Adding Labour to a Product

Labour is often the largest cost component in handmade products, yet it is the one most commonly underestimated or omitted entirely. CrafterBy makes it straightforward to record the time each task takes and apply the correct hourly rate.

Steps

1. Open the product.
2. Go to the Labour tab.
3. Click Add Labour.
4. Enter a Task Name — a short description of what this labour entry covers (e.g., "Pouring and cooling", "Stone setting", "Sanding and finishing").
5. Enter the Time in minutes.
6. The Hourly Rate defaults to your business's default labour rate (set in Settings). If this task uses a different rate, enable the rate override and enter the specific rate.
7. CrafterBy calculates: Labour cost = (Minutes / 60) × Hourly Rate.
8. Click Add.

Adding multiple labour entries

Break the production process into distinct tasks and add each as a separate entry. This gives you better visibility into where your time goes, and makes it easier to identify tasks to streamline.

For a leather wallet, you might have entries for:

• Cutting leather pieces — 15 minutes
• Skiving edges — 10 minutes
• Stitching — 25 minutes
• Edge finishing — 10 minutes
• Final conditioning and quality check — 5 minutes

Overriding the hourly rate

Use a rate override when a specific task should be valued differently from your default rate. Common reasons:

• Highly skilled work (e.g., hand engraving, complex metalwork) warrants a higher rate
• You have a team member who works at a different rate
• An apprentice or trainee works at a lower rate

Jewellery example: Your default hourly rate is €15/hour. Stone setting is specialist work you value at €20/hour. A setting task takes 45 minutes.

• Hourly rate override: €20/hour
• Labour cost: (45 / 60) × €20 = €15.00

What rate to use

Your default hourly rate should reflect what you want to earn for your time, not what you think the market will accept. If you earn less than your target rate, your pricing is not sustainable. Start with a realistic target and see what selling price that implies; adjust either the rate or the process if the price is unworkable.