Custom Order Pricing Calculator
Quote a bespoke order from the design time, the materials and the risk, with the deposit and the fees worked out.
A custom order is not a made to order listing, because the design time, the messages and the risk of a change of mind are all on the maker. This calculator builds a quote from the design hours, the making hours, the materials and a contingency for the things that always go wrong, then works out the deposit to ask for and what the payment fee takes. The contingency line is not padding: it is the cost of the revision that arrives after the work is finished.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Materials, Making hours, Design and communication hours, Rate you want to be paid, Contingency, Delivery, Payment processing, Fixed charge per payment, Deposit, Target margin on the quote, Number of payments
- What you get
- Contingency, Total cost, Quote, Quote rounded up to the next ten, Deposit to ask for, Balance on completion, Deposit after the fee, The deposit covers the materials, Materials the deposit does not cover, Profit before payment fees, Payment fees, Profit after payment fees, Margin achieved, Profit per hour, Total hours on the order, Design time as a share of the hours, Revision hours the contingency buys
- 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 ↓
Results are estimates for general information only, always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.
How to use the Custom Order Pricing Calculator
- 1 Enter Materials, Everything bought specifically for this order, including the waste and the delivery.
- 2 Enter Making hours (h)
- 3 Enter Design and communication hours (h), The brief, the sketches, the samples, the messages and the revisions. Charge for it.
- 4 Enter Rate you want to be paid
- 5 Enter Contingency (%), Cover the wrong shade, the second attempt, the extra messages and the mid project change. Ten to twenty percent is normal.
- 6 Enter Delivery, Postage, packing and insurance, if the customer is not paying it separately.
- 7 Enter Payment processing (%)
- 8 Enter Fixed charge per payment, Paid on each instalment, so a deposit and a balance pay it twice.
- 9 Enter Deposit (%), Fifty percent is the convention for bespoke work and covers the materials bought up front.
- 10 Enter Target margin on the quote (%), Optional. A MARGIN, a share of the quote. Used to price from the margin rather than from a markup.
- 11 Enter Number of payments, A deposit plus a balance is two payments, so the fixed charge is paid twice.
- 12 Press Calculate. You get Contingency, Total cost, Quote, Quote rounded up to the next ten, Deposit to ask for, Balance on completion, Deposit after the fee, The deposit covers the materials, Materials the deposit does not cover, Profit before payment fees, Payment fees, Profit after payment fees, Margin achieved, Profit per hour, Total hours on the order, Design time as a share of the hours, Revision hours the contingency buys, and every intermediate step stays visible under "How is this calculated?"
- 13 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 bespoke leather bag
Sixty five dollars of materials, eight making hours and three design hours.
You enter
- Materials
- $65.00
- Making hours
- 8 h
- Design and communication hours
- 3 h
- Rate you want to be paid
- $30.00
- Contingency
- 15%
- Delivery
- $12.00
- Payment processing
- 3%
- Fixed charge per payment
- $0.30
- Deposit
- 50%
- Target margin on the quote
- 0%
- Number of payments
- 2
You get
- Contingency
- $59.25
- Total cost
- $466.25
- Quote
- $699.38
- Quote rounded up to the next ten
- $700.00
- Deposit to ask for
- $349.69
- Balance on completion
- $349.69
- Deposit after the fee
- $338.90
- The deposit covers the materials
- 1
- Materials the deposit does not cover
- $0.00
- Profit before payment fees
- $233.13
- Payment fees
- $21.58
- Profit after payment fees
- $211.54
- Margin achieved
- 30.2%
- Profit per hour
- $19.23
- Total hours on the order
- 11.00 h
- Design time as a share of the hours
- 27.3%
- Revision hours the contingency buys
- 1.98 h
A base cost of 395, a total of 466.25 with the contingency and delivery, and a quote of 699.38 at a 50 percent markup, leaving 284.13 of profit and 25.83 an hour.
The same bag priced on a 45 percent margin
The margin convention, which needs a much higher price for the same percentage.
You enter
- Materials
- $65.00
- Making hours
- 8 h
- Design and communication hours
- 3 h
- Rate you want to be paid
- $30.00
- Contingency
- 15%
- Delivery
- $12.00
- Payment processing
- 3%
- Fixed charge per payment
- $0.30
- Deposit
- 50%
- Target margin on the quote
- 45%
- Number of payments
- 2
You get
- Contingency
- $59.25
- Total cost
- $466.25
- Quote
- $847.73
- Quote rounded up to the next ten
- $850.00
- Deposit to ask for
- $423.86
- Balance on completion
- $423.86
- Deposit after the fee
- $410.85
- The deposit covers the materials
- 1
- Materials the deposit does not cover
- $0.00
- Profit before payment fees
- $381.48
- Payment fees
- $26.03
- Profit after payment fees
- $355.45
- Margin achieved
- 41.9%
- Profit per hour
- $32.31
- Total hours on the order
- 11.00 h
- Design time as a share of the hours
- 27.3%
- Revision hours the contingency buys
- 1.98 h
The same cost quoted on a 45 percent margin comes to 847.73, which is why the convention has to be stated when a percentage is quoted.
A small commission with a low deposit
A 40 dollar material cost with only a 25 percent deposit.
You enter
- Materials
- $40.00
- Making hours
- 3 h
- Design and communication hours
- 1 h
- Rate you want to be paid
- $25.00
- Contingency
- 12%
- Delivery
- $8.00
- Payment processing
- 3%
- Fixed charge per payment
- $0.30
- Deposit
- 25%
- Target margin on the quote
- 0%
- Number of payments
- 2
You get
- Contingency
- $16.80
- Total cost
- $164.80
- Quote
- $247.20
- Quote rounded up to the next ten
- $250.00
- Deposit to ask for
- $61.80
- Balance on completion
- $185.40
- Deposit after the fee
- $59.65
- The deposit covers the materials
- 1
- Materials the deposit does not cover
- $0.00
- Profit before payment fees
- $82.40
- Payment fees
- $8.02
- Profit after payment fees
- $74.38
- Margin achieved
- 30.1%
- Profit per hour
- $18.60
- Total hours on the order
- 4.00 h
- Design time as a share of the hours
- 25.0%
- Revision hours the contingency buys
- 0.67 h
The deposit falls short of the material cost, so the maker is funding the customer. The tool reports the shortfall explicitly.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I price a custom order?
Add the materials, the making hours and the design hours, add a contingency of ten to twenty percent, then apply either a markup or a margin. A 65 dollar material cost with eight making hours at 30 dollars and three design hours is 395 dollars of base cost, which is 454.25 with a fifteen percent contingency. At a fifty percent markup the quote is about 700 dollars, and the profit after fees is about 284.
Should I charge for design time on a custom order?
Yes. The brief, the sketches, sourcing, a sample and the messages are hours of work, and on a first commission they are often a third of the total. Charging for them also filters enquiries: a customer who is prepared to pay for the design conversation is a customer who will complete the order. If you prefer not to show it as a separate line, build it into the labour figure, but do not leave it out.
How much deposit should I ask for on a custom order?
Fifty percent is the usual convention and it is a reasonable one, because the materials have to be bought at the start. The test is whether the deposit covers the materials: if it does not, the maker is funding the customer until the piece is delivered, and if the customer then changes their mind the maker is left with bespoke materials and no sale. This calculator reports whether the deposit covers the materials and by how much it falls short.
What should the contingency cover?
The material that arrives in the wrong shade, the second attempt at a detail that did not work, the extra messages, and the small change that gets agreed halfway through. On a bespoke order one of these always happens, which is why the line exists. The contingency is not padding and it should not be presented to the customer as such: it is part of the price, in the same way that a builder prices for the unexpected.
How do I handle revisions on a custom order?
State the allowance in the quote and what happens beyond it. A common arrangement is two rounds of minor revision included and further changes charged at your hourly rate. Writing that down before the work begins turns an awkward conversation later into a simple one. The revision allowance in this calculator shows how many extra hours the contingency you entered actually buys, which is a useful reality check before quoting.