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Handcraft

Cost Breakdown Calculator

Split the cost of any craft project into materials, labour, packaging and overhead, and see the true cost per item.

General Crafting
Most craft costing stops at the materials, which is why so many makers find that a busy month made no money. This calculator breaks a project into four cost blocks that apply to any craft: materials, your time, packaging and overhead. It returns the total, the cost per item and each block as a share of the whole, which is the figure that shows where a project really spends its money.

At a glance

What you enter
Materials for the batch, Hours for the batch, Your rate per hour, Packaging for the batch, Anything else direct, Overhead as a percentage of the direct cost, Items in the batch, Markup for the selling price, Marketplace or gallery commission
What you get
Cost of your time, Direct cost of the batch, Overhead share, Total cost of the batch, Cost per item, Materials per item, Your time per item, Packaging per item, Overhead per item, Materials as a share of the cost, Labour as a share of the cost, Packaging as a share of the cost, Overhead as a share of the cost, Selling price per item, Profit per item, Margin, Profit per item after commission, Materials as a share of the selling price
Formula shown
Yes, every step, right below your results.
Cost and privacy
Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.

See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓

Everything consumed: the main material, thread, glue, finish, fasteners, and the failed pieces.

Your real figure, not a token one.

Boxes, tissue, labels, cards, bags.

Outsourced work, a bought in component, printing, a kiln firing charge from a third party.

Workshop costs that exist whether or not the project is made. Ten to twenty five percent of direct cost is a realistic range.

Used for the price line. Two and a half to three and a half is common for handmade goods sold retail.

Zero for a direct sale.

Reset

Results are estimates for general information only, always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.

How to use the Cost Breakdown Calculator

  1. 1 Enter Materials for the batch, Everything consumed: the main material, thread, glue, finish, fasteners, and the failed pieces.
  2. 2 Enter Hours for the batch (h)
  3. 3 Enter Your rate per hour, Your real figure, not a token one.
  4. 4 Enter Packaging for the batch, Boxes, tissue, labels, cards, bags.
  5. 5 Enter Anything else direct, Outsourced work, a bought in component, printing, a kiln firing charge from a third party.
  6. 6 Enter Overhead as a percentage of the direct cost (%), Workshop costs that exist whether or not the project is made. Ten to twenty five percent of direct cost is a realistic range.
  7. 7 Enter Items in the batch
  8. 8 Enter Markup for the selling price (times), Used for the price line. Two and a half to three and a half is common for handmade goods sold retail.
  9. 9 Enter Marketplace or gallery commission (%), Zero for a direct sale.
  10. 10 Press Calculate. You get Cost of your time, Direct cost of the batch, Overhead share, Total cost of the batch, Cost per item, Materials per item, Your time per item, Packaging per item, Overhead per item, Materials as a share of the cost, Labour as a share of the cost, Packaging as a share of the cost, Overhead as a share of the cost, Selling price per item, Profit per item, Margin, Profit per item after commission, Materials as a share of the selling price, and every intermediate step stays visible under "How is this calculated?"
  11. 11 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result, that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.

Worked examples

Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.

A batch of ten small items

Eighty five in materials, twelve hours at 18, 14 of packaging, fifteen percent overhead.

You enter

Materials for the batch
$85.00
Hours for the batch
12 h
Your rate per hour
$18.00
Packaging for the batch
$14.00
Anything else direct
$0.00
Overhead as a percentage of the direct cost
15%
Items in the batch
10
Markup for the selling price
2.80 times
Marketplace or gallery commission
0%

You get

Cost of your time
$216.00
Direct cost of the batch
$315.00
Overhead share
$47.25
Total cost of the batch
$362.25
Cost per item
$36.23
Materials per item
$8.50
Your time per item
$21.60
Packaging per item
$1.40
Overhead per item
$4.73
Materials as a share of the cost
23.5%
Labour as a share of the cost
59.6%
Packaging as a share of the cost
3.9%
Overhead as a share of the cost
13.0%
Selling price per item
$101.43
Profit per item
$65.21
Margin
64.3%
Profit per item after commission
$65.21
Materials as a share of the selling price
8.4%

Total cost 371.25, so 37.13 an item, of which labour is 21.60 and materials only 8.50. At a 2.8 times markup the price is about 104.

Open this example in the calculator →

A material heavy batch

Four hundred of materials, six hours at 18, thirty of packaging.

You enter

Materials for the batch
$400.00
Hours for the batch
6 h
Your rate per hour
$18.00
Packaging for the batch
$30.00
Anything else direct
$20.00
Overhead as a percentage of the direct cost
20%
Items in the batch
8
Markup for the selling price
2.50 times
Marketplace or gallery commission
35%

You get

Cost of your time
$108.00
Direct cost of the batch
$558.00
Overhead share
$111.60
Total cost of the batch
$669.60
Cost per item
$83.70
Materials per item
$50.00
Your time per item
$13.50
Packaging per item
$3.75
Overhead per item
$13.95
Materials as a share of the cost
59.7%
Labour as a share of the cost
16.1%
Packaging as a share of the cost
4.5%
Overhead as a share of the cost
16.7%
Selling price per item
$209.25
Profit per item
$125.55
Margin
60.0%
Profit per item after commission
$52.31
Materials as a share of the selling price
23.9%

Materials are two thirds of the cost here, so a supplier discount matters far more than a faster process. Commission takes a third of the price.

Open this example in the calculator →

A slow, low material project

Twenty of materials and thirty hours of work.

You enter

Materials for the batch
$20.00
Hours for the batch
30 h
Your rate per hour
$18.00
Packaging for the batch
$6.00
Anything else direct
$0.00
Overhead as a percentage of the direct cost
15%
Items in the batch
1
Markup for the selling price
3 times
Marketplace or gallery commission
0%

You get

Cost of your time
$540.00
Direct cost of the batch
$566.00
Overhead share
$84.90
Total cost of the batch
$650.90
Cost per item
$650.90
Materials per item
$20.00
Your time per item
$540.00
Packaging per item
$6.00
Overhead per item
$84.90
Materials as a share of the cost
3.1%
Labour as a share of the cost
83.0%
Packaging as a share of the cost
0.9%
Overhead as a share of the cost
13.0%
Selling price per item
$1,952.70
Profit per item
$1,301.80
Margin
66.7%
Profit per item after commission
$1,301.80
Materials as a share of the selling price
1.0%

Cost per item about 645, almost all of it labour. The question this breakdown answers is whether the piece can be made faster rather than whether materials can be bought cheaper.

Open this example in the calculator →

Guides that go with it

Standard Paper Sizes for Crafts and Handmade Projects

If you are pricing a paper project, the honest headline is this: most small handmade paper projects cost somewhere between a few dollars and about $30 in materials, and a bigger run of cards, journals...

The Complete Handcraft Measurement Guide for Beginners

If you are new to crafting, measuring is usually the first place things go sideways: a cut is 3 mm short, two "identical" squares are not identical, or a pattern that looked fine on paper does not fit...

How to Fix Common Handmade Crafting Mistakes

You just finished a project and something went wrong. Maybe a seam puckered, a wood joint gaps, glue oozed where it shouldn't, or the paint dried with brush marks. This guide walks you through the fix...

Frequently asked questions

What should be in a craft cost breakdown?
Four blocks: materials, your time, packaging and overhead. Materials includes every consumable and the failed attempts, labour is the real hours multiplied by a real hourly rate, packaging covers the box and the label, and overhead covers the workshop costs that exist whether or not the project is made. Most home costings contain only the first block, which is why a busy month can still make no money.
How do I work out overhead for a small craft business?
Add up the annual costs that do not change with output: rent or its equivalent, insurance, tools, machinery maintenance, software, the website, the phone and the accountant. Divide by the number of productive hours in a year to get an hourly overhead, or express it as a percentage of direct cost. Ten to twenty five percent of direct cost is a workable range for a small business, and the share each project carries is what the overhead line here reports.
Why is my labour the largest cost?
Because handmade work is mostly labour. A batch of ten items taking twelve hours at 18 an hour is 216 of time against perhaps 85 of materials, so labour is about two thirds of the cost. That is not a problem with the calculation, it is what handmade means. The decision it forces is whether the price covers that time, whether the process can be made faster, or whether the design should be simplified.
How do I price from the cost per item?
Multiply the cost per item by a markup. Two and a half to three and a half times cost is common for handmade goods sold retail, which is a margin of 60 to 71 percent. Then check the commission: at 40 percent commission a 2.8 times markup leaves about a quarter of the selling price as profit, which is thinner than most makers expect. The commission line here shows that before the price is published rather than after.

More money questions answered →

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