Materials Cost Per Unit Sheet

Who this is for

From pack price to the cost of one item. Each material's pack price is divided by the pack quantity to give a cost per unit, then multiplied by what one item uses. The sheet totals the materials and shows which one costs the most.

Makers building accurate costings, anyone who buys materials by the reel, skein, sheet or kilo and uses them by the centimetre or gram, and sellers checking whether a supplier price rise has eaten into a product.

What this helps you track

• What each material costs per metre, gram, bead or sheet
• What the amount used in one item actually costs
• Which supplier each price came from, for reordering and comparing
• The total materials cost of one finished item
• The dearest material and its share of the total

How to use it

1. Write the product and the date you costed it; prices change, so the date matters.
2. List each material with its supplier, the price you paid for the pack and how many units the pack holds.
3. Say what the unit is (metre, gram, piece) and how many of those units one finished item uses.
4. The cost per unit and cost per item are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, divide the pack price by the quantity, then multiply by the amount used.
5. Read the total and the dearest material in the summary, and carry the total into your product costing.
6. Re-cost after every new order from a supplier so the figures stay current.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Why work out a cost per unit at all?

Because materials are bought in one size and used in another. A reel of thread or a sheet of silver is paid for once and spread over many items, and the only way to cost one item fairly is to know what a single unit of it cost.

Should the pack price include delivery?

It is clearer if it does. If you paid for postage on a materials order, add a share of it to each pack price so the cost per unit reflects what the material really cost you to get.

What about wastage and offcuts?

Enter the quantity used including what is cut away and cannot be reused. The sheet does not add an allowance of its own; how much you lose depends on your material and your method.

Can I cost several products on one sheet?

One product per sheet keeps the total meaningful. Duplicate the browser version or the workbook for each product; the browser copy saves in your own browser.