What it costs to open the doors.
Every one-off cost to launch — then add a contingency buffer, because something always comes up.
Start-up costs
Total to launch
A 10–20% buffer on start-up is normal — first-timers almost always miss something.
What one unit really costs to make.
Add your materials, your time, and overhead — then set a margin to find the price that actually makes money.
Materials
Your time & overhead
Per unit — the costs people forget to include.
Cost per unit
Margin is the profit as a share of the selling price. Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). Add every real cost or the margin is a mirage.
What it costs to keep the lights on.
Your recurring monthly running costs — the number that tells you how much you must earn every month just to stand still.
Monthly operating costs
Monthly running cost
This is your break-even floor: revenue has to clear it every month before you make a cent.
The true cost of a new hire.
A wage is never the whole story. Add the on-costs — KiwiSaver, ACC, holiday pay — to see what an employee really costs you.
The role
True annual cost
Indicative only — not payroll or tax advice. NZ defaults; check current KiwiSaver, ACC and Holidays Act rates, or your accountant, for real figures.
What going digital costs.
Website, email, payments, the tools — as recurring and one-off lines, so the subscriptions never surprise you.
Going digital
Recurring cost
Recurring lines are treated as monthly — handy for seeing what a website, email and the tools really add up to over a year.
Can you afford to make the leap?
Put the pay and benefits you'd give up — and what the business costs to run — side by side with the one number that matters: what you'd have to sell to cover it all.
What you'd need to cover
You'd need to sell
Sales needed = money to cover ÷ gross margin (the rest of each sale is cost of goods). “Per working day” assumes ~21 days a month. Indicative — check the tax side with your accountant.