eidosA QUOTING WORKSHEET
Build the quote from the work.
Stitch count is one input. A useful estimate also includes setup, hands-on handling, machine costs, materials and your target margin. Use your own timed production and cost records to set the assumptions.
Count complete machine cycles
Divide the quantity by active heads and round up. Forty-eight items on six heads require eight cycles; forty-nine require nine. The final partial cycle still takes machine time.
Stitch time per cycle in minutes = stitches per item ÷ (stitches per minute × run efficiency). For an illustrative 8,500-stitch job at 850 stitches per minute and 85% efficiency, that is about 11.8 minutes per cycle, before separate color-change and break allowances. Those are sample inputs, not a production benchmark.
Keep handling in the estimate
Time hooping, unhooping, finishing and packing separately. Handling usually repeats for every item; setup usually occurs once per job. Quote Desk adds setup, buffered machine time and buffered handling sequentially. More handling operators shorten estimated elapsed handling time while preserving the combined handling labor cost.
This model does not assume simultaneous machine and handling work. Compare its result with your actual job timing, especially when workers switch tasks or machines overlap.
Price all the job costs
Include blanks, materials, labor, machine operation, other hourly overhead, digitizing and shipping. Avoid including the same expense twice. The estimator's spoilage allowance increases material costs only; it does not model an entire spoiled production run. Taxes and payment fees are excluded from its suggested quote.
Distinguish margin from markup
For a positive job cost, price = cost ÷ (1 − target gross margin). A $100 cost at 40% gross margin requires about $166.67 before tax. Adding a 40% markup instead gives $140, which leaves about 28.6% gross margin. Quote Desk rounds the per-item price upward to a cent and recomputes the actual margin.
Check the next completed job
Compare estimated time and cost with the completed job. Adjust inputs using that evidence before applying the same preset elsewhere. Estimates are planning aids; they do not promise delivery time or profit.
The free estimator runs in your browser. The proposed $19/month workspace adds saved quotes, presets and a sequential capacity plan. Paid checkout is still being prepared.
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