Calculate total material cost by multiplying the quantity needed by the price per unit, or by weight or bag, with an optional waste allowance.

Any unit (pieces, ft, m, m², yd³, sheets), as long as the price below is for the same unit.

Overage allowance
Extra material for waste or offcuts, added to the quantity.

Material Cost Formula

The following formula is used to calculate the Material Cost. 

MC = Q × CPQ
  • Where MC is the Material Cost ($)
  • Q is the total quantity of material needed 
  • CPQ is the cost per unit of material ($/unit) 

To calculate the material cost, multiply the total quantity of material by the cost per unit of material.

How to Calculate Material Cost?

The following example problems outline how to calculate Material Cost.

Example Problem #1:

  1. First, determine the total quantity of material needed. The required quantity of material is given as 150 units.
  2. Next, determine the cost per unit of material ($/unit). The cost per unit of material ($/unit) is provided as 3.
  3. Finally, calculate the Material Cost using the equation above: 

MC = Q * CPQ

The values given above are inserted into the equation below:

MC = 150 * 3 = 450 ($)

Example Problem #2: 

The variables needed for this problem are provided below:

total quantity of material needed = 700

cost per unit of material ($/unit) = 3

Entering these values and solving gives:

MC = Q * CPQ = 2,100.00 ($)