Enter your cost and the markup percent you want to add — get the selling price, dollar profit, and the equivalent profit margin. Most contractors confuse markup with margin and underprice every job by 10-20%. This calculator settles it.
Your numbers
$
Total of what the job actually costs you to deliver — labor hours at your loaded cost + raw materials.
%
How much you add on top of cost. Trades typically use 30-50% markup; specialty work goes 50-100%+.
Selling price
$1,500
$1,000 cost + 50% markup
Profit dollars
$500
Profit margin
33.3%
Cost basis
$1,000
Markup
50%
The math
Cost$1,000
+ Markup amount$500
Selling price$1,500
Markup vs margin — the source of the confusion
Markup and margin are not the same number, and using them interchangeably is the #1 reason small trade businesses underprice jobs.
Markup = profit as a percent of your cost. "I marked it up 50%" means you added 50% of cost to get the selling price.
Margin = profit as a percent of your selling price. The same job above has only a 33.3% margin (because $500 ÷ $1,500 = 33.3%).
The conversion table
If you want a specific margin (because that's what actually shows on your P&L), here's the markup you need to apply:
Forgetting overhead. The cost you enter should include rent, insurance, vehicle, software, marketing — not just materials. If your "cost" is materials-only, your markup needs to be 80-120% to cover overhead and still profit.
Discounting from the markup, not the margin. A "10% off" deal off a 30% markup item kills your margin. The same 10% off a 50% markup item still leaves a healthy margin.
Matching competitor pricing without knowing their cost structure. A larger competitor running at 25% markup may have economies of scale you don't. Match their *value*, not their price.
Quote and invoice at the right price, every time.
Operaite’s proposal generator and invoice tool let you set default markup tiers per category (materials, labor, subcontractors) so every quote you send is priced correctly without doing the math each time.