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Maker Profitabilityby Small Hours Labs

Maker Profitability Tools

Production Capacity & True Hourly Earnings Calculator

Calculate how many products you can realistically make each week, what you are likely to sell, and what the business truly pays you for every hour invested.

One product · One week · Capacity planning

One product · One week

Describe your weekly production plan

Calculations update live after every required field and the production-time requirement are valid.

Weekly time

Include all weekly business time—not only hands-on making. Nonproduction hours still affect what the business truly pays you per hour.

Greater than 0, up to 168 hours and two decimal places.

Marketing, sourcing, listings, customer service, and administration; cannot exceed total hours.

Use 100% for ideal capacity. Lower it for interruptions, cleanup, tool changes, fatigue, and ordinary downtime.

Production process

Enter active labor time rather than unattended drying, curing, cooling, or machine-running time unless that time prevents other work.

A whole number from 1 through 100,000.

Applied once to each complete batch.

At least one production-time component must be greater than zero.

Applied to every unit in a batch.

Any other hands-on work applied to every unit.

Include defects, breakage, failed prints, test pieces, or rework that cannot be sold during the same week.

Sales expectations

Capacity is what you can make. Sell-through is what you reasonably expect to sell. Producing more than demand does not automatically create more earnings.

The share of saleable weekly capacity you realistically expect to sell.

A positive amount before sales tax, up to $999,999.99.

May be fractional for planning; greater than zero, up to 100,000.

Unit and weekly costs

Blank optional costs mean zero. Zero-cost scenarios are valid, but the result will identify omitted per-unit costs.

Blank means zero.

Blank means zero.

Blank means zero.

Blank means zero; deducted even when planned sales are zero.

Selling and payment fees

Leave fees at zero for fee-free direct sales. Enter the rates charged by the marketplace and payment method used for these sales.

A generic revenue percentage from 0% through 50%, with up to three decimals.

A generic revenue percentage from 0% through 50%, with up to three decimals.

Forecast from expected orders, which may be fractional.

Optional earnings goal

Set an hourly goal to compare planned sales with full capacity and solve for the smallest qualifying unit price at planned volume.

Blank means no goal. An explicit $0.00 goal is valid.

Production capacity planning

Separate what you can make from what you expect to sell

Production capacity is a time-and-process limit. Demand is a separate limit. This calculator models one product, one owner-operator, and one typical week so batch size, setup, active production, finishing, efficiency, scrap or rework, and sell-through remain visible.

It compares planned sales with full saleable capacity, then estimates weekly business earnings, owner time, and true hourly earnings under each scenario without assuming that every available unit will sell.

How to use it

Turn your assumptions into a decision

  1. Enter total weekly business time, nonproduction time, production efficiency, and the batch and per-unit time required for one product.
  2. Adjust scrap or rework and expected sell-through, then add price, order size, unit costs, weekly costs, and generic selling fees.
  3. Compare capacity with planned sales and review earnings, owner hours, unused capacity, and any required-price result for your hourly goal.

Behind the result

Complete batches become saleable units, then planned sales

Available production time is reduced by nonproduction time and the efficiency assumption. Only complete batches fit into that time. Scrap or rework reduces gross units to saleable units, and sell-through reduces saleable units to planned units sold.

Planned and full-capacity scenarios each subtract unit costs, separately rounded selling fees, fixed order charges, and weekly fixed costs from revenue. True hourly earnings divide business earnings by the owner time required for the scenario, including nonproduction business time.

Common questions

Questions this estimate can clarify

Why can capacity be higher than planned sales?
Capacity reflects the process and available time. Planned sales also apply your expected sell-through, so unsold capacity remains visible instead of becoming assumed revenue.
How does batching affect the result?
Setup and active production time apply per batch, while finishing and additional labor apply per unit. Partial batches are excluded, so batch size can change the number of complete units that fit.
What does true hourly earnings include?
It uses weekly business earnings after entered costs and fees, divided by required production time plus entered nonproduction business time.

Keep planning

Use another focused calculator when the business question changes.

Scope

A focused weekly planning estimate

This calculator evaluates one product, one owner-operator, and one typical workweek. It keeps capacity, demand, business earnings, and owner time distinct, and every calculation stays on this device.

Not included in this version

  • Multiple products, shared equipment, multiple workers, employee wages, payroll taxes, shift scheduling, or overtime
  • Separate machine capacity, overlapping batches, partial batches, multiple production stages, queues, or inventory already on hand
  • Backorders, seasonal demand, daily, monthly, or annual forecasting, wholesale pricing, quantity discounts, refunds, or chargebacks
  • Sales tax, VAT, duties, income tax, self-employment tax, debt payments, or equipment depreciation schedules
  • Shipping-rate lookup, marketplace-specific fees, saved scenarios, accounts, databases, PDF export, analytics, or advertising