The building blocks of a price
Cost of goods (COGS)
The actual cost of every stem, greenery, and hard good, container, ribbon, card, in the arrangement.
Labor
The design time it takes to build the arrangement, valued at a real hourly rate.
Overhead
A share of rent, utilities, and other fixed costs the arrangement needs to help cover.
Markup
What's added on top of cost so the price also produces a profit, not just breaks even.
A simple worked example
This is an illustrative example with round numbers, not a benchmark for what your shop should charge; your actual costs and market will differ.
| Line item | Illustrative cost |
|---|---|
| Flowers & greenery (COGS) | $18.00 |
| Hard goods (vase, ribbon, card) | $4.00 |
| Labor (15 minutes at a set hourly rate) | $6.25 |
| Subtotal | $28.25 |
| Markup applied for overhead & profit | ×2 to ×3, shop-dependent |
| Illustrative retail price | $60–$85 |
The right markup multiple for your shop depends on your real overhead, local market, and margin goals, there's no single correct number that applies everywhere.
Where recipe costing comes in
None of this works without knowing the real cost behind an arrangement in the first place. That's what a recipe, the actual list of stems and supplies a product uses, is for.
Common questions
What's recipe costing?
It's tying a product's price to the actual ingredients, stems, greenery, and hard goods, that go into making it, instead of pricing by feel.
Should delivery be priced separately?
Many shops do charge delivery as a separate line item rather than folding it into the arrangement price; either approach can work as long as it's consistent and covers the real cost.
How do I account for labor time accurately?
Time a few real arrangements at different complexity levels and use that as your baseline, rather than guessing.