Shop profit & pricing calculator
Enter your material cost, waste factor, labor, and overhead to see what a job actually costs - and what to charge to hit your target margin.
$2,537.50
At a 40% target margin
- Total job cost
- $1,522.50
- Material cost (incl. waste)
- $488.75
- Roll needed
- 57.5 linear ft
- Labor cost
- $780.00
- Material (incl. waste)$488.75
- Labor$780.00
- Design fee$0.00
- Overhead$253.75
Don't know your square footage? Look up your vehicle.
These numbers are estimates for planning purposes only. Actual material usage, labor, and pricing vary by shop, vehicle, and market - this tool is not financial advice and doesn't guarantee what you'll pay or charge.
How wrap job pricing actually works
Most wrap shops build a price out of four pieces: material, labor, overhead, and margin. Get any one of them wrong and the job either loses money or scares off the customer - so it's worth understanding each piece on its own before you look at the total.
Material + waste. You don't buy exactly as much vinyl as the vehicle's panels measure - you buy enough to cover overlap, pattern alignment, trim mistakes, and the occasional re-print on a difficult curve. That extra percentage on top of the raw square footage is the waste factor. A straightforward sedan with an experienced installer might run a 10% waste factor; a complex SUV with lots of curves, or a newer installer, might run 25-40%. Convert the total square footage (measured plus waste) into linear feet of your roll - a 60-inch roll covers 5 sq ft per linear foot - and multiply by your cost per linear foot, and you have your material cost.
Labor. Install time multiplied by your shop's effective labor rate - not just the installer's hourly wage, but what that hour actually costs the business once you include payroll taxes and benefits. A full wrap commonly runs 10-16 install hours; partial coverage is proportionally less.
Overhead. Rent, utilities, insurance, software, and equipment costs that exist whether or not this specific job happened. Some shops spread overhead as a percentage of each job's cost; others use a flat dollar amount per job. Either works - the point is making sure the shop's fixed costs get covered by the jobs it runs, not just the vinyl and labor on any one ticket.
Margin. Once you know the total job cost, margin is the percentage of the final price you keep as profit. A 40% margin means cost is 60% of the price you charge - so price = cost / (1 - margin). This is different from markup (a percentage added on top of cost), and it's worth knowing which one your shop actually plans around, since the two produce very different prices at the same percentage.
A worked example
Say a full wrap needs 250 sq ft of material before waste, at $8.50 per linear foot of a 60-inch roll, with a 15% waste factor. That's 287.5 sq ft after waste, which comes off a 60-inch (5 ft) roll at 57.5 linear feet - call it 57.5 linear feet of vinyl at $8.50, or roughly $489 in material. Add 12 install hours at a $65/hr effective labor rate ($780), a $0 design fee, and 20% overhead on top of that subtotal (about $254). Total job cost lands around $1,523. At a 40% target margin, the suggested price works out to roughly $2,538 - cost divided by (1 - 0.40).
These numbers are estimates for planning purposes only. Actual material usage, labor, and pricing vary by shop, vehicle, and market - this tool is not financial advice and doesn't guarantee what you'll pay or charge.
Frequently asked questions
What is the waste factor, and why isn't it 0%?+
Wrap vinyl never lays down at exactly the panel's dimensions - you lose material to overlap, pattern matching, trim mistakes, and re-prints on tricky panels. A 10-20% waste factor on top of the raw square footage is the industry norm; tighter installers or simpler vehicles can run closer to 5%, while complex curves or a less experienced crew can push toward 40%.
What's the difference between margin and markup?+
Markup is a percentage added on top of cost (cost x 1.2 = price). Margin is the percentage of the final price that's profit ((price - cost) / price). This calculator uses margin, because that's how most shops actually plan profitability - "I want to keep 40% of what I collect," not "I want to add 40% to my cost."
What should I include in overhead?+
Rent, utilities, insurance, software, equipment depreciation, and any shop costs that aren't tied to one specific job. Some shops prefer a flat overhead dollar amount per job; others prefer a percentage of job cost so bigger jobs absorb proportionally more of the shop's fixed costs. Either is fine - use whichever matches how you already think about your numbers.
How many square feet of vinyl does a car need?+
It depends heavily on the vehicle and coverage - a full wrap on a sedan is commonly in the 200-280 sq ft range before waste, a full-size truck or SUV can run 300-350+ sq ft, and partial coverage (hood, roof, mirrors) is a fraction of that. These are rough planning numbers, not a substitute for measuring the actual vehicle.
Is this the same pricing engine WrapForce uses for quotes?+
No - this is a simplified, standalone planning calculator anyone can use, with numbers you type in by hand. WrapForce does this automatically for every vehicle - with the car's real numbers - pulling actual panel measurements and material requirements per vehicle instead of a flat square-footage guess.
Can I share a specific scenario with someone else?+
Yes - every field you change updates the page's URL, so you can copy the link and send it to a business partner or employee and they'll see the exact same numbers you were looking at.
Stop guessing square footage - WrapForce knows the cars.
WrapForce prices every quote from the vehicle's real panel measurements, not a flat square-footage guess - plus scheduling, deposits, and job tracking in one place.
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