A stained glass business plan is a plan for pieces, because every piece of glass is cut, ground, foiled and soldered by hand, about four minutes each. A 12 × 16 panel of 60 pieces is four hours of that before the design and the finishing; the same panel in 30 simpler pieces is two. So the plan has to count pieces, pay the minutes, make the small things in runs, and price commissions from the pieces they need. In the example below, a stained glass studio in Connecticut sells suncatchers, panels and commissioned windows, and ends the first year about $9,500 ahead on $40,900 of sales, after paying $20 an hour for about 650 hours. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.
The short version
- Describe the studio in a paragraph: suncatchers, panels, commissions, where you sell, the goals.
- Cost a piece from the glass up: glass with a waste allowance, foil and solder by the piece, frame, box, your minutes.
- Count pieces: they decide the minutes more than the size does.
- Make suncatchers in runs; they leave the most for each hour.
- Price commissions from their piece count, with a deposit for the glass.
- TaroStack keeps glass by color, foil and solder by the roll, and every piece costed from what it used. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Mystic River Glass, a made-up stained glass studio in Mystic, Connecticut, I use in these examples, writes:
Mystic River Glass makes copper-foil stained glass in a shared studio: suncatchers made in runs, panels in nautical and floral designs, and commissioned windows, sold at markets, through two galleries, and online.
Part 2: what each piece costs
Glass is about $12 a square foot, with 35% added for the offcuts a pattern leaves, and copper foil, solder and flux come to about 25 cents for each piece of glass.
| Per unit | Suncatcher, in a run of six | Panel, 60 pieces | Panel, 30 pieces | Window, 150 pieces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glass, foil, solder, frame, hooks and finish | $10.81 | $47.32 | $39.82 | $100.68 |
| Box, padding or crate | $2.00 | $8.00 | $8.00 | $15.00 |
| Time at $20 an hour | $15.00 (45 min) | $115.00 (5.75 h) | $75.00 (3.75 h) | $265.00 (13.25 h) |
| Selling fees, 6% | $3.30 | $19.20 | $13.80 | $42.00 |
| Variable cost | $31.11 | $189.52 | $136.62 | $422.68 |
The time is most of every piece's cost: an hour of design, four minutes for every piece of glass, and the cleaning, patina and framing. A gallery that takes half the price changes everything; what that leaves is the same question as in how to price handmade items for wholesale. How each piece was priced is in how to price handmade items.
Part 3: customers and prices
| Product | Price | Variable cost | Contribution | Margin | A month at full speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suncatcher, 6 inch, made six at a time | $55.00 | $31.11 | $23.89 | 43.4% | 30 |
| Panel, 12 x 16, 60 pieces | $320.00 | $189.52 | $130.48 | 40.8% | 5 |
| Panel, 12 x 16, simple geometric, 30 pieces | $230.00 | $136.62 | $93.38 | 40.6% | 5 |
| Commissioned window, 18 x 24, 150 pieces | $700.00 | $422.68 | $277.32 | 39.6% | 2 |
On top of the $20 an hour already paid, a suncatcher leaves about $32 for each hour it takes, a geometric panel about $25, a 60-piece panel about $23 and a commissioned window about $21. At full speed the suncatchers bring about $720 of the month's $2,390 of contribution, the 60-piece panels about $650, the windows about $550 and the geometric panels about $470. A design with fewer pieces sells at a lower price and leaves more for each hour; that's the lever for anything sold from stock. How cost-plus pricing works is in cost plus pricing example.
Part 4: the first year, month by month
Fixed costs are $615 a month: shared studio space ($250), ventilation and power ($40), market and gallery fees ($150), the website ($40), insurance ($40), marketing ($60), and software and card fees ($35). Sales start at 15% of full speed and reach it in month 11:
| Month | Suncatchers | Panels, 60 pieces | Panels, 30 pieces | Windows | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $825 | −$272 | −$272 |
| 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | $880 | −$248 | −$519 |
| 3 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | $1,690 | $77 | −$442 |
| 4 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | $2,295 | $325 | −$117 |
| 5 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 1 | $2,460 | $397 | $280 |
| 6 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 1 | $3,175 | $692 | $972 |
| 7 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 1 | $3,340 | $764 | $1,736 |
| 8 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 1 | $4,055 | $1,059 | $2,795 |
| 9 | 24 | 4 | 4 | 2 | $4,920 | $1,408 | $4,204 |
| 10 | 27 | 5 | 5 | 2 | $5,635 | $1,704 | $5,908 |
| 11 | 30 | 5 | 5 | 2 | $5,800 | $1,776 | $7,683 |
| 12 | 30 | 5 | 5 | 2 | $5,800 | $1,776 | $9,459 |
The year's sales are $40,875 and the profit $9,459, on top of about 97 hours a month at full speed paid at $20, about 650 hours and $13,000 in the year. Cash dips to −$519 in month 2, so the plan keeps $1,000 of working cash, and every commission takes a deposit that covers its glass.
Part 5: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Glass grinder | $250 |
| Cutters, pliers and hand tools | $200 |
| Soldering iron and station | $150 |
| Ring saw | $500 |
| Light table | $200 |
| Fume extractor | $250 |
| First glass | $800 |
| Foil, solder, flux and patina | $200 |
| Market display | $500 |
| Website | $300 |
| Working cash | $1,000 |
| Total to start | $4,350 |
Solder contains lead in many studios, so the fume extractor is in the budget: solder with ventilation, wash up before eating, and keep food out of the studio. At $9,500 a year, the $3,350 spent before working cash is earned back by month 9. How many suncatchers to make before a craft fair is in how much inventory for a craft fair.
Get the template
Download the stained glass business plan workbook. Four sheets: your suncatchers, panels and commissions with price, variable cost and a month's volume at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales, profit and cash; your fixed costs; and your startup budget with working cash. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Sheets of glass in forty colors and textures, offcuts sorted by color, foil in three widths, solder by the spool, zinc frame by the length, and a commission that needs a particular cobalt. A notebook can't say whether there's enough cobalt for the commission, when foil and solder will run out, or what a suncatcher costs now that glass went up.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps glass by color, foil and solder by the roll, and every piece costed from what it used.
Glass as stock. Each color is an item, bought by the sheet and used by the square foot; foil by the roll, solder by the spool. TaroStack does the unit math, and counts are done on a phone, so the cobalt left is a number.
Pieces as recipes. A suncatcher is a recipe of its glass, with the waste allowance, foil, solder, hooks and box; a run of six takes them off stock at what they cost, with the minutes it took.
Commissions against stock. A commission is a sales order that shows whether there's enough glass while you're typing it, and foil and solder come up on a reorder list in days of cover.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Enough cobalt for the commission? | Dig through the rack | Stock by color |
| Foil and solder before they run out | Found short | Reorder list in days of cover |
| What a suncatcher costs now | A guess | Each run, at what it used |
| Which designs earn their hours? | A feeling | Margins by product |
Counting, recipes, batches and sales orders are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.