, accessible and fully customizable to your programme.