Inputs are scattered
Materials, labor, packaging, supplies, and small pieces often live in separate notes or rough spreadsheet tabs.
Feature: product cost calculator
Build the real cost of a product or service visually.
SideTrack lets you drag resources and components onto a canvas, connect the pieces that go into a product or service, set quantities, and see the cost roll up automatically.
Live product view
The actual calculator, embedded here so people can try it.
Drag resources and components, connect handles, edit quantities, add new inputs, and watch the product cost update.
Drag nodes, connect handles, click a quantity to edit it
The pain
Most small businesses price from memory, not from the actual build.
Quantities change the answer
One extra part, hour, ounce, foot, or package can change your real cost and shrink margin.
Services have ingredients too
A service still has time, supplies, travel, fees, and repeatable steps that should be included before you quote the next job.
How SideTrack helps
SideTrack turns your product or service into a drag-and-drop cost map.
Create resources, bundle them into components, connect components to the final product, and edit quantities directly on the canvas. The total cost updates as the map changes.
Drag resources onto the canvas
Add raw inputs like wood, fabric, cleaner, thread, packaging, labor hours, supplies, or any unit-based cost.
Group pieces into components
Build reusable parts like a frame, kit, prep step, package, assembly, or service bundle.
Connect the flow into a product
Drag connections from resources to components, components to other components, or straight into the product.
Edit quantities and see cost roll up
Click the connection quantity, update how much is used, and SideTrack recalculates the product cost per unit.
Compare
Why this is different from a spreadsheet cost sheet
Spreadsheets can calculate costs, but they make the structure easy to break and hard to understand later.
Spreadsheet costing
- Rows and formulas must be maintained by hand
- Nested components are hard to visualize
- Easy to overwrite a formula or lose context
- Often separate from your actual products and sales
Mental pricing
- Fast at first
- Misses small materials and fees
- Depends on memory
- Hard to explain why a price should increase
SideTrack cost builder
- Visual product/service map
- Resources, components, and quantities stay connected
- Cost rolls up to the product
- Lives beside sales and profit tracking
Questions
Quick answers
Can this work for services, not just physical products?
Yes. A service can be mapped with labor time, supplies, travel, fees, prep work, or repeatable service steps.
What is a resource?
A resource is a raw input with a unit cost, such as material, supplies, packaging, labor hours, or any cost measured per unit.
What is a component?
A component is a reusable bundle or step made from resources or other components. Examples include an assembly, kit, prep stage, package, or service bundle.
Does this replace accounting software?
No. It is a pricing and cost clarity tool. Use it to understand what your products and services cost before those numbers become sales, jobs, and profit records.
Know the cost before you set the price.
SideTrack gives small operators a visual way to understand what goes into a product or service, what each unit costs, and whether the price leaves enough room for profit.
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