Free workshop tool · Updated September 9, 2026

Laser project profit calculator

Price a laser job by counting materials, your time, machine use and selling costs for the whole batch. This calculator separates setup from repeat work, allows for rejects and fees, and estimates both a break-even price and a price for your chosen margin. Replace the example with your own costs before quoting.

Enter your costs See the estimate How the math works

Price one batch

All amounts are in US dollars. The starting values are an example, not a quote or a measured machine profile. Fees and rejects start at zero: enter your own allowances before quoting.

Quantity, time and cost

Finished units to sell

Use the same saleable unit throughout: one item, pair or complete set.

Selling price per unit ($)

Product revenue only, before selling fees; exclude sales tax.

Materials per attempt ($)

Blank, masking and consumables for one attempted unit.

Machine minutes per attempt

For a shared run, divide total run minutes by units attempted.

Labor minutes per attempt

Include handling, attending the machine and finishing; exclude setup below.

Setup minutes for the batch

Design, file preparation and setup, counted once for this order.

Your labor rate ($/hour)

A cost for your time, separate from the profit left afterward.

Machine running cost ($/hour)

Your combined electricity, maintenance and equipment replacement allowance. Exclude labor.

Rejects, packaging, fees and target margin

Expected rejects (%)

Share of attempts expected to fail; each is charged full material, run time and production labor.

Packaging per finished unit ($)

Charged only for finished units, not rejected attempts.

Other costs for this batch ($)

Allocated overhead, delivery you absorb or other costs not entered elsewhere.

Selling fees on revenue (%)

Enter your applicable combined percentage; no marketplace rate is assumed.

Flat fee for this order ($)

Counted once for the entire batch. Add together fixed fees if it spans several orders.

Target profit margin (%)

Your chosen share of revenue left after all entered costs and fees. This is not markup.

See your estimate

Do not count the same time or expense twice. Machine time and attending labor can both be costs, even when they happen at the same time. This calculator does not recommend leaving a laser unattended.

Estimated batch profit

$135.00

After your entered labor, production costs and fees; before tax.

Profit margin: 54%
Profit per finished unit: $13.50

This estimate meets your chosen margin target.

Where the batch revenue goes

Revenue (10 finished units): $250.00
Materials: $50.00
Production labor: $40.00
Batch setup labor: $10.00
Machine running cost: $5.00
Packaging: $10.00
Other batch costs: $0.00
Selling fees + flat order fee: $0.00
Total entered costs: $115.00
Cost per finished unit at this price: $11.50
Markup on entered costs: 117.39%

Markup divides profit by cost; margin divides profit by revenue. Markup is undefined when entered costs are zero. Values are rounded for display only.

Prices for this batch

Break-even price per unit: $11.50
Price for your 30% margin target: $16.43

These prices include percentage fees and the flat order fee, and round up to the next cent. They cover the costs entered here, not every expense of running a business.

Production allowance

The estimate uses 10 expected attempts for 10 finished units at 0% rejects. A whole-unit planning allowance is 10 attempts; it is not a guarantee.

That represents 1.67 machine hours and 1.67 labor hours including setup. These can overlap, so their sum is not a delivery-time estimate.

What the estimate includes

One “unit” must mean the same thing in every field. If you sell a four-coaster set, enter the materials, machine time, labor and price for a complete set; quantity is the number of sets. For several units made in one run, divide the run time by the number attempted. Setup is a separate, once-per-batch cost.

Rejects are an expected yield loss

Expected attempts = finished quantity ÷ (1 − reject percentage ÷ 100). For example, 90 finished units at a 10% reject rate require 100 attempts on average. The calculator charges material, machine time and production labor to every expected attempt, then adds setup once and packaging only to finished units. This assumes a rejected unit consumes the full entered production cost; it does not model partial rework or recovered material.

Fractional expected attempts stay in the cost calculation. Rounding them up is shown separately as a planning allowance, not a promise that a particular batch will have enough good units. A single batch can do better or worse than its expected reject rate.

Profit, margin and a price that covers fees

Revenue = selling price × finished quantity.
Production cost = materials + machine running cost + production labor + setup labor + packaging + other batch costs.
Selling fees = revenue × fee percentage ÷ 100 + flat order fee.
Estimated profit = revenue − production cost − selling fees.
Margin = profit ÷ revenue. Markup = profit ÷ total entered costs. Multiply either ratio by 100 to show a percentage.
Break-even unit price = (production cost + flat order fee) ÷ [finished quantity × (1 − fee fraction)].
Target unit price = (production cost + flat order fee) ÷ [finished quantity × (1 − fee fraction − target margin fraction)].

Fee and margin fractions are percentages divided by 100. For a batch with costs, fees and the target margin must sum to less than 100% for a finite target price. Suggested prices round up to the next cent. At zero revenue, margin is undefined; at zero cost, markup is undefined. If all entered costs are zero, a positive price is still needed to express a margin, so the target-price display starts at $0.01 when that target is attainable.

The starting example, worked through

10 finished units at $25.00 each bring in $250.00. With no rejects or fees, the entered materials cost $50.00, machine use costs $5.00, production labor costs $40.00, setup costs $10.00, and packaging costs $10.00. The resulting $115.00 total leaves $135.00 before tax: a 54.0% margin. These are illustrative values, not recorded shop results or recommended market prices.

Choose a machine rate you can explain

An hourly running cost can include average electrical input in kW × your electricity price per kWh, a maintenance allowance per operating hour, and an equipment replacement allowance per operating hour. Include extraction and cooling where applicable. Optical laser output wattage is not the same as electrical input. Use your measured consumption, actual maintenance costs and planned useful operating hours; avoid adding a wear item twice.

The hybrid workshop calculator can help explore cost components, but its machine presets are assumptions to check, not a source for your exact costs. This tool uses the hourly rate you enter directly.

What remains outside the estimate

This is a batch-pricing estimate, not net business income or a sales forecast. It assumes all finished units sell at the entered price. Taxes, advertising, refunds, shipping and fixed overhead are not included unless you allocate them in an appropriate cost field. Sales tax collected for a tax authority is excluded from product revenue. Fee bases can vary by platform, including fees on shipping or tax; add those extra charges separately if your arrangement requires them.

Compare a calculated price with customer demand and your actual production records. For the broader distinction between fixed costs, variable costs and sales needed to cover them, see the U.S. Small Business Administration’s break-even guide. Our calculator standards explain how to read example inputs and estimates.