Job pricing guide
How to price furniture assembly
Base the price on item complexity, piece count, workspace, packaging disposal, anchoring, and instructions quality.
How should you price this job?
Use exact model numbers and quantities whenever possible, then estimate unboxing, parts sorting, assembly, adjustment, placement, anchoring, and cleanup. Include travel, packaging disposal, stairs or access time, overhead, uncertainty, and your target margin.
What affects the price?
- Item type and component count
- Workspace and access
- Wall anchoring or leveling
Pricing considerations
- Review instructions and quantities before quoting instead of pricing only by broad furniture type.
- Count moving, unboxing, sorting, leveling, anchoring, and packaging breakdown as working time.
- Define how missing parts, product defects, tight access, and customer-requested relocation will be handled.
What costs should you include?
Count every hour the job occupies—including paid travel—then add raw materials, vehicle cost, allocated overhead, and job-specific expenses. Add visible pricing adjustments and a risk reserve before using margin math to find the selling price. The pricing methodology explains each allocation and the difference between markup and margin.
Pricing workflow
- Get the exact model numbers, quantities, dimensions, and assembly instructions when possible.
- Confirm delivery location, stairs, available workspace, wall anchoring, and whether pieces must be moved after assembly.
- Estimate unboxing, parts sorting, assembly, adjustment, anchoring, and packaging removal—not just wrench time.
Scope checklist
- Include unboxing, parts check, assembly, leveling, final placement, and cleanup.
- State whether wall anchoring, room-to-room moving, and packaging haul-away are included.
- Exclude missing-part sourcing, product defects, wall repair, and disassembly of existing furniture unless listed.
Common scope variables
- Number of items
- Unboxing and parts check
- Anchoring included
- Packaging cleanup and disposal
Costs commonly forgotten
- Missing or defective hardware
- Stairs and tight access
- Large packaging disposal
Counting only assembly time and giving away the time spent unpacking, sorting hardware, moving the item, and breaking down packaging.
Flat rate or hourly?
Flat-rate pricing works for a known model with clear instructions. Hourly pricing is safer for mixed items, unknown brands, or incomplete hardware.
In either case, calculate every planned allocation first. A flat rate should still pay for estimated working time, travel, overhead, risk, and target-margin surplus.
Worked pricing example
These hypothetical assumptions run through the same pricing engine as the calculator:
- Labor time
- 3 hours × 1 worker
- Travel time
- 0.50 hours
- Desired hourly compensation
- $45.00 per worker-hour
- Planned labor compensation
- $157.50
- Raw materials
- $8.00
- Material pricing adjustment
- 0% = $0.00
- Overhead allocation
- $750.00 ÷ 90 billable hours × 3.50 hours = $29.16
- Vehicle and job expenses
- $28.00
- Difficulty adjustment
- 0% = $0.00
- Contingency / risk reserve
- 5% = $11.13
- Target margin
- 20%
- Calculated minimum price
- $292.24
- Rounded suggested quote
- $300.00
The rounded quote contains $66.21 of target-margin surplus after all listed allocations. Replace every assumption with your own job numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Should unboxing count as labor?
Yes. It is working time required to complete the job.
How do I price multiple items?
Estimate total time, include setup efficiencies, and keep the scope itemized so additions are clear.
Use your actual numbers
Calculate your furniture assembly quote
Travel time is paid business time in this calculator. No local or national price averages are used.