Price a contracting job from your real costs — crew labor, materials, equipment rental, subcontractors, and permits — plus overhead and the markup or profit margin you need. Then turn the price into a professional estimate for your customer.
Start from the job's full cost: crew labor (with payroll taxes and insurance if you carry them), materials, equipment rental, subcontractors, and permits. Add a share of overhead — vehicles, insurance, office, and estimating time — then add your profit as a margin or markup. The calculator shows every step, so you can see exactly where the price comes from.
Add up your direct job cost (labor, materials, equipment, subcontractors) and overhead, then multiply by 1 plus your markup percentage. A $4,000 total cost at 25% markup prices at $5,000.
No. On a $4,000 job, a 25% markup gives a $5,000 price — only a 20% profit margin. A true 25% margin needs a price of about $5,333. Bidding with markup when you meant margin is a common way to underprice work; the calculator lets you switch between the two and shows both numbers.
Many contractors do apply their normal markup or margin to subcontractor costs, since you are still managing that work and carrying the risk. This calculator includes subcontractor cost in the total that your margin or markup is applied to.
Yes. Choose the itemized layout and the estimate splits your final price into the categories you entered — labor, materials, equipment, subcontractor, other — in proportion to their cost. Your internal costs and margin stay private; the customer only sees the selling price for each line.
Divide the markup by one plus the markup. A 25% markup is 0.25 ÷ 1.25 = 20% margin. To go the other way, divide the margin by one minus the margin: a 25% margin is 0.25 ÷ 0.75 = 33.3% markup.