What Are the Monthly Running Costs of a Glass and Mirror Workshop?
A glass and mirror workshop carries one line that sits outside the cost table: wastage. Every piece not cut from a sheet repeats monthly like a cost that never sends an invoice. 🪞
Short answer: a mid-sized workshop runs at ₺45K to ₺130K a month.
Below: the cost lines, fixed-versus-variable, three lines that inflate the bill, the break-even point and who this suits.
Where does the money go?
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- Fixed costs
- Variable costs
- The invisible cost: wastage
Item by item.
Fixed costs
Workshop rent ₺12-35K, craftsman and helper ₺25-70K, vehicle fixed costs ₺4-10K, accounting and insurance ₺3-7K. 📊
Variable costs
Electricity and water ₺3-9K (the polishing machine uses water), fuel ₺4-12K, silicone, profile and consumables ₺2-5K. These grow with workload and rise noticeably in summer.
The invisible cost: wastage
When wastage per sheet runs at twenty percent instead of ten, your material cost rises markedly at the same revenue. That difference never reaches the cost table; it comes off the profit.
How does the split sit?
A balanced structure.
The weight of the fixed side
The craftsman’s wage and the workshop rent are fixed; but because material is bought per job, the stock load is lighter than in other branches. That eases cash flow.
Three quiet cost inflators
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- 1. Poor cutting plans
- 2. Breakage in transit
- 3. Measurement errors
All three start at the bench.
1. Poor cutting plans
A sheet planned by eye turns usable pieces into scrap. A simple cutting-plan routine can halve that loss and requires no machine investment.
2. Breakage in transit
Glass carried in an unsuitable vehicle breaks; the damage costs both material and time. A racked vehicle pays for itself in saved breakage within the first year.
3. Measurement errors
A wrongly measured screen or mirror is made from scratch; there’s no undoing here — cut is cut. Measuring on site closes most of that risk.
What revenue covers the costs?
The labour share lowers the threshold.
An example calculation
With ₺70K in monthly fixed costs and a 35% gross margin, break-even revenue is ₺200K. Fitting and specialist work at a 45% margin bring it to ₺156K. Margin mechanics in the glass and mirror margin article. 🧭
Does this cost base fit you?
Those who work carefully.
What are these bands based on?
Field records, open tariffs and sector studies are read together to produce each band. Publishing a range rather than one number reflects how differently businesses land. See our methodology page. 📐
📝 Field Notes
A workshop planned sheets by eye and threw offcuts into the store. For three months we measured what went to scrap: an average of nineteen percent per sheet. They moved to a simple cutting-plan system and the rate fell to nine. Same revenue, same craftsman, no price change — and profit rose clearly. In this branch profit hides not in the glass you cut but in the excess you don’t. 🪞
📖 Terms in Brief
Wastage: the share of a sheet that becomes unusable scrap. Cutting plan: the layout producing least waste from a sheet. Edge polishing: grinding a cut edge smooth and safe. Break-even revenue: the minimum monthly sales covering all costs.
⚡ In Short
Monthly running cost ₺45-130K. 📊 The invisible line: wastage. Three inflating lines: poor cutting plans, breakage in transit, measurement errors. Break-even: fixed cost ÷ gross margin.
🎯 Your Next Move
Let’s measure your wastage rate and build your break-even table: quote form · free digital audit. 🤝
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sheets can be bought to the job and a helper taken on according to fitting workload. The craftsman can’t be flexed; this work depends on them.
Carelessness means both cost and injury risk; mistakes aren’t cheap here. For those avoiding physical risk, lighting dealership; for larger volume, PVC windows. See every branch compared on the hardware sector page.
Around ten percent per sheet is considered reasonable in a disciplined workshop; above that points to a cutting-plan problem. A workshop that doesn’t measure wastage can’t see its loss either.
On fitting jobs two people are needed for both safety and speed. Working on day rates according to workload lightens the fixed wage load.
Cutting and polishing machines consume both, and this line grows with workshop activity. Workshops running a closed-loop water system see it drop.
Source: Glass and Glazing Federation