How do you calculate machine hour rate recovery?

Divide the quoted machine hourly rate by the fully burdened hourly cost. An $85/hr quote against a $62/hr burdened cost gives 85 ÷ 62 = 137.1% recovery, meaning the rate covers cost plus a 37% margin on machine time.

What is a good rate recovery percentage for an AM bureau?

Most bureaus target 120% to 160% on machine time to absorb idle hours, failed builds, and growth investment. The 137.1% in the example is healthy, and because the target was set at 120%, it clears the bar by about 17 points.

Why is my recovery gap negative if I'm above 100%?

The gap is target minus actual. With a 120% target and 137.1% actual, the gap is -17.1 points — negative simply means you are exceeding target, not that you are underwater. A positive gap is the warning sign.

What should be in fully burdened hourly cost?

Machine depreciation or lease per running hour, energy, inert gas or nitrogen, recurring maintenance and service contracts, consumable wear items, and a share of facility and supervision overhead. Leaving out gas and maintenance is the classic way bureaus understate cost and overstate recovery.

Does high rate recovery mean the job is profitable?

Not necessarily. This metric only covers machine time. A build with strong 137% rate recovery can still lose money if material markup is thin or post-processing labor was underquoted, so pair it with a full job margin check.

Should each machine have its own burdened rate?

Yes. A DMLS system with inert gas and high depreciation has a very different burdened cost than an FDM machine, so a single blended rate will overcharge cheap machines and undercharge expensive ones. Calculate recovery per machine class.

Additive Manufacturing Service Bureau Quoting calculator

Machine Hour Rate Recovery Calculator

Machine hour rate recovery tells an additive manufacturing service bureau whether the hourly rate it quotes actually covers what a printer costs to run, including depreciation, energy, gas, maintenance, and allocated overhead. Estimators and bureau owners use it to sanity-check quotes before they go out and to spot machines that are quietly losing money on every build. It matters because AM quoting is often anchored to a per-hour rate, and if that rate drifts below fully burdened cost the bureau prints volume at a loss without realizing it. This calculator turns two numbers — your quoted rate and your true burdened cost — into a recovery percentage and a clear gap against your margin target.

What this calculator does

Check whether the quoted AM machine hourly rate recovers the fully burdened printer hourly cost.
an owner or estimator needs to verify that a printer's quoted hourly rate covers its cost basis
Computes the ratio of your quoted machine hourly rate to your fully burdened hourly cost as a recovery percentage, plus the point gap to your target recovery.

Formula used

Rate recovery = quoted machine hourly rate ÷ fully burdened hourly cost
Gap to target = target rate recovery - actual rate recovery

Inputs explained

Quoted machine hourly rate: undefined
Fully burdened hourly cost: undefined
Target rate recovery: undefined

How to use the result

Use it when setting or auditing the per-hour rate behind AM quotes, comparing recovery across SLS, MJF, DMLS, and FDM machines, or deciding whether a rate increase is justified.
Recovery only reflects the hourly rate; it ignores material markup, post-processing, and setup fees, so a machine can show strong rate recovery while the overall job still loses money on consumables.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for plastic resins and materials stands at 319.371 (BLS, May 2026), up 19.5% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
The U.S. prime lending rate is 6.75% (Federal Reserve via FRED, 2026-07-02). Payback and financing math should start from today's rate, not a remembered one.

Common questions

How do you calculate machine hour rate recovery? Divide the quoted machine hourly rate by the fully burdened hourly cost. An $85/hr quote against a $62/hr burdened cost gives 85 ÷ 62 = 137.1% recovery, meaning the rate covers cost plus a 37% margin on machine time.
What is a good rate recovery percentage for an AM bureau? Most bureaus target 120% to 160% on machine time to absorb idle hours, failed builds, and growth investment. The 137.1% in the example is healthy, and because the target was set at 120%, it clears the bar by about 17 points.
Why is my recovery gap negative if I'm above 100%? The gap is target minus actual. With a 120% target and 137.1% actual, the gap is -17.1 points — negative simply means you are exceeding target, not that you are underwater. A positive gap is the warning sign.
What should be in fully burdened hourly cost? Machine depreciation or lease per running hour, energy, inert gas or nitrogen, recurring maintenance and service contracts, consumable wear items, and a share of facility and supervision overhead. Leaving out gas and maintenance is the classic way bureaus understate cost and overstate recovery.
Does high rate recovery mean the job is profitable? Not necessarily. This metric only covers machine time. A build with strong 137% rate recovery can still lose money if material markup is thin or post-processing labor was underquoted, so pair it with a full job margin check.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.