Free contractor tool
Job profit calculator
Enter the price you charged and what the job cost you. See your profit in dollars, your profit margin, and your markup, so you know whether a bid actually made money before you take the next one.
Priced the job? Now get paid for it.
Made money on paper? Make sure it lands in the bank. Send your customer a card-payment quote with Redbud Way, collect a deposit up front, and get paid daily to your bank. Start free, and we never take a cut of your jobs. You pay Stripe card processing, with optional plans as you grow.
How to read the numbers
Profit is what you keep after every cost. Margin is that profit as a share of the price you charged, and markup is the same profit as a share of your cost. A job priced at $1,350 that cost you $1,000 earns $350 — a 26% margin and a 35% markup.
Setting a price instead of checking one? Use the markup & margin calculator. Building the cost of a job from scratch? Use the job cost estimator.
Count your own time as a cost
The most common way a job looks profitable but isn’t: leaving your own labor out. Pay yourself an hourly wage and enter it under labor. If you don’t know your rate, work it out with the hourly rate calculator first, then come back and the profit number will tell you what the business really earned.
Pricing per trade? See plumbing, HVAC, electrical, landscaping, and handyman billing on Redbud Way.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I calculate profit on a job?
- Add up every cost on the job — materials, labor, and anything else like permits, disposal, or subs — and subtract that total from the price you charged. What is left is your profit. Profit margin is that profit divided by the price; markup is the same profit divided by your cost.
- What is the difference between profit margin and markup?
- They measure the same profit against different numbers. Margin is profit ÷ price, so it tells you what share of the invoice you keep. Markup is profit ÷ cost, so it tells you how much you added on top of what the job cost you. Margin is always the smaller of the two.
- Should I include my own labor as a cost?
- Yes, if you want a true profit number. Pay yourself an hourly wage for your time and enter it as labor cost. Otherwise the calculator will show your wage as if it were profit, which hides whether the job actually earned the business anything.
- What is a healthy profit margin for a contractor?
- It varies by trade and job size, but many contractors aim for a net margin in the 10–20% range after all costs, including a fair wage for their own time. Small jobs and high-risk work often need to run higher to be worth taking.
- What about credit card fees?
- Tick “Customer pays by card” to subtract the standard Stripe processing fee (2.9% + $0.30) and see your profit after it. Redbud Way adds no platform markup on top of Stripe’s rate.