Calculate warehouse costs: what does your storage really cost you?
How the warehouse cost calculator works
The calculator condenses four typical cost blocks from day-to-day craft-business operations into an annual range. The values are deliberately conservative enough for a quick self-assessment and open enough for you to adjust them.
| Assumption | Default |
|---|---|
| Internal hourly rate | 55 EUR/h |
| Owner hourly rate | 130 EUR/h |
| Working weeks per year | 48 |
| Working days per week | 5 |
| Duration per sourcing trip | 90 min |
| Vehicle cost per trip | 15 EUR |
| Overstock share | 40 % |
| Holding cost rate | 25 % |
| Shrinkage/waste | 3 % |
Search-time costs
(Search minutes/day × employees × working days × working weeks) ÷ 60 × internal hourly rate
Sourcing trips
(Vehicle cost + employee time + owner time per trip) × trips/week × working weeks
Tied-up capital and shrinkage
Inventory value × overstock share × holding cost rate + inventory value × shrinkage rate
Owner hours
Owner hours/week × working weeks × owner hourly rate
Limits of the model
The calculator is an approximation. It does not include, for example, delivery delays on job sites, opportunity costs from postponed jobs, warehouse floor rent, or insurance. The range shown is intended as a solid starting point, not as an accounting statement.
Continue offline with your own numbers
The Excel template contains all formulas and assumptions from this calculator. Adapt it to your business.
Example calculation: 5-person electrical business
A small electrical business with five people, two unplanned wholesaler trips per week, and around 18,000 EUR in inventory quickly ends up at a meaningful cost level.
Inputs
- 5 employees regularly access the warehouse
- 15 minutes of search time per person and day
- 2 unplanned sourcing trips per week
- 6 owner hours per week for warehouse management
- 18,000 EUR estimated inventory value
Result
84,360 EUR
Even before adding missed orders, customer frustration, or floor-space costs, the four direct cost blocks already add up to a high four-figure or low five-figure amount per year.
| Cost block | Example value |
|---|---|
| Search time | 16,500 EUR |
| Sourcing trips | 28,080 EUR |
| Tied-up capital and shrinkage | 2,340 EUR |
| Owner hours | 37,440 EUR |
Frequently asked questions about warehouse cost calculation
Next steps
Once you know what search time, overstock, and special trips are costing you, the next logical question is how much of that repleno can reduce in practice.
