Quick Answer
An OEM jewelry design request needs a quotation built from eight distinct cost blocks: metal cost (priced against a live source like Kitco), stone cost (by type, color, size/carat, grading system and grade, and quantity), plating cost, labour and setting cost, findings and chain cost, and setup/tooling cost across the full 2D design through QC pipeline. Treating these as separate, clearly itemized lines is what makes a quotation defensible when material prices move or a client asks why one design costs more than another.
Stone Request and Stone Cost Estimate
A stone-set design needs its own cost block, separate from the metal, built from five variables:
- Stone type: diamond, sapphire, ruby, emerald, or other, since durability and rarity drive both material cost and setting risk. Hard, durable stones (diamond, sapphire, spinel) are straightforward to set; soft or brittle stones (opal, emerald, apatite) carry a higher labour risk premium because of breakage risk during setting.
- Stone color: for colored stones, hue, tone, and saturation materially affect value at the same carat weight, two stones of identical size can differ several times over in cost based on color grade alone.
- Size/carat: the primary cost driver, priced per carat rather than linearly, larger stones command a premium per carat, not just a proportional increase.
- Grading system and grade: diamonds are typically graded on the 4Cs (Color, Clarity, Cut, Carat) by labs like GIA, IGI, or AGS; colored stones use separate grading conventions for color, clarity, and cut. The quotation should record which grading body and which grade were used, since the same nominal "grade" can be read differently across labs.
- Quantity: a single center stone is priced individually; melee (small accent) stones are typically priced and quoted in bulk per carat, with per-stone setting labour added separately.
Pre-Casting Stone vs Post-Casting Stone, With Setting Labour Cost
Where and how a stone gets set materially changes both the labour cost and the risk profile of the job:
- Pre-casting (cast-in) stones: heat-resistant stones can occasionally be set into the wax pattern before investment casting, so the stone becomes embedded during the cast itself. This is limited to specific stone types that can survive the casting and burnout heat, and carries real risk of stone loss or damage during the pour, that risk should be priced into the setting allowance.
- Post-casting stones: the standard approach for most fine jewelry, stones are set by hand after the piece is cast, polished, and plated. Labour is priced per stone, with a base setting fee for the primary stone and a smaller per-stone fee for melee/accent stones, since a halo design with thirty small stones can add up to more than the center setting itself. Soft or fragile stones command a higher per-stone labour rate to reflect the added handling risk and time.
Findings and Chain Cost, With Setting and Filling Cost
Findings and chain remain priced separately from the cast body of the piece, since they don't scale with the design's metal weight, but two additional cost elements belong in this line for a complete quotation:
- Findings and chain: clasps, jump rings, ear posts, and pre-made chain by length, priced per component or per unit length.
- Setting cost: the labour to mechanically attach a finding (a clasp or jump ring) to the piece, distinct from gemstone setting.
- Filling cost: where a finding or chain segment uses a gold-filled or gold-plated construction rather than solid metal, the fill layer thickness and process add a distinct cost that should be itemized rather than folded into a blended "findings" number.
Setup Cost: 2D Design Through QC
Setup/tooling cost for a new OEM design covers the full pre-production pipeline, and each stage carries its own cost driver:
- 2D design: initial sketch or technical drawing translating the client's concept into a measurable design brief.
- 3D design (CAD): the 2D concept is modeled in jewelry CAD software (e.g., JewelCAD, RhinoGold) into a precise, editable 3D file with correct wall thickness, stone seats, and tolerances, exported as an STL file for printing.
- 3D printing: the CAD file is printed as a wax or castable-resin pattern, replicating prong seats, textures, and fine detail directly from the digital model, then cleaned and assembled onto a casting tree.
- Wax to casting: the wax tree is coated in a ceramic investment slurry to form the casting shell; this ceramic shell material and the burnout/casting process itself is a distinct cost, separate from the wax pattern cost, and applies whichever base metal (including silver) is being cast.
- QC: the cast piece is checked against the original CAD specification for dimensional accuracy, wall thickness, and stone-seat fit before moving to finishing, plating, and stone setting.
This full setup pipeline is typically a one-time cost per new design, and should be spread across the order quantity rather than charged flat per piece, exactly as with mold/die setup cost in metal-cast production. It applies equally whether the base material is gold, silver, or another castable metal, with the ceramic investment shell cost recorded as its own line since it's consumed per casting cycle regardless of which metal is poured.
Full Quotation Structure
| Line | What It Covers | Priced Against |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Metal cost | Net weight × purity rate + wastage | Live Kitco rate |
| 2. Stone cost | Type, color, size/carat, grading system and grade, quantity | Per-carat market rate by grade |
| 3. Plating cost | Tone, layers, thickness, coating | Plating spec + surface area |
| 4. Labour and setting cost | Wax, casting, filing, polishing, stone setting (pre- or post-casting) | Per gram, per piece, or per stone |
| 5. Findings and chain cost | Clasps, jump rings, pre-made chain, plus setting and filling cost | Per component/length |
| 6. Setup/tooling cost | 2D design, 3D design, 3D printing, wax-to-casting (ceramic shell), QC | One-time, spread across order qty |
| 7. Margin/safety allowance | Buffer against price movement and estimation error | Percentage of subtotal |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does gold-tone plating differ from rhodium plating cost?
They're different metals, rhodium is typically priced even higher than gold.
Should setup cost be included in the per-piece price?
Show it as a separate line allocated across order quantity.
What's the difference between pre-casting and post-casting stone setting?
Pre-casting (cast-in) embeds a heat-resistant stone into the wax before casting, carrying casting-loss risk; post-casting sets the stone by hand after the piece is cast and finished, the standard approach for most fine jewelry, priced per stone.
Why does stone grading matter for the quotation, not just carat weight?
Two stones of identical carat weight can differ several times over in price depending on color, clarity, and cut grade, and which lab (GIA, IGI, AGS) issued the grade, so the quotation should record the specific grading system and grade used.
Is the ceramic shell cost the same regardless of which metal is cast?
The investment/ceramic shell is consumed per casting cycle and priced separately from the metal itself, so it applies as its own line whether the piece is cast in gold, silver, or another metal.
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Related on our site: See our Jewelry Manufacturing solution page and Openbravo vs Odoo for Jewelry Manufacturing.
Part of the Complete Guide to ERP Comparisons, Manufacturing Performance Systems & Data Roles.