Cost an event

Costing an event is the heart of the Florio method: you enter what the work actually takes, and only then the price. Do it in that order and the margin is a fact you can see, not a guess you defend later.

Before you start

• Your target margin should be set, so the worksheet has something to check the price against.
• Have your real numbers to hand: wholesale flower cost, rental cost, and how many crew for how long.

Steps

1. Open the event and open its scorecard. You land on the Cost & hours worksheet.

   Screenshot from a demo workspace; data illustrative.

2. Enter your Materials & direct costs: floral material, samples, props and rental cost, anything you buy for the job, each at what you pay for it.

3. Enter your Labor. Design and production time goes in as hours at a rate; breakdown and setup crews go in by headcount, how many people, not how many hours. See Price labor by bodies.

4. Enter the Selling price (pre-tax) last. With every cost already in, the Gross profit & commission summary shows your real margin and flags it if it falls under target.

5. Click Compute (preview) to check the numbers without saving. When it looks right, save it as a quote version.

6. When you are ready for the price to be blessed, use Submit in Quote versions. An approver clears it with Approve, and only an approved price can carry a proposal out.

Good to know

• The order is the point. Florio deliberately asks for the price last. Entering costs first is what turns the scorecard into a check on your pricing instead of a place to invent it.
• Under target? The summary flags it and shows by how much, so you can raise the price, trim the design, or make a deliberate exception. Nothing goes out below the line by accident.
• After the event, the same worksheet fills its Actual column, so you can see how the job really landed. See Read projected versus actual.
• Where this fits: The margin scorecard.