Should I Include My Time in My Candle Prices?

Yes, put your time in the price. Craftybase calls labor usually the biggest omission in candle pricing, and says to treat your own time as a real cost even if you do not pay yourself a wage yet. CandleScience lists labor among its fixed costs, next to insurance. If you leave it out, your price covers the wax and the jar but pays you nothing for the work.

How do I work out labor per candle?

Craftybase's method is to time each step of a batch: measuring, melting, pouring, curing checks, trimming, labeling and boxing. Add the minutes, turn them into hours, multiply by your hourly rate, then divide by the number of candles in the batch.

What hourly rate should I use?

Craftybase does not set one rate for everybody. Its advice is to choose an hourly rate you would be satisfied with. Its hourly-rate guide gives three ways to get there:

• Expense floor. Add your essential monthly expenses and divide by your monthly business hours. Its example is $3,200 / 120 hours = $26.67 an hour.
• Market benchmark. Start from what an employer would pay for the same work and add 20 to 25 percent for self-employment costs. Its example turns a $22 wage into $27 to $28. Craftybase calls the uplift a rule of thumb.
• Income target. Divide a yearly income goal by your making hours.

Craftybase calls $20 to $30 an hour a fair starting rate for skilled production labor in most US markets. That is one company's figure and may be out of date, so check it against your own area. As of 2026-11-04, the US Department of Labor gives the federal minimum wage as $7.25 an hour, effective July 24, 2009. Craftybase calls that a legal floor, not a pricing target.

Do I count all my hours or only the hours I pour?

This trips people up. Craftybase says the expense-floor method should use all business time, including admin, photography, packing and customer messages. But the labor you add to one candle uses only the minutes that candle takes to make. So the rate comes from all your hours, and the cost per candle comes from the making minutes. The two are not the same thing.

Worked example

All numbers are examples. A batch of 16 candles takes 30 minutes to weigh and melt, 40 minutes to pour and wick, and 50 minutes to trim, label and box. That is 30 + 40 + 50 = 120 minutes, or 2 hours.

Say your monthly need is $2,640 over 120 business hours. The expense-floor rate is $2,640 / 120 = $22 an hour. Cross-check with the benchmark: an $18 wage plus 20 to 25 percent is 18 x 1.20 = $21.60 to 18 x 1.25 = $22.50. Both land near $22.

Labor for the batch is 2 x $22 = $44, and per candle that is $44 / 16 = $2.75. Add it to the other costs and price at a 50 percent margin (price = cost / 0.50, the method in our pricing guide):

The gap is 18.90 - 13.40 = $5.50 a candle. At $13.40, you would be giving that away, and the price would also have to cover fees, unsold stock and everything else.

A rate is not a paycheck

If you make 4 batches a month, that is 4 x 16 = 64 candles. Labor in your prices then adds up to 64 x $2.75 = $176 a month. That is what your prices pay you for making time. It is not the $2,640 that set the rate, because most of your 120 hours are not spent pouring. So a labor line is only part of the answer. Selling more candles, speeding up the steps and raising the price all matter.

What if the price comes out too high?

Do not set labor to zero. Look at the steps. Craftybase says to time each one, and once you have, you can see which takes longest. Pouring larger batches spreads the setup time over more candles. You can also check materials, or accept a lower rate on purpose, knowing what you are giving up.

Common mistakes

• Treating your own time as free because you are not on a payroll.
• Using the hours in the batch to set the rate instead of all business hours.
• Counting only pour time and forgetting labeling and boxing.
• Setting a rate from one number you saw online without checking your area.
• Raising the price and then never checking whether candles sell at it.

Questions

Do I include time spent on social media and shows?

Craftybase says the expense-floor rate should count admin, photography, packing and customer messages in your monthly hours. The per-candle labor is only the making minutes. Selling time is covered by the rate and your margin.

Should my labor be the same for wholesale?

The labor per candle is the same, since the candle takes the same time. CandleScience says wholesale is typically 2 times cost, and our wholesale guide shows the math.

Is the 25 to 50 percent margin enough to pay me?

CandleScience says a 25 to 50 percent margin is a good range for a new candle business, but it also counts labor as a cost. If labor is already in your cost, the margin is what is left. If it is not, the margin has to pay you too. See our margin guide.