Cabinet Shop Rate Calculator
Most cabinet shops underprice jobs not because of bad craftsmanship but because of bad math upstream. This calculator finds the hourly shop rate your overhead and income goals require.
You don't fix pricing by guessing better. You fix it by knowing your exact shop rate number
Calculate your profitable shop rate number in under 60 seconds.
No spreadsheets. No complicated setup. Just the real numbers your shop runs on.
Start with your break-even rate. Then unlock your full profitable shop rate.
This is the number your estimates should start from, not end at.
Step 1 of 3 - Your Foundation
Start with the numbers that actually run your shop.
What do you want your shop to earn this year?
Fixed overhead
Costs your shop carries whether you're busy or not.
Fixed overhead
Costs your shop carries whether you're busy or not.
Variable overhead
Annual shop consumption spread across your billable hours.
Billable hours
Use your real capacity, not your optimistic capacity.
Advanced revenue modeling
Break-even is not the goal. It is your floor.
This is the rate you should be charging just to break even.
Use this as your baseline labor rate when you price cabinet work.
Test different overhead, hours, or utilization assumptions and see how your rate changes.
This is now your shop rate. Use it as the starting point for your estimates, then adjust for project risks, material exposure, backlog, and the kind of reinvestment your shop needs next.
What a shop rate is and why it matters
Your shop rate is the hourly cost of running your business — overhead, labor, consumables, equipment — divided by your billable hours. It’s the floor your quotes must clear before any profit is added.
Most shops that underprice jobs have a shop rate problem, not a quote problem. The error happens before the estimate is built. The shop rate doesn’t include all overhead, labor estimates don’t account for non-billable hours, and material waste factors are underestimated. The result looks profitable at the quote and loses money in the shop.
Once your rate is right, every estimate starts from solid ground. Every job either clears the floor or it doesn’t — and you know before you commit.
Read the full shop rate guide →Now that you know your rate, build every job on top of it.
CabinetCalc generates production-ready cut lists and material takeoffs from finished dimensions — so your labor and material estimates stay accurate from the first cut to the last.
Get Started Free →