How to quote a print job without losing money
Paper, pieces per sheet, make-ready waste, press time and finishing: a step-by-step method to cost a job and set quantity pricing, with a two-run example.
A customer asks for 1,000 color flyers and, to close quickly, you give them the same unit price you charged last week for 5,000. The job ships, the customer is happy and, when you add up paper, plates, press make-ready and cutting, you find out you worked at a loss. It wasn’t bad luck: in a print shop, unit cost changes enormously with run length, and quoting “per piece” without separating fixed from variable cost is the fastest way to lose money.
This guide gives you a method you can build in a spreadsheet today.
Step 1: define paper and format
Everything starts with the sheet. Write down three things:
- The paper size you buy and its cost per sheet (or per ream divided by the sheets it contains).
- Press sheet size: the usable area your press prints, after gripper and margins.
- Piece size with bleed: the final size plus the excess that gets trimmed.
If you cut each purchased sheet into several press sheets, the paper cost per press sheet is the purchased sheet cost divided by those cuts.
Step 2: work out pieces per sheet
The basic formula is:
Pieces per sheet = ⌊usable width ÷ piece width⌋ × ⌊usable height ÷ piece height⌋
(⌊ ⌋ means round down.) Calculate it in both orientations and keep the larger one.
Suppose a press sheet with a usable area of 48 × 33 cm and a flyer with bleed of 15.4 × 21.6 cm:
- Orientation A: ⌊48 ÷ 15.4⌋ × ⌊33 ÷ 21.6⌋ = 3 × 1 = 3 pieces
- Orientation B: ⌊48 ÷ 21.6⌋ × ⌊33 ÷ 15.4⌋ = 2 × 2 = 4 pieces
Rotating the piece gives you 33% more yield. That kind of difference, multiplied by thousands of sheets, is pure margin.
Step 3: add waste
There are two different kinds of waste and it pays to treat them separately:
- Make-ready waste: the sheets spent adjusting registration and color before the first good sheet comes out. It’s nearly the same for 1,000 or 10,000 pieces, so it behaves like a fixed cost.
- Running waste: a percentage of sheets lost during the run (smudges, jams, off-register cuts). This one grows with the run.
Total sheets = (pieces ÷ pieces per sheet) + make-ready waste + (net sheets × running waste %)
Measure your real waste for a few weeks instead of using a number from memory.
Step 4: press time and finishing time
Time also has a fixed part and a variable part:
- Make-ready: mounting plates, adjusting ink, registering. Fixed per job.
- Run: total sheets ÷ the press’s real speed (sheets per hour), times the cost of a press hour (operator, energy, depreciation, maintenance).
- Finishing: cutting, folding, laminating, die-cutting, packing. Each with its own setup and per-piece pace. Slow finishes are usually the most underestimated.
Step 5: separate fixed and variable cost
| Type | Examples | How it’s spread |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed per job | Prepress, plates, press make-ready, make-ready waste, finishing setup | Divided across every piece in the run |
| Variable | Net paper, running waste, ink, run time, per-piece finishing | Grows in proportion to quantity |
Unit cost = (fixed cost ÷ quantity) + variable cost per piece
This formula explains everything: on short runs the fixed cost weighs heavily per piece; on long runs it gets diluted.
Worked example: 1,000 vs 5,000 flyers
Suppose these hypothetical costs: paper Bs 1.20 per press sheet, 4 flyers per sheet, make-ready waste of 100 sheets, running waste of 3%, ink Bs 0.05 per sheet, 4 plates at Bs 60, prepress Bs 100, press make-ready Bs 200 (one hour), a run speed of 3,000 sheets per hour with a press hour at Bs 200, and cutting and packing at Bs 50 fixed plus Bs 0.01 per flyer.
| Item | 1,000 flyers | 5,000 flyers |
|---|---|---|
| Net sheets | 250 | 1,250 |
| Running waste (3%) | 8 | 38 |
| Make-ready waste | 100 | 100 |
| Total sheets | 358 | 1,388 |
| Paper | Bs 429.60 | Bs 1,665.60 |
| Ink | Bs 17.90 | Bs 69.40 |
| Plates | Bs 240.00 | Bs 240.00 |
| Prepress | Bs 100.00 | Bs 100.00 |
| Press make-ready | Bs 200.00 | Bs 200.00 |
| Run time | Bs 23.87 | Bs 92.53 |
| Cutting and packing | Bs 60.00 | Bs 100.00 |
| Total cost | Bs 1,071.37 | Bs 2,467.53 |
| Cost per flyer | Bs 1.07 | Bs 0.49 |
Five times more flyers cost only 2.3 times more. To set the price with a target margin on the selling price, use:
Price = total cost ÷ (1 − target margin)
With a 30% margin: 1,000 flyers at Bs 1,531 (Bs 1.53 each) and 5,000 at Bs 3,525 (Bs 0.71 each). Had you charged the 1,000 at Bs 0.71, you’d have invoiced Bs 710 against a cost of Bs 1,071: a Bs 361 loss before paying rent or office salaries.
Step 6: build your quantity price breaks
With the same model, calculate three or four typical run lengths and publish a price scale. For 2,000 flyers, under the same assumptions, the cost is Bs 1,419.75 and the price at a 30% margin is about Bs 2,028 (Bs 1.01 each). That way your sales team quotes in minutes without improvising discounts:
| Quantity | Total price | Price per flyer |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | Bs 1,531 | Bs 1.53 |
| 2,000 | Bs 2,028 | Bs 1.01 |
| 5,000 | Bs 3,525 | Bs 0.71 |
Also decide whether your prices include taxes and show it clearly on the quote; check with your accountant how to present it (if the topic interests you, see how to show VAT in the price).
Common mistakes
- Quoting only the paper and “rounding” the rest.
- Forgetting make-ready waste on short runs, where it can be almost a third of the sheets.
- Using a long run’s unit price for a short one.
- Not re-quoting when the customer changes paper, size or finishing: every change is a new version with its own cost.
- Using the press’s rated speed instead of its real speed.
- Never comparing the job’s real cost with what was quoted.
Indicators to know whether you quote well
- Cost deviation = (real cost − quoted cost) ÷ quoted cost. If it’s consistently positive, your assumptions are too low.
- Real waste = sheets lost ÷ sheets consumed. Compare it with the figure you quote with.
- Real margin per job = (price − real cost) ÷ price. Review it by job type: some families always lose money.
- Acceptance rate = accepted quotes ÷ closed quotes. Very high may mean you’re cheap; very low, that you’re expensive or slow.
Checklist before sending the quote
- Pieces per sheet calculated in both orientations.
- Make-ready and running waste based on measured numbers.
- Make-ready, run and every finishing time included.
- Fixed cost separated from variable cost.
- Quantity price consistent with the scale.
- Taxes and offer validity stated.
- Every customer change saved as a version with its reason.
Taking it into a system
If you run this in a spreadsheet, it works while volume is manageable. As it grows, an ERP like MKA can keep every quote version with its reason and apply quantity price breaks, and on the production order record the paper and inks consumed by lot, the waste and the costs, so you know what each job cost (see printing companies).