The cost of abrasive blast cleaning is the sum of the material, labor and equipment costs incurred to complete the project. Other cost items such as the cost of containment, environmental monitoring, cleanup and disposal should also be added to the direct costs to obtain the total cost.

The following formula can be used to calculate the total cost:

FULL COST = (ABRASIVE + LABOR + EQUIPMENT + OTHER) / PRODUCTIVITY

Consider the following variables:

• A = rate of usage (MT/hr)
• B = cost of abrasive ($/MT)
• C = labor cost ($/hr)
• D = equipment cost ($/hr)
• E = disposal cost ($/MT)
• X = productivity (m squared per hour)

Full cost in $/meter squared is:

[ A x (B + E) + C + D ] / X

There are numerous examples to show that use of the lowest “cost” blasting material does not always yield the lowest total cost. Similarly, there are numerous examples to show that indirect blasting costs associated with environmental compliance often far exceed more familiar direct charges.

Equally important, the full cost of blasting can be shown to depend more on productivity than on the initial cost of the materials used. Consider the following example:

	Coal Slag	Almandine Garnet
Abrasive cost ($/MT)	$51.00	$280.00
Usage rate per nozzle (MT/hr)	0.65	0.30
Fully burdened labor cost ($/hr)	$57.00	$57.00
Equipment expense ($/hr)	$45.00	$45.00
Disposal of used abrasives ($/MT)	$172.00	$172.00
Measured productivity (m squared/hr)	15.00	20.00
Full direct cost ($/m squared)	$16.46	$11.88

In this example, the facility owner enjoyed additional significant savings associated with reduction in the total amount of abrasive used for the project. The almandine garnet used on the project was found to be relatively undamaged. About 85% of the material was suitable for collection and reuse.