How to Handle Complex Pricing for Made-to-Order Products in Odoo

If you sell custom-made products, you already know: pricing can get complicated—fast. Maybe it’s based on size, materials, special finishes, rush jobs, or just the fact that every order is a little bit different. The challenge? Trying to make all of that work smoothly in Odoo.

Let’s walk through what Odoo can (and can’t) do out of the box—and how to fill in the gaps when you need smarter, more flexible pricing.

What Odoo Does Well for MTO (Made-to-Order)

Odoo makes it pretty easy to set up made-to-order products. Just check a few boxes like:

✅ “Replenish on Order (MTO)”
✅ “Manufacture” or “Buy”

Then when a sales order comes in, Odoo will automatically trigger a manufacturing or purchase order to fulfill it. Great!

But the moment you add complex pricing to the mix, things start to feel… limited.

Where Things Get Tricky

If you sell products that are priced based on:

Custom sizes (like banners or windows)
Extra features (premium materials, coatings, etc.)
Special services (design work, rush orders, certifications)
Project-based pricing (customer-specific rates)

...then standard Odoo pricelists just aren’t enough.

You’ll quickly find yourself thinking, “Why can’t this price update based on the length and width the customer gave me?” Or, “Why do I have to manually calculate a setup fee every time?”

So, What Can You Do?

Here are a few practical options depending on how complex your pricing is.

1. Use Odoo Studio (for simple cases)

If you're using Odoo Enterprise, Studio lets you add custom fields and write simple pricing formulas without touching any code.

For example:

Add a “Length” and “Width” field to the sales order line
Multiply them to get the area
Multiply area by price per square meter
Add a rush order fee if needed

That works for basic stuff. But it breaks down quickly once your rules get more complex.

2. Build a Custom Module (for full control)

If you want pricing that just works based on your business logic—build it.

With a small custom module, you can:

Add custom fields like dimensions, finishes, or order type
Automatically calculate price per line item
Pull in costs from the bill of materials (BoM) and apply markup
Apply conditional surcharges (e.g., +\$50 if it’s a rush job)

Here’s a very basic example in code:

@api.onchange('length', 'width', 'rush_order')
def _compute_price_unit(self):
    for line in self:
        area = (line.length or 0) * (line.width or 0)
        price = area * 12
        if line.rush_order:
            price += 50
        line.price_unit = price

This logic runs automatically when a user enters order info—no manual calculation needed.

3. Use a Product Configurator App

If you don’t want to build from scratch, Odoo has some great apps—like the OCA Product Configurator—that let you set up configurable products with rules and pricing logic.

You can define:

Product options (colors, sizes, accessories)
Conditions (if “X” is selected, add price “Y”)
Automated line creation based on selections

This is perfect for businesses with product variations and custom features.

4. Calculate in a Spreadsheet (if all else fails)

For ultra-complex pricing (think 30+ variables or constantly changing rules), some companies still calculate prices in Excel or Google Sheets—then just copy the total into the sales order.

It’s not elegant, but it works—especially if you're mid-transition into a fully automated system.

The Real Power of Odoo: Flexibility

The best part about Odoo? You’re not stuck. Yes, the default MTO flow is pretty simple. But with a bit of customization or the right app, you can handle any pricing logic you throw at it.

If your team is wasting time doing math by hand, or if you're quoting custom jobs with spreadsheets and sticky notes, it’s time to let Odoo do the heavy lifting.

TL;DR — What to Do Next

Your Case	What You Need
Simple pricing (area, quantity)	Odoo Studio
Moderate logic (rush fees, finishes)	Custom fields + Python logic
Complex options	Product Configurator module
Crazy complex rules	Use a spreadsheet temporarily, or build a smart app

Final Thoughts

Custom pricing doesn’t have to mean complicated systems.

With the right setup in Odoo, your team can quote faster, avoid mistakes, and give your customers clear, consistent pricing—no matter how custom their order is.

Need help setting it up or customizing your flow? I’d be happy to talk through your use case.