Onboarding Walkthrough

This walkthrough gives you the fastest path from a new account to a working cost calculation. Follow these steps in order.

Step 1 -- Configure your cost settings

Go to Settings > Cost Settings. Set your default hourly labour rate and your default waste factor.

Why: Every product you create uses these defaults. Getting them right before you add products means your calculations are accurate from the start rather than needing to be corrected later.

Step 2 -- Set up overhead allocation

Go to Settings > Overhead. Enter your total monthly overhead costs (rent, utilities, insurance, tools) and choose how CrafterBy allocates them across your output.

Why: Overhead is the cost that most makers forget. Including it ensures your prices actually cover your fixed costs.

Step 3 -- Add your first material

Go to Materials and click Add material. Enter the name, unit of measurement, cost per unit, and supplier. For example: "Soy Wax GW 464", unit = grams, cost per 1000g = 8.50 EUR.

Why: Materials are the building blocks of products. You need at least one material before you can calculate a product cost.

Step 4 -- Create your first product

Go to Products and click Create product. Give it a name, then add the materials it uses (with quantities), labour entries (task name plus time), and any machine usage.

Why: This is where everything comes together. CrafterBy pulls the costs from your materials, your hourly rate from settings, and your overhead allocation to produce a total cost per unit.

Step 5 -- Review the cost breakdown

Open the product you just created and check the cost breakdown panel. You will see each cost component listed separately: materials, labour, machines, overhead, and a total. Compare this to what you are currently charging.

Why: This is the output CrafterBy is built for. If the numbers surprise you, that is useful information -- it means your previous pricing was based on incomplete data.

Next steps