Contractor pricing
Markup vs Margin Calculator
Understand the difference and price your jobs correctly.
Price from cost and markup
Price = Cost + (Cost ? Markup %)
Margin % = (Price - Cost) / Price
Reverse margin to markup
Equivalent Markup % = Margin % / (100 - Margin %)
Results
Small percentage mistakes compound fast on real jobs.
Price
$1,200.00
Margin %
16.67%
Equivalent Markup %
20.00%
Cost: $1,000.00
Markup entered: 20.00%
Margin entered: 16.67%
What is Markup?
Markup is how much you add on top of cost to arrive at your selling price. If a job costs $1,000 and you add 20% markup, the price becomes $1,200.
What is Margin?
Margin is the share of the final price that remains after covering cost. On a $1,200 sale with $1,000 in cost, the gross profit is $200, which is a 16.67% margin.
Why contractors get this wrong
Contractors often use markup when they mean margin. That leads to bids that look profitable on paper but do not leave enough room for overhead, callbacks, taxes, or actual net profit.
Related resources
Most contractors lose money not because of bad work, but because of bad math.