How to Price Screen Printing Jobs Without Screwing Yourself

Pricing Makes or Breaks Your Business

Ask five screen printers how they price their work and you'll get five different answers, all of them wrong.

One quotes by feel. One copies the shop down the street. One uses an online calculator from 2019. One prices by what he'd be willing to pay as a customer (terrible idea, we'll get to that). And one just says yes to whatever the customer suggests because he's afraid of losing the job.

All five are busy. None of them are making real money.

Nobody in this industry wants to admit it, but pricing is just math. Your costs, plus your time, plus a margin that lets you stay in business and maybe take a vacation once a decade. The shops that figure out the math make money. The shops that guess stay busy and stay broke.

This is the formula. It works for a one-person garage operation and it works for a shop running three autos. The numbers change. The math doesn't.

Understanding Your True Costs

Here's where most shops screw up before they even quote a job. They know what ink costs. They know what blanks cost. And they think that's their cost. It's not. Not even close.

Your real cost includes everything that exists whether you print a single shirt this month or ten thousand. Your rent doesn't care about your order volume. Your equipment payment hits the same day every month. That's all cost, and if it's not in your pricing, it's coming out of your pocket.

Two categories. Get these right and the rest of pricing is just multiplication.

Fixed costs (these don't care if you're busy or not)

The bills that show up whether you print or sit on your ass:

• Rent/mortgage: Shop space, garage, commercial lease
• Equipment payments: That press isn't free. Neither is the dryer. Or the exposure unit.
• Insurance: General liability, equipment, workers comp if you have employees
• Utilities: Electricity (your dryer is a beast), water, heat, internet
• Software: Design software, accounting, whatever CRM you're paying for
• Loans: Business loans, equipment financing
• Licenses: Business license, certifications, annual fees

Variable costs (these scale with how much work you do)

The stuff that goes up when you print more:

• Blanks: Garment cost at wholesale. This is usually your biggest variable cost.
• Ink and emulsion: Plastisol, water-based, specialty. The type matters for cost.
• Screens: Mesh, frames, reclamation chemicals
• Setup supplies: Tape, emulsion, film, chemicals
• Labor: Your time. Your staff's time. Yes, your time counts. More on this in a second.
• Shipping: If you're shipping orders, this is real money
• Cleanup and maintenance: Degreaser, rags, press maintenance
• Waste: Misprints happen. Budget 2-5% depending on complexity. If you're not budgeting for waste, every misprint is eating your profit.

Your shop rate: the number that makes all of this work

Your shop rate is what it costs you per hour to keep the lights on, whether you're printing or not. This is the number most shops have never calculated, and it's the reason they're undercharging.

Every minute you spend on a print job needs to cover $0.28 of overhead before you've made a dime of profit. That $0.28 is just the cost of existing as a business.

The Pricing Formula

This is the formula. Simple enough to fit on a napkin. The shops that use it make money. The shops that wing it wonder where the money went.

Real-World Example: 48 Black Gildan 5000s, 2-Color Front Print

Let's price a standard job — 48 black Gildan 5000 T-shirts with a 2-color front print (white + red).

At $10.50 a shirt times 48, that's $504 total revenue. Your cost is $253. Your profit is $251. That's about 50% margin. That's healthy. That's what a real business looks like.

The markup multiplier and why it changes

The multiplier isn't arbitrary. It moves for a reason:

• 2.5x to 3.0x for small orders (12-24 shirts): Your screens, setup, and design time spread across fewer shirts. Small orders should be your highest per-unit margin. Period.
• 2.0x to 2.5x for medium orders (25-72 shirts): Setup dilutes, you get a rhythm going on the press, efficiency kicks in
• 1.5x to 2.0x for large orders (144+): Volume is doing the work for you. Per-unit costs drop. Screen cost basically disappears per shirt.

Don't let the lower multiplier on big orders fool you into thinking big orders are less profitable. A 144-shirt run at 1.8x makes you more total money than a 12-shirt run at 2.5x. You want both. But you price them differently because the math is different.

Quantity Break Pricing

Volume discounts get customers to order more, which makes your press time more efficient and your per-unit costs lower. Good. But too many shops discount like they're desperate, and that's how you end up running 200 shirts and wondering where the profit went.

Why quantity breaks exist (the actual math)

Screen setup is the cost that changes the most with quantity. Look at this:

• 12 shirts: 2 screens × $25 = $50 ÷ 12 = $4.17/shirt in setup alone
• 24 shirts: Same $50 setup ÷ 24 = $2.08/shirt
• 48 shirts: Same $50 setup ÷ 48 = $1.04/shirt
• 144 shirts: Same $50 setup ÷ 144 = $0.35/shirt

Same $50 in screen cost. Completely different impact per shirt. The discount comes from the math getting better at volume. When you drop the price at 48 pieces, you're passing along real efficiency gains.

What a real pricing ladder looks like

1-color print on basic cotton tees. $3 garment, $0.40 ink and supplies, $16 shop rate, $25 per screen:

See the biggest drop? Between 12 and 48. That's where the setup cost dilutes the fastest. Smart shops make the 48-72 tier attractive because that's where your press is actually efficient and your margins are solid. Push customers into that tier and everybody wins.

Rules for quantity breaks (don't skip these)

• Small orders are your highest per-unit margin. 12-24 shirts should be expensive per piece. People complain about minimums. Tough. Six shirts doesn't make you money, full stop. Don't apologize for that.
• Make the 24 to 48 jump attractive. Drop $2-3 per shirt here. You want customers to double their order because that's where your efficiency gets real. A customer who was going to order 24 and bumps to 48 is more profit for you, better price for them.
• Flatten the curve above 144. After 144, efficiency gains are marginal. Don't keep giving away discount just because the number is bigger. The big-order customers already got their break.
• Have a floor and don't go below it. If you're printing 1-color shirts for under $4 at any quantity, you're working for free once you account for labor and overhead. Know your floor. Defend it.

Pricing by Print Complexity

A 1-color left chest and a 6-color simulated process on black tees are completely different animals. If you're pricing them the same way, you're losing your ass on every complex job.

Color upcharges

Every additional color means another screen, more setup time, tighter registration, and more chances for something to go wrong. Charge for it:

• First color: Baseline price (covered above)
• Each additional color: +$0.75 to $1.50 per shirt. This covers the extra screen, the registration time, and the slower press speed.
• 5 colors and up: Case by case. At this point you're running a complex job that needs its own quote.

Quick math: 48-shirt 2-color job. Your 1-color base is $7.75 per shirt. Add $1.25 for the second color. That's ($7.75 times 48) + ($1.25 times 48) = $372 + $60 = $432 total. Don't just round to $8 and eat the difference. The difference is your profit.

Specialty ink upcharges

Specialty inks cost more, take longer, and go wrong more often. Price accordingly:

• Puff ink: 1.5x to 2x the standard color price. Curing is slower, and if you undercure puff, it looks like garbage.
• Metallic and discharge: 1.5x to 2x. Discharge especially is a skill test. Charge for the skill.
• Glow-in-the-dark: 2x to 3x. The ink is expensive and the application is finicky.
• Glitter/flake: $5-15 per garment upcharge depending on coverage. This stuff gets everywhere and it takes forever to clean up.

Size and placement upcharges

• Oversized prints (bigger than 12 by 14 inches): +$1-3 per shirt. More ink, more squeegee passes, more waste.
• Second location (sleeve, back): Treat it as a separate job. New screens, new setup, new labor. Don't bundle it as a freebie.
• All-over print: Quote this individually. It's a completely different production process and it needs to be priced like one.

Simulated process (the big leagues)

Sim process on darks means 6-8 screens, surgical registration, and the kind of skill that takes years to build. This is premium work and you price it like premium work:

• 3.5x to 5x your standard 1-color price. That sounds like a lot until you realize you're burning six to eight screens instead of one.
• Example: A 48-shirt sim process job: your 1-color price would be $7.75. At 4x, that's $31 per shirt. And that's fair. The work demands it.

Common Pricing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

We see these kill shops every year. Some of them are obvious. Some of them feel like good ideas until you look at your bank account.

"I'll just eat the screen cost"

No. You won't. What you'll eat is a $50 loss on every job because you were too afraid to put a line item on the quote. Screen cost goes in the per-shirt price or gets charged separately. There is no third option.

Pricing based on what you'd personally pay

"I wouldn't pay more than $8 for a printed shirt." Cool. You're the business owner, not the customer. Your costs are $5.27. At your "I wouldn't pay more than $8" price, you're making $2.73 per shirt before you've paid yourself for the hours you spent on the job. That's a hobby that smells like plastisol.

Doing design work for free

You spent three hours turning someone's napkin sketch into printable art. That's skilled work. Charge for it. Design fee of $50-150 upfront, or build it into your labor hours. On big orders you can absorb it as a goodwill gesture, but if it becomes a habit, you've just trained your customers to expect free design work forever.

Pretending waste doesn't exist

Misprints happen. Misregistration happens. A shirt gets snagged on the platen. Budget 2-5% waste on every job. When a customer orders 100 and you have to reprint 3 because of your mistake, that comes out of your margin. If you didn't build waste into the price, congratulations, you just worked those three shirts for free.

Not charging for rush orders

"Can you have this by tomorrow?" means overtime, pushing back other customers' work, stress, and the likelihood of mistakes going up because you're moving too fast. Rush premium is 25-50% on the total job price. Non-negotiable. If they don't want to pay the rush fee, they can plan ahead next time.

Minimums that are too damn low

Twelve shirts is a reasonable minimum. Below that, the math simply doesn't work. You're burning screens, setting up the press, cleaning up, doing customer communication, all for six shirts? If someone wants six shirts, they pay a $75-100 base fee or they find someone with a heat press. You're running a print shop.

Never raising prices

Ink went up. Blanks went up. Rent went up. Electricity went up. Everything that costs you money got more expensive. And your prices? Same as 2023. You're making less money every year on the same work and wondering why things feel tight. Raise your prices 5-8% annually. If you haven't raised them in over a year, you're overdue. Do it this week.

Art and Setup Fees: Money You're Leaving on the Table

A lot of shops bundle everything into one per-shirt price. It's simpler, sure. But it also hides what you're actually doing for the customer, and it means they never see the value of the setup, the art, the prep work. Separating these fees makes you more money and looks more professional. Here's how:

Screen setup fee

This covers screen prep, coating, exposure, and test prints. Charge per color:

• Standard colors: $20–35/screen
• Specialty or complex: $40–60/screen
• Large or oversized screens: Up to $75

Waiving screen fees for orders over 72 or for repeat customers is a solid move. It builds loyalty without touching your per-shirt margin. Just make sure they know you're waiving it. "Screen setup: $60. Waived." They see the value even when they're not paying for it.

Art and design fee

If you're creating or fixing artwork:

• Simple text or logo placement: $25–50 flat
• Custom illustration/design: $75–250+ (charge by the hour: $50–100/hr or flat rate)
• Design revisions: 2–3 free, then $25–50/revision after that

Film and separation charges

• Per-color film: $15–30
• Simulated process separation: $75–150 (complex, requires expertise)

When to waive fees (strategically, not desperately)

• Big orders (144+): "Free setup on orders over 144" is a real upsell tool. The setup cost is negligible at that volume anyway.
• Repeat customers: Waive design on reorders of existing art. They already paid for it. Goodwill matters with people who come back.
• Referrals: "Refer a friend, free setup on your next order" costs you almost nothing and builds your pipeline.
• Big-ticket jobs: Nobody needs to see a $25 screen fee on a $5,000 order. Read the room.

Pricing Strategy: Pick Your Lane

There are three places a shop can live. Pick one. Trying to be all three is how you end up in none of them.

Budget shop (the race to the bottom)

Lowest prices, highest volume, margins so thin you can see through them. This is the $3-4 per shirt zone at 48+. Print farms and online retailers live here. The work never stops and the money barely shows up.

If you're running 500+ shirts a week on autos and you've got your costs dialed in, this can work. If you're a small shop with a manual press trying to compete at these prices? You'll be out of business in a year. The math doesn't care about your hustle.

Mid-market (where most profitable shops actually live)

Fair pricing, good quality, reliable turnaround, customers who come back because you don't screw up their orders. $6-8 per shirt at 48+ for basic work. This is the sweet spot for local and regional shops doing team orders, corporate work, events, small businesses.

The margins are healthy. The customers are loyal. The work is sustainable. You can actually take a weekend off. Most shops that have been around for ten years are living here, and there's a reason for that.

Premium (the money is great, the expectations are higher)

$15-40+ per shirt. Boutique brands, designer labels, limited runs, specialty techniques. Sim process, discharge, water-based on premium blanks. The clients are pickier and the mistakes cost more, but the margins are the best in the business.

This takes time to build. You need the skills, the reputation, and the portfolio. But once you're there, you're printing fewer shirts for more money with clients who respect the craft. That's the dream, if you're willing to put in the years to earn it.

What you compete on when you're not the cheapest

You will never outprice a factory. Stop trying. Compete on the things they can't do:

• Speed: Five-day turnaround beats the two-week wait at a budget shop. That's worth money to a customer with a deadline.
• Quality: Tight registration, vibrant colors, proper curing. The customer's customer can see the difference even if they can't name it.
• Not being a pain in the ass to work with: You answer the phone. You respond to emails the same day. You fix problems without drama. That's worth more than a dollar per shirt to a lot of people.
• Expertise: You know which ink works on which fabric. You can fix bad art. You guide the customer to a better result than what they asked for. That's the product.

Raising Your Prices: When and How

If you haven't raised prices in the last twelve months, you took a pay cut and didn't even notice. Every cost in your business went up. Your prices didn't. Do the math on what that means for your take-home.

When to raise prices

Your costs went up. Blanks, ink, rent, electricity, insurance. All of it. 5% annual increase is the minimum to stay even. Better yet, calculate your actual cost increases and pass them through. Your customers' costs are going up too. They understand.

You're turning away work. This is the clearest signal you'll ever get. If you have more orders than you can handle, your prices are too low. Raise them 10-15%. You'll lose a few price-sensitive customers and make more money overall. That's math.

Something changed. New equipment, higher insurance, productivity shift. Any time your cost structure changes, your prices need to change with it.

How to actually do it without losing your mind

Give your best customers a softer landing. Loyal repeats get a 5% bump. New customers get the full 10%. Your best customers will appreciate being treated differently. And if they don't? They were never that loyal.

Tell them 30 days early. Email, not text. "Starting [date], our pricing is going up due to rising material costs. We've kept our rates the same for [X] years. Thanks for your business." Short. Honest. No groveling.

Don't apologize. Seriously. Don't say "sorry for the inconvenience" or "we hate to do this." You're running a business. Costs go up. Prices go up. That's how it works. If you've improved anything (faster turnaround, better equipment, same-day proofs), mention that. You're charging more because you're delivering more.

Some people will leave. Good. If you raise prices 10% and lose 5% of your customers, you just made more money with less work. The customers who stay are the ones who value what you do. The ones who leave were always going to leave for fifty cents less.

The rule of thumb the profitable shops use

Raise 10%. Lose about 5% of customers. Net gain: 5% more revenue with a lighter workload. Most shops that try this are shocked at how few people actually leave. The fear of losing customers is almost always worse than the reality.

If nobody has ever complained about your prices

They're too low. I promise you. A healthy business gets some pushback on price. That means you're at the edge of what the market values. If every customer says yes without blinking, you've got room to go up. Probably a lot of room. Test it on the next ten quotes and see what happens.

Building Your Price Sheet: Do This Tonight

You've got the formula. Now put it to work. This takes about an hour and it'll change how you run your business.

1. Figure out your shop rate

Open a spreadsheet. Add up every fixed cost you pay monthly: rent, equipment payments, insurance, utilities, software, loans. Divide by your actual billable hours (probably 100-150 per month, not 160, because you spend time on admin, cleanup, and emails). That number is what it costs you per hour to exist as a business.

2. Know your variable costs cold

For each garment type and ink combination you regularly run, document the wholesale garment cost, average ink and emulsion per color, screen cost, and labor per shirt. If you're guessing on these numbers, you're guessing on every quote. Stop guessing.

3. Build a pricing calculator

A spreadsheet with garment selection, number of colors, quantity, special techniques, and formulas that spit out cost per shirt and selling price with markup applied. One hour to build. Saves you hundreds of hours a year in quoting. No more mental math. No more inconsistent pricing. No more quoting $8 on Tuesday and $9 on Thursday for the same job because you forgot what you quoted last time.

4. Create your standard price sheet

Most inquiries are "what's a basic 1-color print on a Gildan?" Have the answer ready:

• 12-24 shirts: $11.50
• 25-47 shirts: $8.75
• 48-71 shirts: $7.00
• 72-143 shirts: $5.75
• 144+: $4.75

Put this on your website. Print it. Send it with every inquiry. It sets expectations upfront and filters out the people who want 12 shirts for $3 each. Let someone else lose money on those.

5. Write down your terms

Every quote should include: payment terms (50% upfront is standard), rush fees, proof approval policy, reprint policy (your mistake is free, their change order is a new charge), and minimum order. Put it in writing. Every time. No exceptions. The one time you don't is the time that costs you.

6. Check the numbers every quarter

Did your actual costs match what you estimated? Did blank prices change? Is your waste rate higher than you budgeted? Adjust the spreadsheet. Annual review: pass along cost increases, capture efficiency gains, check if you're still competitive in your market.

7. Benchmark against real shops

This is where TDA earns its keep. The pricing benchmark tool shows you what shops in your region actually charge, which is usually pretty different from what they say on Facebook. If you're 30% below the regional mid, you know you've got room. If you're 30% above it, you know you need to justify it with quality and service.