Screen Printing Pricing Calculator Spreadsheet | Setup Cost Per Color, Screen Life & Misprints, Quote Builder | Excel Sheets

THE SETUP IS PER COLOR. THAT IS THE WHOLE BUSINESS.

Most shirt pricing works from a per-garment number and a vague upcharge for extra

colors. That gets short runs exactly wrong, because setup does not shrink with the

order.

EVERY COLOR IS A SCREEN. Coated, dried, burned, washed out, registered, printed and

then reclaimed. Three colors means three of all of that before a single shirt is

sold, and it costs the same whether the run is six garments or three hundred.

SPREAD OVER SIX SHIRTS IT IS MOST OF THE COST. Spread over three hundred it disappears.

Quoting both from the same per-shirt price is how print shops lose money on exactly

the small custom orders they spend their time chasing. Change the quantity on any row

in this workbook and watch the setup lines move.

SCREENS ARE CONSUMABLE. A frame survives a limited number of reclaims before the mesh

loses tension and stops holding registration. Emulsion, stripper and haze remover are

spent on every single burn.

THE DRYER IS YOUR ELECTRICITY BILL. A conveyor dryer or a flash unit pulls kilowatts

continuously while you work. It dwarfs the press and it runs whether the job is one

shirt or a hundred.

MISPRINTS MULTIPLY WITH COLORS. Each extra color is another chance to go off

registration or smear, and the shirt is already paid for when it happens.

MARKETPLACE FEES. You cannot add your margin and then subtract fees. That arithmetic

does not leave you with your margin. The price has to be solved backwards.

On the worked example included, a shop targeting 35% using the standard method actually

earns 13.73%. That one row leaves $3.01 on the table, and the workbook shows that gap

on every row you enter.

WHAT YOU GET

- Job Calculator: 25 rows, full breakdown per print, correct list price calculated, plus

a column showing exactly what the shortcut would have cost you

- Per-color setup modelled properly: screens, emulsion, tape, screen prep labor and

registration labor all multiply by the color count and divide by the run length

- Setup: press, screen life and reclaims, emulsion, coat and burn time, ink per print,

dryer power, labor, overhead, misprint rate, blank yield

- Blank Library: basic and ringspun tees, heavyweight, hoodies, crewnecks, long sleeve,

poly, youth, tanks, totes, aprons and flour sack towels pre-loaded, costed per USABLE blank

- Fee Profiles. Etsy, Etsy with Offsite Ads, eBay, Shopify, Amazon Handmade and direct. All editable

- Break-even & What-if: your lowest acceptable price, and a volume table that shows the

quantity where a multi-color job finally starts to work

- Dashboard: four live charts (cost breakdown, correct vs naive vs break-even, cost

and price as the run gets longer, and price against misprint rate) that follow whichever

job row you select

- Sales Log: what you actually sold, against what the model predicted

- Start Here: a plain-English guide, color-coded so you know which cells to touch

Works with any setup. A four-color manual in a garage, a six-station with a flash,

or an automatic. The press doesn't matter. The cost structure does.

Eight tabs. Works in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, both tested. Instant digital

download. No macros, no add-ons, nothing to install. Every formula is visible and editable,

and so is the data behind every chart, so you can check the math yourself.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Print shops quoting team, band and corporate orders, Etsy sellers running apparel

lines, anyone doing short-run custom work, and every printer who has taken a six-shirt

three-color job and felt poorer afterwards. If you already price setup per color and

per run length, you don't need this.

DISCLOSURE

Portions of this workbook, including its layout and formulas, were produced with the

assistance of AI tools, then reviewed and tested by a human before publication.

NOT ACCOUNTING ADVICE

This is a costing tool, not tax or accounting software. Results depend entirely on the

figures you enter. Check them against your own records.