Calculating Crafting and Manufacturing Times and Costs

Adapted from GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3: Daily Life and Economics, by Matt Riggsby and William H. Stoddard. Published by Steve Jackson Games.

Labor Cost

1. Establish retail costs and other specs. Reference GURPS Low-Tech or other supplements.

2. Determine Materials Cost. Reference GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3, p. 22. Determine weight of materials by weight of item being crafted.

3. Labor Cost = List Price minus Materials Cost

Pay Rate

1. Reference GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3, pp. 45-49 for monthly labor rates.

2. Routine work, multiply MLR by .55 - Artistic or expert work, mutlpy MLR by .75

3. For daily rate divide by 25, for hourly rate divide by 200.

Final Calculation

• Routine daily: (MLR x .55) / 25

• Routine hourly: (MLR x .55) / 200

• Artistic daily: (MLR x .75) / 25

• Artistic hourly: (MLR x .75) / 200

Example

from GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3, p. 23:

A carpenter makes a 9’ ladder. According to GURPS Low-Tech, this costs $90 and weighs 22.5 lbs. The GM decides that the wood involved is closest to 1” planks at $2.70/lb. (the wood is certainly thicker than 1” at its thinnest, but probably thinner than 2”, so he uses the cost for thinner lumber). Total materials cost is therefore $60.75. This means the labor costs $29.25. A carpenter at TL4 makes $790, so the hourly rate for basic carpentry is ($790 x 0.55)/200 = $2.17. Thus, the ladder calls for $29.25/$2.17 = 13.5 man-hours of effort. A carpenter and five assistants could make one from lumber in just over two hours.