Enter the concentrate ratio from the label and what you paid for the container. See the chemical cost per gallon, bucket, and job, including optional mixing labor and waste. This is a purchasing and pricing aid, not a supplier recommendation. See the full cost guide with a worked example.
Concentrate and batch
Use the exact units printed on the product label. A 1:32 label usually means 4 fl oz of concentrate per gallon of water.
Optional mixing labor
Safety: follow the product label and SDS. Never mix chemicals unless the manufacturer explicitly permits it. This calculator does not determine safe handling, PPE, storage, or compatibility.
Ready-to-use cost
$--
per ready-to-use gallon
Chemical in batch
$--
Mixing labor
$--
Waste allowance
$--
Total batch cost
$--
Bucket / job cost
$--
Concentrate cost / oz
$--
Use the bucket or job figure in your bid instead of treating cleaning chemical as a flat percentage.
What to buy for this job
Concentrate needed
-- fl oz
Containers to buy
--
Purchase cost (whole containers)
$--
Leftover after this job
-- fl oz
Concentrate is only sold in whole containers, so the purchase cost above can run higher than the smooth per-gallon rate once a job needs more than the containers on hand.
Common questions
Why does mixing labor cost more than the chemical itself?
On the default example — a 1:32 dilution from a $32, 128 fl oz container — the
concentrate works out to 25¢ an ounce, so 4 fl oz of concentrate costs $1.00. Three minutes of
mixing at a $22/hour loaded labor rate costs $1.10. A cheap concentrate does not make a batch cheap
if someone spends real minutes mixing it: at a decent wage, labor can be the larger half of what a
batch actually costs, and a price built on chemical cost alone undercharges for it.
Why does the waste allowance divide the cost instead of adding a percentage on top?
Because waste describes volume lost, not an extra fee. Dividing by (1 − waste%) grosses the
batch cost up so the ready-to-use gallons you actually deliver still cost what they should, even
though some of what you mixed never made it out of the bucket, sprayer, or mop. On the default 5%
allowance, the $2.10 combined chemical-and-labor cost becomes a $2.21 batch cost — the extra
11¢ is what one batch's worth of spillage and dead space adds back onto the gallons that do get
used.
What is the difference between cost per gallon and cost per bucket?
“Ready-to-use water” is how many gallons a single batch of concentrate makes, which is
what cost per gallon is measured against. “Bucket or job size” is a separate figure
— how many gallons your actual bucket or job uses — and cost per bucket simply scales the
per-gallon figure up to that size. Getting the two mixed up under- or over-states a bid by whatever
the ratio between them happens to be.
Why does concentrate cost per ounce use container size, not the amount in one batch?
Container price and container size set your unit cost — what one fluid ounce of concentrate
costs you, however much of it a single batch uses. “Concentrate per batch” is a
different field: how many of those ounces one batch actually mixes in. Changing the batch amount
changes chemical cost per batch; it does not change what an ounce costs you to buy.
Are my numbers saved, and can I share them?
Your last entry is saved in this browser's local storage, so refreshing the page or
coming back later restores it — nothing is uploaded. “Copy shareable
link” puts the same numbers in the page's URL fragment (after the #)
instead, so sending that link to a coworker or supplier opens this page with the exact
same job priced, without either of you retyping anything. A link takes priority over a
saved draft when you open one.