Metal prices move over time, sometimes sharply. A supplier price list imported months or years ago and never refreshed quietly stops representing real cost, and every quote using it inherits that gap without anyone noticing until the material is actually bought.
How the error accumulates
If a material has risen 10% in recent months while the list in the system still carries the old price, every quote based on it understates the real cost by the same percentage — an error repeating identically on every job using that material, until somebody updates the list.
Why it goes unnoticed
The gap between the price quoted and the price actually paid emerges only when the material is ordered, often weeks after the quote went to the customer — by which point it is far too late to revisit the agreed price.
A minimum update cadence
Even without automatic imports, setting a minimum cadence — quarterly for your main suppliers, half-yearly for the rest — cuts the risk dramatically. It is a small organisational commitment that protects margin on every job that follows.