Most underpriced laser work comes from the same three habits: pricing from the sheet instead of the part, forgetting setup time, and applying margin to cost instead of to the selling price.
Build the cost in four lines
- Material per part — sheet price ÷ parts per sheet, plus a waste allowance (5–10% is realistic).
- Machine time — cut length ÷ cut speed, plus engraving area ÷ engraving speed, multiplied by your hourly machine rate.
- Labour — design, file cleanup and setup, spread across the quantity.
- Extras — finishing, packaging, payment fees, delivery.
Add those four and you have the true cost. Everything before this point is a guess.
Apply margin on the price, not the cost
If a part costs $4 and you want a 40% margin, the price is not $5.60. That gives you a 28.6% margin. The correct formula is:
price = cost ÷ (1 − margin)
So $4 ÷ 0.6 = $6.67. Each $1 of cost must be recovered plus profit, and profit is a share of the selling price.
Know your break-even before you discount
Discounts come out of margin, not cost. A 15% discount on a 40% margin product removes 37.5% of your profit. Before running a promotion, calculate the units you need at the new price to cover fixed costs — our break-even calculator does it in one screen.
Quote the same way every time
Consistency matters more than precision. Use the same cost calculator, the same rates and the same quote structure for every job. Your prices become defensible, comparable and easy to explain to a customer.
A note on machine rate
Your machine rate is not just electricity. It includes the machine cost spread over its life, maintenance, lens and tube replacement, extraction, and floor space. A rate of $8–15 per hour is common for small CO₂ machines — pick the number that lets you replace the machine when it dies.