Calculating Cost of Supplies-How dyou figure yours out?

Hi all, and thank you for paying attention to my first post. Been creeping the boards for awhile so figured its about time to participate.

I have had clients either 'pay me for supplies' on top of my wage, or on the rare occasion where I paint out of the goodness of my own heart, i just charge for supplies.

I can't figure out a way to measure these down to a science. I just picked up a $112 haul from a face painting shop [I use high quality stuff, never anything cheap, and just about never use snazaroo, those gross cream grease paints that i see people use, etc.]

I estimated the last one at $40, largely because i finished my white cake off, but i can't get the math. How dyou figure out yours? What is a rough ballpark figure of what you charge? I cant exactly measure the precise amount that came out of my 90g paint..

Actually i guess i could, with a very small scale, but no.

Thoughts?

Dear pandapants:
Welcome to the Forum!
Come on over to the "Introductions" thread and post about yourself.
If you go into your Profile, above, and post your general location, you may get more specific, and useful advice from your local face painters. It is easier to get noticed and invited to local jams when people know you are in the neighbourhood.
In the beginning, I ploughed every penny, and then some, back into my kit. Now, I try to reserve 10% of the payment back into my kit. That is working fairly well, to keep me from overdosing on face paint, glitter, brushes, airbrush, & sponges.
I had some huge events coming up, and I want to create kits that are identical to my own, for each of my team members to use. So I just ignored my 10% rule. That is a one time exception.

You will find different answers from different painters.

Happy Painting!

brilliant, that is a great tip. will check out the intro forum.. thank you!

usually, the advertisement for the face paint will tell you an estimate of how many faces you can paint with that size cake. you could try to do an estimate based on the number of cakes you have, and how many colors per design, along with all the accessories you use per event.

however, i think you probably just need to use up some supplies to figure it out.

The cost of face paints is rolled into ones overhead. Most small businesses can figure 30% as overhead. Very small may be higher, and larger businesses will be lower.

What you want to do is make a job cost sheet. There is an actual business formula to figure the actual/gross/net on each job a business performs.

Since you are asking only about supplies then as posted you do need an idea of how many applications per paint cake, ounce of glitter, ect used per person. Then do the math. If you do not know then one must make a guess. Having used a cake already you should have some idea how many people you painted.

I have a spreadsheet to calculate my costs per face

You can find it on my webpage to download under my 'Links" tab or on my blog at http://shannonfennell.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/business-tips-for-face-painters-body-artists-and-make-up-artists-7-setting-your-rates/ which goes through the process with instructions.

I was just going to suggest Shannon's spreadsheet.

It is pretty awesome!