Quoting for weddings flowers: maths not emotion

I recently posted an Instagram Reel about how I calculate my wedding quotes, and it garnered a LOT of conversation.

I thought it was a good time to share how it all works.

Just a note before you read on, this is the pricing technique that works for me, and, what works for most people I know in this industry. It ensures that we make profit, that we have a wage and ensures that we remove emotions while quoting and do it really efficiently.

Step one with quoting is the markup.

Basically what that means is you take the wholesale cost of the goods and you mark it up.

Now, for everybody reading this who isn't a florist, you might be thinking "why do you have to mark it up?"

This is what every single business does.

It's what restaurants do, what clothing stores do. It's literally what every single business does to cover costs. 

It ensures that we are covering our operational costs; Rent, water, electricity, all of the apps and systems and programs that are used to run our business. Cars and vehicles, everything that we need to run our business is incorporated in that markup.

It also ensures that we can make a profit in business.

Profit is really important for growing a business. We reinvest it back into our business so that we can expand and grow and make it better. You shouldn't just be paying all your bills and invoices, and have nothing left at the end

The markup is "x 3", and that is just the Floristry industry standard.

In some places, it'll be higher and some people would choose to make it lower and that is completely up to them.

To mark up by 3, we take all the flowers that we are required to buy to complete the job, and then we times it by three. For example: $2,000 wholesale floral cost will be charged to the client as $6,000.

Next, let's talk labour.

If you're like me and you didn't even charge labour for a few years, I feel your pain.

I didn't charge labour for quite a while because I made the mistake of thinking the mark up by 3 included my labour expenses.

It didn't.

And when I learned that lesson, I was a little bit in shock at how much free labour I'd been giving away.

The labour fee is very subjective according to your business, and should definitely be curated to your own business. Not just a number that I say, or what somebody else says.

Consider: What you want to get paid. What your freelancer rates are. How many hours it takes you to do certain jobs.

Certain types of installations and work is going to take longer or be more tedious. There's a lot to consider and I think it's important for you to look at your own business, overheads and goals here.

If you're somebody who tries to figure out how long it's going to take for every single part of the wedding you're quoting on, please stop. You do not have to do that.

What I would suggest instead:

1. Going and looking back at your last five or ten weddings

2. Calculating how much the labour costs

3. Reviewing what percentage that is of the florals.

The reason quoting from a percentage works so well is because it just increases with the amount of flowers that you're buying.

For example, if the total cost is $10,000, and the percentage was 30%, you would add on $3,000 of labour.

The labour fee increases with the floral amount which makes sense because the more flowers, the more work. This simple calculation will save you SO much time deliberating over hours and rates while also ensuring your expenses are covered.

The final elements to add onto your quote are: the pack down, travel to the venue, if you're doing any hire items, any tax in your area, or if you are earning enough to charge GST, all of this can be done again, by calculation.

It doesn't need to be emotional. It doesn't need to be confusing.

It should be done really quickly and efficiently, and it should just be maths, not feelings.