I have always been told by wire manufacturers that they had a plus or minus ten percent tolerance
Wait until you order $950,000 worth of cable, mostly made to order at the factory. They quoted me a +10%/-0% tolerance. I refuse to accept anything short - I'm pulling anywhere from 300 ft to 1500 ft runs of anything from 3/C #12 up to 3/C #500, so a few feet short causes big problems. I ordered anywhere from 1,200 ft to 12,000 ft of cable per reel. About half of my 65 reel order (47 miles of cable) came in at exactly +10%, the other half came in at the exact length I ordered or plus a few feet. Basically the terms and conditions allow the manufacturer to increase their sales by 10% if they're in the mood to do it! Next time I place a big wire order I'm specifying +10 feet/-0 feet.
The fact that a bunch of my reels came in exactly 10% over really bugs me - if they can get that close, why not send me the exact number I ordered? Just one more way they're invented to screw the customer, and the distributors and manufacturers act like it's perfectly normal to have T&C's that allow them to increase sales by 10% at their discretion!