Screen printing pricing: how to price jobs that cover your costs
Screen printing pricing is the method a shop uses to turn garment cost, labor, setup and overhead into a price that leaves a profit on every order. The short version: add up the full cost of the job, then divide by one minus your target margin. A job that costs $600 to produce, priced for a 40% margin, sells for $600 ÷ 0.60 = $1,000. A competitor’s price sheet cannot tell you whether that number works in your shop, because their rent, wages, presses and customers are different.
This guide covers what your costs include, markup versus margin, how to calculate a shop rate, a worked quote, and how to turn it into a pricing matrix your team applies the same way every time. Printavo is built for apparel decorators: screen printers, embroiderers, and DTG and DTF shops.
What costs should a screen printing price cover?
Every price has to cover three layers, and each cost belongs in exactly one of them so it is counted once.
| Cost layer | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Garments and materials | Blanks, ink, emulsion, screens, tape, transfers, packaging, inbound freight |
| Direct labor | Art and separations, screen prep, setup and registration, test prints, printing, flashing, curing, breakdown, cleanup, folding and bagging |
| Overhead | Rent, utilities, admin and sales time, software, insurance, equipment payments and maintenance |
The costs shops miss most often are the ones that happen off the press: quote revisions, approval back-and-forth, reprints and the owner’s own time.
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is profit as a percentage of cost. Margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price. They are not interchangeable, and confusing them is one of the most common pricing mistakes.
Markup = (price − cost) ÷ cost
Margin = (price − cost) ÷ price
A shirt that costs $5 and sells for $10 has a 100% markup and a 50% margin.
| Target margin | Markup needed |
|---|---|
| 25% | 33.3% |
| 33.3% | 50% |
| 40% | 66.7% |
| 50% | 100% |
To convert, use markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin). A shop that adds a “40% markup” thinking it earns a 40% margin is actually earning about 28.6%.
How do you calculate a shop rate?
A shop rate is what one productive hour of your shop costs to run. Use productive hours, not paid hours: maintenance, changeovers, training and interruptions all take time that no customer pays for directly.
Shop rate = monthly operating costs ÷ monthly productive hours
Illustrative example: $18,000 in monthly labor and overhead, and 160 paid press hours at 65% productive time (104 hours). The shop rate is $18,000 ÷ 104 = about $173 per productive hour. Use your real numbers; this one is only for the math.
Use observed job times, not a press’s maximum advertised speed. A 48-piece, four-color, two-location job can take more labor per shirt than a 500-piece, one-color job.
How do you price a screen printing job? A worked quote
- Garments: 100 tees at $3.00 each = $300.
- Materials and outside costs: ink, screens, emulsion and packaging = $60.
- Labor and overhead: about 1.4 productive hours of setup, printing and breakdown at a $173 shop rate = $240 (rounded).
- Total job cost: $300 + $60 + $240 = $600.
- Price for a 40% margin: $600 ÷ (1 − 0.40) = $1,000, or $10.00 per shirt, before tax or separately stated charges.
Price = total job cost ÷ (1 − target margin)
The 40% figure is an example, not a recommended margin. If your quotes use a garment markup plus a print charge, compare the result with this full-cost number. A healthy garment markup can hide an underpriced print.
What is a screen printing pricing matrix?
A screen printing pricing matrix is a grid of print charges by quantity break and number of colors, so anyone in the shop can quote the same job the same way. Garments, extra locations, specialty inks and rush fees are added on top.
Illustrative print charge per piece (structure only, not recommended prices):
| Quantity | 1 color | 2 colors | 3 colors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 to 47 | $3.50 | $4.50 | $5.50 |
| 48 to 71 | $2.75 | $3.50 | $4.25 |
| 72 to 143 | $2.25 | $2.85 | $3.45 |
| 144 and up | $1.75 | $2.25 | $2.75 |
Build yours from your shop rate and observed times, then test it against completed jobs. Review orders that looked profitable at quoting but needed overtime, revisions, reprints or extra shipping, and adjust. Start with the free screen printing pricing matrix download.
How should you charge for complexity, minimums and discounts?
- Complexity: write rules for extra locations, sleeve and specialty prints, personalization, art revisions, folding and bagging, and rush work. Show what the base price includes.
- Minimums: a minimum order value can describe the economics better than a minimum piece count, because setup costs the same either way.
- Discounts: quantity breaks should reflect real efficiency. A bigger order with more colors, locations or shipments may not be cheaper to run.
When should you raise your prices?
Review prices when garment, wage or freight costs move, and at least once a year. Small changes add up across thousands of pieces. Set how long a quote stays valid. When you raise prices, explain the quality, reliability and service included, and offer options such as a different garment, fewer colors or a longer lead time. Do not try to match a competitor whose costs you do not know.
How Printavo handles screen printing pricing
Printavo is production-first shop management software for apparel decorators that connects quoting, approvals, scheduling, invoicing, and payments.
- Pricing matrices calculate decoration pricing the same way on every quote, with custom tiers such as wholesale and contract pricing. See Printavo order management and quoting.
- Customer-specific pricing is stored by imprint process and applied automatically.
- Supplier catalog connection brings current product data into quotes, so garment costs are not retyped.
- The approved quote becomes the invoice, so pricing is entered once. Payment requests collect deposits and balances.
- Plan note: Lite includes 20 quotes and invoices per month; Standard and Premium are unlimited.
For quote layout and follow-up, use the screen printing quote template.
How do you price screen printing jobs for profit? Industry voices in this video share what they have learned: know what an hour of production really costs, find out how long jobs take, and be wary of being the cheapest shop in town.
Printavo is production-first shop management software for apparel decorators that connects quoting, approvals, scheduling, invoicing, and payments. It is built for apparel decorators: screen printers, embroiderers, and DTG and DTF shops. If you are looking at screen printing shop management software, pricing is where the numbers start to matter.
The problem: many shops price by copying the shop down the street, or by dividing monthly costs by eight hours a day. In this video, one speaker explains that a $125 hourly rate based on full utilization can become a true cost of $375 to $500 an hour once shop efficiency is considered. Mike Chong says about 98% of shops copy other shops’ pricing. Another speaker explains how a price break at 51 shirts can remove the profit the 50th shirt earned.
The speakers do not all agree. Some say cost should anchor your price. Scott Fresener argues the market sets it. We included both views so you can weigh them against your own shop.
The system: Printavo gives your shop one place for quotes, approvals, production and payments, with pricing matrices to keep quoting consistent across your team. The platform does not set your prices for you. It gives your team the same information, so your pricing decisions rest on how your shop actually runs.
The outcome: quotes your team can follow, orders you can track through production, and customer communication and approvals in one place, so the service you deliver supports the price you charge. More than 3,000 shops use Printavo.
Featuring Richard Greaves (Academy of Screen and Digital Printing Technologies), Mike Chong (Merch Monster), Scott Fresener (T-Biz Network International), Rick Roth (The Ink Kitchen & Mirror Image), Charlie Taublieb (Taublieb Consulting), and one additional speaker.
FAQ
How much should I charge for screen printing? Charge your full job cost divided by one minus your target margin. There is no single correct per-shirt price, because costs and capacity differ by shop.
Should I post my screen printing prices online? It depends on your customers. Published prices help simple, repeat orders. Custom jobs with many variables are usually better quoted. See the best screen printing pricing strategy.
What is a good margin for screen printing? Your margin has to cover overhead and profit at your volume. Calculate it from your costs rather than borrowing another shop’s number.
How do I price DTF or embroidery? The same full-cost method applies with different inputs. See how to price DTF transfers and embroidery pricing.
Related guides
- Printavo print shop software
- Markup vs. margin: they’re not the same
- Retail vs. contract screen printing
- Printavo pricing
Quote every job the same way with pricing matrices built for decorated apparel. Try Printavo free for 7 days. No credit card required.