KEVOS® WORKOS · Money
True Unit Cost
What does this work really cost?
Builds a fully loaded unit cost from material, labour, overhead and other costs, and optionally checks it against the selling price.
Open the calculatorRuns in your browser. No account needed.
How this tool works
Inputs, units and where to find them
| Input | Unit | Typical source |
|---|---|---|
| Material / unit | $ | Bill of materials cost including scrap allowance |
| Labour hours / unit | hr | Standard or measured labour time per unit |
| Loaded labour rate | $/hr | Fully loaded hourly rate (wages plus on-costs) from finance |
| Overhead allocation / unit | $ | Overhead allocation per unit using your approved basis |
| Other cost / unit | $ | Packaging, freight-in, consumables or royalties per unit |
| Selling price / unit (optional, 0 = not used) | $ | Selling price per unit (leave 0 if not comparing) |
Method and formulas
- Labour = hours per unit × loaded rate
- True cost = material + labour + overhead + other
- Margin = (price − true cost) ÷ price
Limitations
- Overhead allocation is only as good as the basis used
- Average cost; batch-size effects are not modelled
Typical uses
- Costing a new product or job
- Checking whether a price covers full cost
- Finding the largest cost element to reduce
Who it is for
- Estimators
- Production managers
- Owners of small manufacturing businesses
What you get
- True cost per unit
- Cost breakdown with shares
- Margin against price when entered
Interpreting the result
- Reduce the largest element first
- A price below true cost may still be accepted short term only if it covers variable cost
References
- Horngren, Datar and Rajan, Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis (Pearson), job and product costing
WORKOS tools are screening and decision-support utilities. Verify important financial, engineering, safety, legal or operational decisions using appropriate professional standards and your organisation’s approved data.
