Estimating Jobs with Customer-Supplied Garments
Customer-supplied garments can remove a purchase cost without removing the work or uncertainty of the print job. Define the scope before setting the price.
Remove only the purchase you do not make
If the customer supplies the blanks and the shop does not buy them, the shop’s blank purchase outlay may be zero. Preparation, handling, consumables, production labor, finishing, and allocated overhead can still remain.
Do not deduct the old customer-facing garment selling price from a previous full-service quote and assume the rest is a valid print-only price. That old price may combine cost recovery and profit differently. Rebuild the estimate using the work actually required.
Build a print-only example from its costs
For a constructed 100-item job, suppose consumables cost $60, labor costs $100, setup costs $50, and allocated overhead is $30. With no purchased blanks in this model, total cost is $240. A 40% target margin gives a $400 quote, or $4 per item.
This excludes any extra handling, testing, or replacement budget not included in those inputs. It is not a recommended price for printing customer-supplied goods. Use the pricing calculator with zero blank purchase cost only when that matches the actual cost boundary.
Confirm what has been supplied
Record quantities by size, color, style, and condition using an agreed receiving process. Compare that record with the finished quantity requested. A mixed set of garments may create different production requirements; this article does not establish material compatibility.
Confirm whether a test item and extras are available. An extra-stock calculation does not create replacements that the customer has not supplied. The size-level allowance guide explains why the distribution of extras matters.
Cost additional work explicitly
Sorting an unorganized delivery, documenting individual items, or separating different garment types may consume time. Include the expected work in labor or setup once. If the customer supplies a consistent, prepared batch, do not assume the same handling allowance as a difficult mixed delivery without a reason.
For an order combining shop-supplied and customer-supplied items, keep the groups separate long enough to identify their true costs. Use the mixed-garment method rather than applying one invented blank purchase price to all units.
Keep replacement responsibilities separate from arithmetic
Agree on the finished-quantity expectation, what happens to test pieces, and how errors or unsuitable items are handled before production. The calculator does not define liability, guarantee a yield, or supply contract terms. Seek appropriate advice for the actual business arrangement where needed.
Keep the received-item record, scope, and cost estimate together. The useful result is a clear print-only quote based on known work, not a blanket assumption that supplied garments make the entire job cheap.
A receiving record for a print-only estimate
Copy these fields into the record for your next comparable job.
- Inventory received
- Record style, color, size, quantity, condition, and any items reserved for testing.
- Work retained
- List sorting, preparation, printing, packing, and any extra documentation before pricing with zero purchased blanks.
- Quantity gap
- Resolve missing extras or replacement expectations before committing to finished quantity; an allowance calculation does not provide physical garments.
Put this into practice
Open the job pricing calculator with your own job values.
AI-assisted educational content. Examples are illustrative; arithmetic is checked against the stated methods. This is not a field-tested production specification. Read our editorial policy.
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