What does it actually cost to outfit a 50-person construction crew?

"How much does it cost to outfit my crew?" is the question we get most often from construction operators and ops managers. Most suppliers answer with the unit price and call it done. That number is wrong, because it skips three to four hidden costs that show up six months later when you’re reordering for new hires or replacing the hi-vis your foreman wrecked in week eight.

This guide walks through the actual annual cost of outfitting a 50-person Montreal construction crew with branded workwear — including the parts the unit-price quote misses.

The scenario

Let’s spec the crew:

• 50 active workers (foreman, lead carpenters, framers, finishers, helpers)
• Year-round operation, mix of indoor (winter) and outdoor (summer) job sites
• Hi-vis requirement on most sites (Quebec construction standard)
• Embroidered crew logo on chest (your contractor brand)
• Typical turnover: 15% per year (industry average for Montreal trades)

Standard outfit per worker:

• 2 hi-vis t-shirts (summer wear — rotate one in wash, one on body)
• 1 hi-vis hoodie (transitional + winter layering)
• 1 embroidered cap (year-round branding)

Initial outfit cost — the unit-price math

Pricing reflects Singhs Print’s 50–99 tier rates with embroidered logo. Tier kicks in at total unit count, not per garment type — so 100 t-shirts + 50 hoodies + 50 caps all qualify for the 50–99 tier.

That works out to roughly $77.80 per worker for a fully branded uniform package. That number is the one that ends up in most quotes. It’s correct, but incomplete.

The four hidden costs nobody quotes

1. Sizing-day labor

To capture sizes correctly you run a fitting day. Half a workday for one supervisor, plus 5–10 minutes per worker for fitting. At Quebec construction supervisor rates (~$45/hr loaded), this is ~$200–$300 of internal labor.

Most operators skip this step and ask workers to self-report sizes. The result: 20% of the first order needs to be reordered in different sizes within month one. That reorder costs more than the sizing-day labor would have.

2. Sample approval round-trips

One supplier sends a sample. The foreman wants embroidery 0.5" larger. You send it back. New sample comes a week later. This round usually costs you 1–2 weeks of timeline, not direct dollars — but if your job-site uniform launch was tied to a project kickoff, you may need to delay the start. Budget the timeline; don’t budget the dollars.

3. Year-1 attrition reorders

Workers lose hi-vis vests. Hoodies get torn on a nail. T-shirts get ruined when someone wipes their hands on them. Expected attrition rate for Montreal construction hi-vis is ~15% of the initial order per year — about 30 units annually. At full tier pricing (no bulk discount because it’s a smaller order), that’s about $500–$700.

4. New-hire reorders

With 15% turnover, you’ll hire 7–8 new workers in year 1. Each needs a 4-piece kit. That’s ~$620 worth of reorders ($77.80 per worker × 8 workers), assuming you can squeeze each new-hire reorder into the 25–49 tier price (slightly higher than 50–99).

For ongoing program reorders we hold your design + spec on file, so new-hire reorders take 5 business days instead of starting from scratch. That’s the operational savings of running this as a program instead of one-off orders.

The full year-1 cost

True year-1 cost: ~$108 per worker, or roughly 40% more than the unit-price quote suggested. That’s the number to put in the budget, not the $77.80.

Year-2 onward — the steady-state cost

In year 2 you don’t buy 200 new units. You buy reorders only: attrition (~30 units) + new hires (~30 units) = ~60 units annually.

The program amortizes nicely after year 1. Steady-state is about $30 per worker per year — comparable to other crew benefits that no one questions.

Where the savings come from

The savings on this program are not in the unit price — they’re in the reorder discipline. Specifically:

• Bulk discount tiers. A single 200-unit order qualifies for the 50–99 tier across all four garment types. Three separate orders of 67 units each would each fall into a lower tier with worse per-unit pricing.
• Reorders match the original spec. Embroidery file, blank brand, color, decoration placement all stay on file. We don’t re-quote from scratch — reorders are essentially free of setup labor on our side, which means they ship in 5 business days at the same tier price.
• Embroidery durability. Embroidered logos last 100+ wash cycles. Printed logos on a polo or cap fade in year 2. The $4–$5/unit embroidery premium pays for itself when the garment outlasts the cheaper alternative twice over.
• 50–99 tier discipline. Most crews live in the 25–49 size range, but with t-shirts/hoodies/caps combined, you cross 50 units and unlock a meaningful per-unit discount. Don’t fragment the order.

Recommended budget formula

For Montreal construction operators of any size, our recommended budget formula is:

• Year 1: Initial outfit cost (from the supplier quote) × 1.40. This bakes in sizing labor + reorder buffer.
• Year 2+: Initial outfit cost × 0.40 annually for ongoing reorders.

For a 50-worker crew at our tier pricing, that’s ~$5,400 in year 1 and ~$1,500 annually after.