Job and product margin calculator Markup is not margin.
Price a job or product for the margin you want, see the markup that gets you there, and check what a quoted price really leaves after overhead.
How this estimate works
Direct costs are the costs of this job or product alone: materials, labor including payroll taxes, subcontractors, equipment rental, permits, and similar.
Margin is profit as a share of the price. Markup is profit as a share of cost. They are not the same: a 30% markup on $10,000 of cost is a $13,000 price, and the $3,000 profit is only a 23.1% margin.
To price for a target margin, divide direct cost by one minus the margin. A 30% margin on $10,000 of cost needs a price of $14,286, which is a 42.9% markup.
Overhead is what it costs to run the business that no single job pays for directly, such as the office, trucks, insurance, and admin time. Enter it as a share of revenue to see what a price leaves after overhead.
Assumptions and limits
- Overhead as a share of revenue is an average. A good starting point is last year's overhead divided by last year's revenue.
- Profit is before income tax and owner draws.
- Job costing from your books shows which jobs and products really make money. This calculator checks one price at a time.
An estimate is a starting point
Want to know which jobs or products actually make money? We set up job and product costing in your books and report on it every month. This calculator is educational and is not tax advice.
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