Free contractor tool
Contractor markup & margin calculator
Enter your material and labor costs and the markup you want to add. See the price to charge, your profit in dollars, and the equivalent profit margin, so every quote leaves room for overhead and profit.
Priced the job? Now get paid for it.
Once you know your number, don’t lose it in a paper estimate. 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.
Markup vs. margin: what’s the difference?
They’re easy to mix up, and the mistake is expensive. Markup is your profit as a percentage of cost. Margin is your profit as a percentage of the price you charge. Margin is always the smaller number — if you price a job at a “50% markup” expecting half the job to be profit, you’re actually keeping a 33% margin.
| Markup | Equivalent margin |
|---|---|
| 10% | 9.1% |
| 15% | 13.0% |
| 20% | 16.7% |
| 25% | 20.0% |
| 35% | 25.9% |
| 50% | 33.3% |
| 75% | 42.9% |
| 100% | 50.0% |
How to calculate your markup
Add up your direct costs for the job — materials plus labor — then multiply by one plus your markup. The formula is Price = Cost × (1 + Markup ÷ 100).
Example: $600 in materials and $400 in labor is $1,000 of cost. At a 35% markup, you charge $1,000 × 1.35 = $1,350, keeping $350 of profit — about a 26% margin.
What markup should a contractor charge?
It depends on your overhead and your market, but a common rule of thumb is a 10–20% markup to cover overhead (insurance, vehicles, office, tools) plus another 10–20% for profit, for a 20–40% total markup on most jobs. Specialty trades, small jobs, and high-risk work usually run higher. Set yours from your real overhead, then use this calculator to price each job consistently.
Pricing per trade? See plumbing, HVAC, electrical, landscaping, and handyman billing on Redbud Way.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between markup and margin?
- Markup is profit measured against your cost (profit ÷ cost). Margin is profit measured against the price you charge (profit ÷ price). Because the price is larger than the cost, the margin percentage is always smaller than the markup percentage — a 50% markup is a 33% margin.
- What is a good markup percentage for contractors?
- Most general contractors mark up total job costs by 10–20% to cover overhead, then add another 10–20% for profit, roughly a 20–40% total markup. Specialty trades are often higher. The right number depends on your overhead and local market.
- How do I calculate price from cost and markup?
- Price = cost × (1 + markup ÷ 100). For example, $1,000 of cost at a 35% markup is $1,000 × 1.35 = $1,350, which leaves $350 of profit (about a 26% margin).
- Does this calculator include overhead?
- Enter your direct material and labor costs, then set a markup high enough to cover both overhead and profit. If you track overhead separately, add it into your costs first, then apply a profit-only markup.
- What about credit card fees?
- Tick “Customer pays by card” to see the standard Stripe processing fee (2.9% + $0.30) and what you keep after it. Redbud Way adds no platform markup on top of Stripe’s rate.