In job work the yarn belongs to the party — your cost is the "conversion", the cost of weaving it. So a job rate isn't built from the yarn rate but from what one day of your loom costs. Spread that over the metres, add wastage and margin, then quote it in ₹ per metre or paise per pick.
Your cost per metre
First, one loom's metres a day:
Then turn each cost into ₹ per metre:
- Wages: the weaver's rate per metre (or per lakh picks converted to metres) — Weaver wages calculator.
- Power: kW × hours × ₹ per unit ÷ metres a day — power guide.
- Overheads: rent, munim, supervisor and mechanic salaries, spares, water, small expenses — per loom per month ÷ days ÷ metres a day.
- Depreciation: the cost of looms and machinery has to be recovered over time. Set aside a monthly amount for each loom.
- Beam work: beam loading, drawing-in, droppers — if you pay for them — the beam's cost ÷ metres of cloth from the beam.
- Others: mending, folding, packing, transport — per metre.
Example
A 50-pick quality on a loom at 600 RPM, 85% efficiency, two 12-hour shifts. Metres a day: 600 × 60 × 24 × 0.85 ÷ (50 × 39.37) = 373.08 m. All the costs below are examples only — use your own unit's numbers.
| Cost | Working | ₹ / metre |
|---|---|---|
| Wages | ₹0.80 per metre | 0.80 |
| Power | 2.5 kW × 24 × ₹8 = ₹480 ÷ 373.08 | 1.29 |
| Overheads | ₹9,000 / loom / month ÷ 30 = ₹300 ÷ 373.08 | 0.80 |
| Depreciation | ₹12,000 / loom / month ÷ 30 = ₹400 ÷ 373.08 | 1.07 |
| Beam work | ₹1,200 per beam ÷ 6,000 m | 0.20 |
| Mending, folding | per metre | 0.10 |
| Total cost | 4.26 |
- Wastage: 2% of metres go to fents or B grade and don't fetch the full rate → 4.26 ÷ 0.98 = ₹4.35
- Margin of 15% (on the rate): 4.35 ÷ 0.85 = ₹5.12 a metre
- In paise per pick: 5.12 × 100 ÷ 50 = 10.24 paise — quote 10.5 paise per pick
- At 10.5 paise: 50 × 10.5 ÷ 100 = ₹5.25 a metre, or ₹266.70 per lakh picks
- One loom earns 5.25 × 373.08 = ₹1,958.65 a day, about ₹58,759 in 30 days
Try the same conversion in the Job rate calculator — paise per pick, ₹ per lakh picks and ₹ per metre side by side.
Per metre or per pick?
Power, overheads and depreciation are time costs — a day of running costs the same. On a quality with more picks the metres a day fall, so the per-metre share of those costs rises. That is why job rates in Surat are often quoted in paise per pick.
Example
The same loom on 60 picks: metres a day 373.08 × 50 ÷ 60 = 310.90 m. At 10.5 paise per pick = 60 × 10.5 ÷ 100 = ₹6.30 a metre, and the day's earnings are 6.30 × 310.90 = ₹1,958.67 — the same as before (the gap is just rounding). Had you fixed ₹5.25 a metre, the day would bring only about ₹1,632.
Note: "paise per pick" here means ₹ per metre = PPI × paise ÷ 100. Not every party or broker counts it this way — agree the basis in writing once.
Checklist before you quote
- Quality: reed, picks, panna, warp and weft denier — and whether your looms can weave it (waterjet vs airjet).
- Beam: how many metres and ends, when it arrives — who bears the cost of a loom standing idle waiting for it?
- Who pays for beam loading, drawing-in and droppers.
- Weft yarn: how much comes, what wastage is allowed, how leftover yarn goes back.
- The rule for fents, B grade, and short weight or metres.
- The rate basis (per metre / per pick / per lakh picks) and how metres are measured.
- Payment terms — late payment's interest is a cost too (interest guide).
- Invoicing and GST, TDS and ITC-04 — read the GST guide and the ITC-04 guide.
Common mistakes
- Counting only wages and power. Leave out overheads and depreciation and the rate looks "fine" until year end, when nothing is left.
- Metres at 100% efficiency. Take metres a day at your real efficiency — efficiency guide.
- One ₹ per metre for every pick. You lose on the higher-pick qualities.
- Forgetting idle looms. If the party's beam is late, rent and wages still run.
- Adding margin to cost, thinking of it on the rate. 15% on top of 4.35 is ₹5.00, but a 15% margin on the rate needs ₹5.12.
In Loomiro
The party's beam comes into Beam Stock with the source "Job", and its weft yarn into Job Party Stock — leftover yarn goes back through "Job yarn return". A Job Work Bill is made from that beam's takas, and job work is exported for ITC-04 as CSV. In Costing, enter power, wages, overheads, beam and other costs — the conversion in ₹ per metre and the job rate in paise per pick appear straight away. Include depreciation in overheads.
Every cost, rate and margin in this guide is an example — not a market rate. Work it out from your own unit's numbers.