How do you calculate quote margin?

Subtract loaded cost from quoted price to get margin dollars, then divide by your reference base. With a $125 price, $100 cost and a $100 base you get $25 of margin, which is 25%.

What is a good margin on a thermoformed part?

It varies by market and volume, but the 25% in the default example is a healthy target for many formed-part programs. Commodity high-volume work often runs thinner; custom technical parts can carry more.

Should the reference base be price or cost?

Use price for margin-on-sales (the more common quoting convention) and cost for markup-on-cost. The example uses 100 as the base against $25 of margin to give 25%; just apply the same base to every quote.

Margin vs markup — what is the difference?

Margin is profit as a share of price; markup is profit as a share of cost. The same $25 gain on a $100 cost is a 25% markup, but on a $125 price it would be 20% margin — the base you choose decides which you get.

How much can I discount before losing money?

Your margin dollars are the cushion. With $25 of margin on this part, any discount approaching $25 erases profit; the percentage tells you how much price flex you have before the quote goes underwater.

Why does my margin shrink after the job runs?

Because quoted cost rarely equals actual. Scrap, slow cycles and rework raise the real loaded cost, closing the gap on the quoted price and eating the margin you calculated up front.

Thermoforming & Vacuum Formed Products calculator

Quote Margin Calculator

Quote Margin measures the gap between the price you quote for a formed part and its fully-loaded cost, expressed both in dollars and as a percentage of a chosen reference base. Estimators and sales engineers in thermoforming use it to confirm a quote actually earns money before it goes out the door. It matters because formed-part pricing is competitive and thin: a program that looks profitable can quietly erode once scrap, energy and setup are loaded in. This calculator turns price-minus-cost into the margin number your finance team signs off on.

What this calculator does

Quote Margin measures the gap between the price you quote for a formed part and its fully-loaded cost, expressed both in dollars and as a percentage of a chosen reference base.
Use it when quote margin in thermoforming and vacuum formed products needs a clean margin number for a thermoforming and vacuum formed products go / no-go review.
It subtracts loaded cost from quoted price to get margin dollars, then divides by the reference base to express margin as a percentage.

Formula used

Quote Margin margin = available value - required value
Margin percent = margin ÷ reference value

Inputs explained

Quoted price per formed part:
Fully-loaded cost per formed part:
Reference base for margin (usually the price):

How to use the result

Use it at quote time, during price reviews, or when a customer pushes for a discount and you need to know how much margin room exists.
Margin percent depends on which reference base you pick — price gives markup-on-sales, cost gives markup-on-cost — so keep the base consistent across quotes to compare fairly.

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. has 9,635 plastics product manufacturing establishments employing about 677,302 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

How do you calculate quote margin? Subtract loaded cost from quoted price to get margin dollars, then divide by your reference base. With a $125 price, $100 cost and a $100 base you get $25 of margin, which is 25%.
What is a good margin on a thermoformed part? It varies by market and volume, but the 25% in the default example is a healthy target for many formed-part programs. Commodity high-volume work often runs thinner; custom technical parts can carry more.
Should the reference base be price or cost? Use price for margin-on-sales (the more common quoting convention) and cost for markup-on-cost. The example uses 100 as the base against $25 of margin to give 25%; just apply the same base to every quote.
Margin vs markup — what is the difference? Margin is profit as a share of price; markup is profit as a share of cost. The same $25 gain on a $100 cost is a 25% markup, but on a $125 price it would be 20% margin — the base you choose decides which you get.
How much can I discount before losing money? Your margin dollars are the cushion. With $25 of margin on this part, any discount approaching $25 erases profit; the percentage tells you how much price flex you have before the quote goes underwater.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.