Powder coating profit margin calculator

Plug in your real numbers — sqft per part, labor minutes, powder cost, overhead — and see your actual gross and net margin. Free. No signup. Most shops are surprised by what they see.

Your shop

Average sqft per part

sqft

Parts coated per month

Price per sqft

Labor minutes per part

min

Hang, blast, wash, coat, cure, QC, ship — total touch time.

Loaded labor rate

$/hr

Wage + payroll tax + benefits. Don't undersell it.

Pounds of powder per part

lbs

Powder cost per pound

$/lb

Monthly fixed overhead

Rent, utilities, insurance, ovens, equipment financing — everything that's there whether you coat one part or a thousand.

Gross margin

61.7%

Revenue $9,600 − direct cost $3,680

Net margin (after overhead)

-26.9%

Net profit -$2,580 / month

Per-part economics

Revenue / part$24

Labor cost / part$6

Powder cost / part$3

Gross profit / part$15

Monthly totals

Revenue$9,600

Labor$2,560

Powder$1,120

Overhead$8,500

Net profit-$2,580

What this number is hiding

The calculator above uses your average part. In a real shop, margin varies wildly by job — the railing job at $4.50/sqft running 6 minutes of labor might be 55% margin, while the cheap-and-fast tractor wheel job at $1.75/sqft running 18 minutes is losing money on every piece. The shops that actually know which jobs are profitable are the ones running per-job P&L.

That's what PowderShopOps does — every job shows real margin after labor and powder, so you can spot the underwater work before it sinks the month.

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