Material Quantity Calculator
Any craft material, from your own coverage rate: how much the project uses, and how many packs to buy.
At a glance
- What you enter
- Project size, Your consumption rate, Waste and overlap allowance, Material in one pack, Price per pack, How many projects, Material already in stock
- What you get
- Material for one project, Material the projects need, Material added by the waste allowance, Material required, Material still to buy, Packs to buy, Material you will own from this order, Surplus after the projects, Cost of the order, Material cost per project, Cost of the waste allowance, Material cost per unit of project size, Share of the order the projects consume
- 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 Material Quantity Calculator
- 1 Enter Project size (units), Square metres, linear metres, square centimetres, pieces: whatever the rate below is measured against.
- 2 Enter Your consumption rate (per unit), Material per unit of project size. Measure it on a test piece or take it from the supplier data.
- 3 Enter Waste and overlap allowance (%), Five percent for a predictable job, ten to fifteen for a first attempt.
- 4 Enter Material in one pack (units), The bag, tin, roll or box size you are buying. This is what turns a quantity into an order.
- 5 Enter Price per pack, Optional. Used for the cost figures.
- 6 Enter How many projects
- 7 Enter Material already in stock (units), Anything left from a previous project. It is deducted from the order, not from the requirement.
- 8 Press Calculate. You get Material for one project, Material the projects need, Material added by the waste allowance, Material required, Material still to buy, Packs to buy, Material you will own from this order, Surplus after the projects, Cost of the order, Material cost per project, Cost of the waste allowance, Material cost per unit of project size, Share of the order the projects consume, and every intermediate step stays visible under "How is this calculated?"
- 9 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.
Four square metres at 150 grams a square metre
One project, a 500 gram pack, eight percent waste.
You enter
- Project size
- 4 units
- Your consumption rate
- 150 per unit
- Waste and overlap allowance
- 8%
- Material in one pack
- 500 units
- Price per pack
- $14.00
- How many projects
- 1
- Material already in stock
- 0 units
You get
- Material for one project
- 600.00 units
- Material the projects need
- 600.00 units
- Material added by the waste allowance
- 48.00 units
- Material required
- 648.00 units
- Material still to buy
- 648.00 units
- Packs to buy
- 2
- Material you will own from this order
- 1,000.00 units
- Surplus after the projects
- 352.00 units
- Cost of the order
- $28.00
- Material cost per project
- $28.00
- Cost of the waste allowance
- $1.34
- Material cost per unit of project size
- $7.00
- Share of the order the projects consume
- 64.8%
600 grams needed and 648 with the waste, so two packs and 352 grams of surplus, which is about 65 percent of the order.
Five identical projects with stock on hand
A repeat run at 2 square metres each, with 200 grams already in the workshop.
You enter
- Project size
- 2 units
- Your consumption rate
- 150 per unit
- Waste and overlap allowance
- 10%
- Material in one pack
- 500 units
- Price per pack
- $14.00
- How many projects
- 5
- Material already in stock
- 200 units
You get
- Material for one project
- 300.00 units
- Material the projects need
- 1,500.00 units
- Material added by the waste allowance
- 150.00 units
- Material required
- 1,650.00 units
- Material still to buy
- 1,450.00 units
- Packs to buy
- 3
- Material you will own from this order
- 1,500.00 units
- Surplus after the projects
- 50.00 units
- Cost of the order
- $42.00
- Material cost per project
- $8.40
- Cost of the waste allowance
- $4.20
- Material cost per unit of project size
- $4.20
- Share of the order the projects consume
- 96.7%
1,650 grams required, less the 200 in stock, so three packs. Stock is deducted from the order, not from the requirement, which is why it shows separately.
A beading project by area
Half a square metre at 40 beads per square centimetre.
You enter
- Project size
- 5,000 units
- Your consumption rate
- 0.50 per unit
- Waste and overlap allowance
- 15%
- Material in one pack
- 100 units
- Price per pack
- $1.20
- How many projects
- 1
- Material already in stock
- 0 units
You get
- Material for one project
- 2,500.00 units
- Material the projects need
- 2,500.00 units
- Material added by the waste allowance
- 375.00 units
- Material required
- 2,875.00 units
- Material still to buy
- 2,875.00 units
- Packs to buy
- 29
- Material you will own from this order
- 2,900.00 units
- Surplus after the projects
- 25.00 units
- Cost of the order
- $34.80
- Material cost per project
- $34.80
- Cost of the waste allowance
- $4.50
- Material cost per unit of project size
- $0.01
- Share of the order the projects consume
- 99.1%
Square centimetres against a rate in beads. 2,500 beads needed and 2,875 with the waste, so 29 packs and a surplus of 25.
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