Free tool
Billable bench hours and commission capacity calculator
Studio hours are not bench hours, and the difference decides whether your shop rate covers the year or only the part of it a client pays for.
Free tool, no sign up
Custom commission quote calculator
Enter the weight, the metal cost, the stones and the hours, and see the quote and the deposit before you say a number out loud.
A commission quote has four moving parts and only one of them is under your control. The metal cost per gram is set by the market and your refiner. The stone cost is set by your supplier on the day you buy. Casting loss is set by your caster and your finishing. The bench hours are yours, and they are the line designers most often shave to win a job they then resent.
This calculator keeps the four separate so you can see the shape of the number. Finished weight times casting loss times cost per gram gives the metal. Hours times shop rate gives the labor. Stones go in at what they actually cost you. The default values describe a plain solitaire in 14k with a modest center stone, so change them to the piece in front of you.
Your result
Metal cost
$552
Gross metal you have to buy, not just the weight that ends up on the finger.
Bench labor
$1,140
The line clients see least and the one that pays your rent.
Quote total
$3,492
Metal, stones and labor at cost plus your rate, before any materials margin you add.
Deposit at fifty percent
$1,746
What clears before you order grain or a center stone.
This is a floor, not a finished price: add your materials margin, any rush fee and sales tax before the quote goes out.
Why casting loss belongs in the metal line
The ring weighs six grams. You did not buy six grams. You bought the sprue, the button, the bits that ended up in the scrap jar and the metal that came off in finishing. Depending on the piece and the caster, gross metal purchased often runs a fifth or more above finished weight, and heavy filigree or a wide band with a lot of removal runs higher still.
Quoting on finished weight is a quiet leak. It is small on one ring and meaningful across a year of them. Track what your caster actually returns against what you sent for a few jobs and you will land on a loss percentage that is yours rather than a rule of thumb borrowed from another studio bench.
Adding a materials margin without hiding it
This calculator prices metal and stones at your cost, because that is the number you need to see. Most designers then add a margin on materials, partly for the sourcing work and partly because you carry the risk of a stone that arrives wrong. Whether that margin is modest or substantial is a decision about your market, not a formula.
The clean way to apply it is to raise the cost per gram and stone cost fields to your marked up figures once you know what your margin is, then read the total. Keep one version at cost for your own records so you can always see what the job really consumed. A quote that hides which part is markup is a quote you cannot defend when a client asks.
Questions about this calculator
Should the client stone go in the stone cost field?
No. If the client supplies the stone, leave that cost at zero and count the extra handling in your bench hours instead. Working with a customer stone usually adds time for inspection, sizing the seat and setting with more care than a new stone needs.
My quote total looks higher than what I usually charge. Now what?
That is the useful part. Either your shop rate is below what the studio costs to run, or you have been undercounting hours, or you have been quoting on finished weight. Look at which line surprised you and fix that one rather than discounting the total.
Does this include sales tax?
No. Sales tax rules differ by state and by whether the piece is delivered or shipped, and repair labor is treated differently from a sale in some states. Add tax on top according to your own state rules and, where it applies, the customer location.
More free tools and working documents
Working document
The commission intake and stage approval checklist
Every commission dispute a designer ever has traces back to something on this list that nobody wrote down.
Now make that figure a document she can sign
The total on this page is one piece worked out once. In BeadInvoice the same math runs on every commission, with the metal line repriced at the current cost per gram and the hold date printed on the quote the client keeps. Book a walkthrough and we will load your alloys, your loss percentage and your shop rate so the first quote is real.