Free tools for pricing and running jobs

Pricing basics

Markup and margin are not the same number

Markup is your profit as a share of your cost. Margin is your profit as a share of the selling price. A job that costs $1,000 and sells for $1,250 has a 25% markup but only a 20% margin.

The difference grows as prices rise. If you need a 30% margin, a 30% markup is not enough: you need a markup of about 42.9%. Quote from your margin target and the price takes care of itself.

Which calculator do I need?

• Job profit calculator: you know the selling price and the costs, and want the gross profit, margin and markup.
• Material cost, waste & markup calculator: you buy material by the unit, box, square foot, sheet or roll, and want its cost for a job with waste, and a selling price with a markup or a target margin.

Margin = profit ÷ price. Markup = profit ÷ cost.