How to Price Floral Arrangements in LA
Most florists do not struggle because they lack talent. They struggle because they underprice their work. If you want to know how to price floral arrangements without guessing, start with one rule: price every stem, every supply, and every hour, then add profit on purpose.
This guide shares a simple florist pricing formula we use to keep numbers consistent, whether you are quoting a hand-tied bouquet or a full event install. You will learn how to calculate true costs, apply markups, charge labor, and cover overhead so your floral business stays profitable.
The Blueprint for Profitable Floral Pricing
Before you send a quote, you need a repeatable system. Pricing should not change based on your mood or how confident a client sounds. It should be built on costs, risk, and the value of your design work.
A helpful starting point is the cost-plus pricing model, which sets price by adding profit on top of your expenses. In florals, we usually take cost-plus and add a standard industry markup structure, since perishables bring waste and risk.
If you want to keep your pricing steady when flower costs jump, build a recipe for every design. Seasonal planning helps, too. When you plan with what is available, your quotes are easier to defend. Our guide to flowers in season right now can help you choose blooms that look premium without fighting the market.
Breaking Down the Core Formula
The classic approach is to split materials into two buckets. Each bucket gets its own markup because perishables and non-perishables behave differently.
- Fresh goods markup: Flowers, foliage, and greens. A common standard is 3.5x your wholesale cost. This higher multiplier helps cover waste, breakage, and stems that arrive below standard.
- Hard goods markup: Vases, containers, floral foam, tape, wire, ribbon, and packaging. A typical standard is 2.5x your wholesale cost.
- Labor and design fee: Many florists start by adding 25% of the marked-up goods subtotal. This can rise for complex work, installs, or tight timelines.
This tiered system protects profit by pricing perishables, supplies, and design time separately. When one piece shifts, you can adjust without rebuilding your whole business model.
Standard Floral Pricing Formula at a Glance
| Item Category | Standard Markup Multiplier | Example Wholesale Cost | Example Marked-Up Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh Goods (Flowers/Foliage) | 3.5x | $20.00 | $70.00 |
| Hard Goods (Vase/Supplies) | 2.5x | $10.00 | $25.00 |
| Labor & Design | 25% of Subtotal | $95.00 (Subtotal) | $23.75 |
Example: if wholesale flowers cost $20 and a vase costs $10, the marked-up flowers become $70 and the vase becomes $25. Your subtotal is $95. Add 25% labor ($23.75) for a final retail price of $118.75.
Nailing Down Your Wholesale Costs
Markups only work when your base costs are accurate. That means your cost of goods sold (COGS) needs to be tracked stem by stem, item by item. Guessing here is the fastest way to undercharge.
When you get this right, pricing gets calmer. You stop “hoping it works out,” because you can see the math before you quote.
Mastering the Stem Count
Your biggest cost is almost always fresh product. Stem counting means you calculate the wholesale cost of each stem you plan to use.
Example: you buy a bunch of 10 garden roses for $30. Each stem costs $3.00. If your recipe uses five roses, that is $15.00 in wholesale cost for that line item.
Do this for every flower and green. Greens add up fast, especially if you use premium varieties. If you need a quick reference when building recipes, our guide to types of greenery for arrangements can help you name, plan, and price those supporting stems.
Leaning on seasonal blooms can also steady pricing. To see what’s growing throughout the year, you can check out our guide to flowers in season.
Once you have your total fresh wholesale cost, apply your fresh goods markup, often 3.5x.
Example Breakdown
- 5 Garden Roses @ $3.00/stem = $15.00
- 3 Stems Lisianthus @ $2.00/stem = $6.00
- 4 Stems Eucalyptus @ $1.50/stem = $6.00
- Total Fresh Wholesale Cost: $27.00
- Marked-Up Fresh Goods Price: $27.00 x 3.5 = $94.50
That markup is not “extra.” It is what pays for waste, quality control, processing time, and the reality that not every stem makes it into the final product.
Tallying Up Every Hard Good and Supply
Hard goods and supplies are where profit quietly disappears. Many florists price the vase and forget the mechanics, ribbon, packaging, and card. Those small costs become big losses over hundreds of orders.
- The vessel: vase, compote, bowl, box, or basket.
- Mechanics: foam, chicken wire, tape, frog, glue, or wire.
- Finishing touches: ribbon, pins, decorative wire.
- Packaging: tissue, boxes, sleeves, care instructions.
For hard goods, many florists start with 2.5x markup. The risk is lower than fresh goods because these items do not spoil.
Example hard goods list:
- Ceramic Compote Vase: $12.00
- Floral Foam Block: $2.50
- Waterproof Tape: $0.50
- Ribbon: $1.00
- Total Hard Goods Wholesale Cost: $16.00
- Marked-Up Hard Goods Price: $16.00 x 2.5 = $40.00
Now your marked-up goods subtotal is $134.50 ($94.50 fresh + $40.00 hard goods), before labor.
Knowing When to Adjust Your Markups
The 3.5x and 2.5x standards are a baseline, not a promise. If a bloom is delicate, imported, or has a high failure rate, you may need a higher fresh markup to protect the order.
The same goes for hard goods. A custom artisan vessel may need more than a 2.5x markup if it is hard to replace, ties up cash, or signals a premium look to the client.
Valuing Your Labor and Covering Overhead Costs
Flowers do not arrange themselves. Quotes also take time, and clean up takes time. If you do not price for labor and overhead, you can stay “busy” while your bank account stays stuck.
Labor includes design, processing, shopping, loading, delivery prep, and admin time. Overhead includes the bills that show up even when you do not have orders.
Moving Beyond a Simple Labor Percentage
A 25–30% labor charge is a common starting point for many florists. It is simple and scales with the size of the order. Still, it can underprice work that is slow, technical, or heavy on planning.
Not all floral arrangements take the same time. A bud vase might take 15 minutes. A foam-free installation can take hours and may require a team.
- Simple designs (25–30%): standard vase arrangements and hand-tied bouquets.
- Intricate designs (30–40%): wired work, specialty mechanics, complex shapes.
- Large installs (40%+ or flat fee): arches, hanging work, on-site builds, teardown.
Your labor fee should match the real work on the clock. When it does, you protect your schedule and your energy, not just your profit.
If you want a clean retail example, look at a designer’s choice model. Your ingredients change, but your pricing stays steady because it is built on cost and time. Fiore’s Designer’s Choice arrangement is a good reference for how a seasonal, flexible recipe can still be priced consistently.
Calculating Your Studio Overhead
Overhead is every monthly cost that keeps your business open. These costs must be paid even if you sell one arrangement that week.
To calculate overhead, list every business expense, add it up for the year, then break it into a monthly number. That monthly number is what your sales must cover before you take home profit.
A Practical Overhead Checklist
Your list will often include:
- Studio rent or mortgage
- Utilities: power, water, gas, internet
- Software and subscriptions: design tools, accounting tools like QuickBooks, client management
- Insurance: liability, property, vehicle
- Marketing: website, ads, printed pieces, show fees
- Professional fees: accountant, legal help, memberships
- General supplies: clippers, buckets, aprons, cleaning
- Vehicle expenses: gas, maintenance, parking
- Bank fees: processing, monthly charges
Example: if annual overhead is $24,000, that is $2,000 per month you need to cover just to break even on overhead. Knowing that number helps you set minimums and decide which jobs are worth taking.
Custom Pricing Strategies for Weddings and Events
Retail pricing is usually fast and repeatable. Event pricing is slower and higher touch. Your pricing has to reflect that difference, or events will take over your calendar without paying you fairly.
Event work includes consults, proposals, revisions, vendor coordination, prep, load-in, install, strike, and sometimes storage. Even if flower costs are clear, the service time is often the real driver.
Differentiating Daily Deliveries from Full-Service Weddings
A daily delivery is usually a direct order. Your core formula works well: marked-up goods plus a standard labor rate.
A wedding is a project. It can run for months, and the client often wants a full plan that includes personal flowers, ceremony pieces, reception designs, and installation timing.
When you quote weddings, you are pricing the whole service. That includes planning time, design time, and the on-site build, not just the flowers.
If you want to book wedding work, start with clear scope and clear pricing. Our wedding floral design services page shows the types of wedding projects we handle and helps couples understand what “full-service” means.
Minimum spend is one of the best ways to protect your calendar. To help clients understand what is realistic, you can point them to a budgeting tool like our wedding flower budget calculator. It sets expectations before you build a proposal.
Pricing for Large-Scale Corporate Events
Corporate events often have bigger timelines, brand standards, and stricter load-in rules. They also tend to require more coordination, which needs to be priced in.
Consider adding line items for:
- Site visits and mockups: charge for mockups even if the event does not book.
- Logistics: long load-in windows, after-hours strike, venue rules, parking.
- Brand customization: specific colors, custom builds, signage framing.
If you are building proposals for tables, stages, and entry moments, our fresh flower centerpieces guide can help you explain design options in a way clients understand.
For corporate and private events, you can also route inquiries to your service page. Fiore’s event floral design services page is built for this, and it helps filter serious projects from quick questions.
Essential Add-Ons to Protect Your Profitability
Events often need extra fees. These are not “hidden charges.” They are what keeps big jobs profitable and keeps timelines realistic.
Setting a minimum spend
A minimum protects your weekend dates and covers planning time, staffing, overhead, and opportunity cost. It also helps you say no to projects that cannot support the level of service you provide.
Charging rush fees
Rush jobs compress your schedule and often increase wholesale risk. A rush fee of 15–25% for events booked within four weeks is common, especially when sourcing and staffing get tight.
Applying holiday premiums
Holidays drive wholesale prices up and reduce availability. A holiday premium helps cover both higher flower costs and higher labor demand during peak weeks.
Fine-Tuning Your Prices for the Los Angeles Market
Your pricing formula is the base. Local realities shape the final number. In Los Angeles, the biggest drivers are sourcing time, traffic time, and client expectations for design and finish.
In this city, a delivery that looks “close” on a map can still take an hour. That time needs to be paid for. Premium markets also expect premium service, which means clean mechanics, strong product, and consistent timing.
Sourcing Strategies: The Flower Market vs. Regional Growers
Downtown’s flower market offers variety and the ability to hand-pick stems. It also costs time, parking, and early mornings. Those are real labor inputs, so your pricing should reflect them.
Regional growers can offer consistent product and unique stems with a strong story. The tradeoff is less last-minute variety. Many florists use both, market for staples and growers for signature seasonal items.
Creating a Tiered Delivery Fee Structure
Delivery is not a free add-on. It is labor, fuel, vehicle wear, and risk. A flat delivery fee can look simple, but it often loses money in spread-out areas.
A zone-based system is easier to manage and easier to explain:
- Zone 1 (Local): closest neighborhoods, shortest drive time.
- Zone 2 (Mid-range): moderate drive time and traffic risk.
- Zone 3 (Farther trips): longer drives that can remove a driver from the schedule for hours.
Distance matters, but time matters more. Build delivery pricing around real drive time so every run stays profitable.
If you want a deeper look at what premium delivery includes, see our guide to the best flower delivery in Los Angeles.
Sample Delivery Fee Tiers
| Zone / Area | Distance Range (from Culver City) | Sample Delivery Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Zone | 0-5 miles | $15 – $20 | Quick, low-mileage trips. |
| Central Zone | 5-10 miles | $25 – $35 | Adds traffic time. |
| Coastal/DTLA | 10-15 miles | $35 – $45 | Often includes freeway time. |
| Extended Zone | 15+ miles | $50+ | A major time and fuel commitment. |
Factoring in Premium Positioning and Competitors
Premium clients expect premium design and premium service. If your work is custom, if your mechanics are clean, and if your flowers are top quality, your pricing should match that.
Review local competitors quarterly. Look at size, style, delivery fees, and event minimums. Do not copy. Use it to understand what the market is already paying for, then price with confidence based on your own costs and skill level.
Answering Your Biggest Floral Pricing Questions
Floral pricing feels confusing because it mixes art and math. Once you separate materials, labor, and overhead, it gets much clearer. Here are the questions we hear most often.
How Much Should I Charge for Labor on a Floral Arrangement?
Many florists start at 20–30% of the subtotal of marked-up flowers and supplies. It is a simple structure and it scales as orders get bigger.
Adjust based on complexity:
- Simple designs (20–25%): standard vase work and quick hand-ties.
- Complex designs (30–40%+): wired work, detailed mechanics, installs.
For weddings and events, a flat design or management fee can also work well. It pays you for planning time, proposals, and vendor coordination.
What Is the Difference Between Markup and Profit Margin?
Markup is how you build your retail price from your wholesale cost. If a vase costs $10 and you use a 2.5x markup, the retail price is $25.
Profit margin is the percent you keep after paying for the goods. In that example, profit is $15 ($25 minus $10). Profit margin is ($15 ÷ $25) x 100 = 60%.
Markup sets the price. Profit margin tells you what you keep. Track both so you understand your real performance.
Also note that this is gross margin. Net profit is what is left after overhead like rent, insurance, marketing, and admin tools.
How Do I Communicate My Pricing to a Client?
When a client says flowers feel expensive, do not get defensive. Explain what the price covers, using simple language. Most clients have never seen the behind-the-scenes work.
Your quote includes:
- Design skill: your eye, training, and experience.
- Sourcing and processing: selecting, cleaning, hydrating, and conditioning stems.
- Labor time: building the piece, cleaning up, and packing it safely.
- Overhead: studio costs, tools, and business operations.
- Delivery handling: careful transport of a perishable product.
Tiered proposals can help. Offer a “simple,” “full,” and “statement” option so clients can see how scale and flower choices change the price.
When you know how to price floral arrangements with clear costs, markups, and labor, you can quote faster and protect your profit. If you are planning a custom order, wedding, or event and want transparent pricing from our studio, request a custom quote.
