What is a reasonable rush loading?

There is no industry number worth quoting, and anyone who gives you one has not costed your shop. Work out the real additional cost of the last three rushes you did — overtime differential, lost batching, freight, displacement — and set a flat fee that covers the typical case. Most shops are surprised how far short their old percentage fell.

Should we charge a regular customer a rush fee?

Yes, and tell them why. A fee that regulars never pay is not a fee, it is a discount for the people who ask most often. If you want to look after them, discount the standard work — not the work that costs you the most to deliver.

How do we say no without losing the customer?

Do not say no, quote a date you can hit and the price to hit theirs. “We can have it Thursday at the standard price, or Tuesday with a rush fee of $X” gives them a choice rather than a refusal, and it is the only version of this conversation that never ends in a missed promise.

What to charge for a rush job

Published 30 August 2026

“Can you do it by Friday?” is the question that decides whether a week is profitable. Most shops answer it with a number pulled out of the air — a round twenty per cent, or nothing at all because the customer is a good one. This guide works out what a rush genuinely costs, so the loading you charge is a number you can defend and hold.

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A rush job costs more than the overtime

The obvious cost is the after-hours labour. The expensive costs are the ones that do not appear on the job: the four jobs pushed back to make room, the setup you would have shared across a batch and now cannot, the freight upgrade, and the mistake rate that goes up when people hurry.

Write those down for a rush you actually did recently. On an illustrative job — six hours of overtime at a $30/hour premium, an express freight upgrade of $180, and a separate router setup that would otherwise have been shared with two other jobs at about $120 — the true additional cost is roughly $480. If you charged a 15% loading on a $2,000 job, you charged $300 for it.

Overtime premium — the differential, not the whole wage
Lost batching: setups you now pay for twice
Freight and courier upgrades
Displacement: what got pushed, and what that cost you
A higher remake rate, because hurrying causes mistakes

Price the disruption, not the hours

A percentage loading is easy to quote and usually wrong, because disruption does not scale with the value of the job. A $600 rush that displaces a $9,000 install is far more disruptive than a $9,000 rush that slots into a quiet week.

A more honest structure has two parts: a flat rush fee that covers the disruption and the re-planning, plus the genuine incremental costs at cost. Shops that move to this find the small urgent jobs stop being loss-makers overnight, because the flat fee stops scaling down with the job.

Flat rush fee for disruption, not a percentage
Plus real incremental costs — overtime, freight, extra setup
Tie the fee to the notice given, not the size of the job
48 hours, 24 hours and same-day are different products

Know when the answer should be no

The most expensive rush is the one you accept and miss. You have paid the overtime, disrupted the week, annoyed the four displaced customers, and still delivered late — so you have bought the cost without the goodwill.

Before saying yes, check the three things that actually decide it: can you get the material in time, is the machine free when you would need it, and is the artwork signed off. A rush with unapproved artwork is not a rush, it is a promise about somebody else’s decision. Scheduling that shows next Thursday’s load today is what turns this from a guess into a check.

Material in hand or confirmed — not “probably”
Machine time genuinely free, on the schedule, not in your head
Artwork approved before the clock starts
If any of the three is missing, quote a date you can hit instead

Say it before they ask

Rush pricing lands badly when it appears at the end as a surprise line. It lands fine when it was on your terms the whole time — standard lead time is X, work inside Y attracts a rush fee of Z. Then it is a published rate rather than an opportunistic charge, and the customer gets to choose.

Plenty of customers choose the standard lead time once the urgent option has a price on it. That is not a lost sale; it is a week you get to keep.

Publish standard lead times and the rush fee together
Quote both options and let the customer pick
Apply it consistently — a fee you waive for regulars is not a fee
Review it yearly against what rushes actually cost you

Frequently asked questions

What is a reasonable rush loading?: There is no industry number worth quoting, and anyone who gives you one has not costed your shop. Work out the real additional cost of the last three rushes you did — overtime differential, lost batching, freight, displacement — and set a flat fee that covers the typical case. Most shops are surprised how far short their old percentage fell.
Should we charge a regular customer a rush fee?: Yes, and tell them why. A fee that regulars never pay is not a fee, it is a discount for the people who ask most often. If you want to look after them, discount the standard work — not the work that costs you the most to deliver.
How do we say no without losing the customer?: Do not say no, quote a date you can hit and the price to hit theirs. “We can have it Thursday at the standard price, or Tuesday with a rush fee of $X” gives them a choice rather than a refusal, and it is the only version of this conversation that never ends in a missed promise.