Contractor profit, margin & markup calculator.
Quoting a job isn't the same as making money on it. Enter your price and costs to see the difference between margin and markup, including the effect of allocated overhead.
Your project numbers
Example numbers are prefilled for demonstration. Replace them with your actual estimate.
Use your actual labor cost, not what you bill the client.
The share of office, insurance and other operating expenses assigned to this job.
Target between 0% and 95%.
Live estimate
$2,000
Estimated project profit after direct costs and allocated overhead, before income tax and financing costs.
- Direct project costs
- $9,000
- Gross profit
- $3,000
- Gross margin
- 25.0%
- Markup on direct costs
- 33.3%
- Net margin after overhead
- 16.7%
- Break-even selling price
- $10,000
- Price for target net margin
- $13,333
Estimate only. This tool does not know your taxes, cash flow, contingencies, unpaid invoices or whether every expense is represented. Nothing you enter is sent to us.
Margin is not markup.
Gross margin is gross profit divided by selling price. Markup is gross profit divided by direct cost. A job with $9,000 in direct costs and a $12,000 price has $3,000 gross profit: 25% gross margin, but 33.3% markup. Mixing those percentages up can leave a quote shorter than expected.
Where overhead fits.
Office expense, insurance, equipment and administration still need to be covered. This calculator subtracts your allocated overhead to show an estimated net project result. It can't account for expenses you haven't entered, financing, tax or cash collection.
How is the target selling price calculated?
Target selling price = (direct job costs + allocated overhead) ÷ (1 − target net margin as a decimal). For example, covering $10,000 in total costs while targeting a 25% net margin means quoting about $13,333. This is a planning calculation, not an estimate certification.
Need better visibility for the jobs you actually want? Explore contractor marketing or contact Boardroom.