Job price, margin and break-even calculator

How to work out a job's cost, price and margin in five steps

1. Solve for what you are missing. In Cost, price, margin and markup, pick the two numbers you know: cost and markup, cost and margin, cost and price, price and margin, or price and markup. The panel shows cost, price, profit, margin and markup together, with the formula lines.
2. Fill in the job cost. In Job cost, enter the people, the hours each, the hourly wage or loaded rate, materials, subcontractors, other costs and a contingency. The arithmetic appears line by line.
3. Add overhead when you are ready. Until you type an overhead, the total says before overhead. Press Add overhead, then enter a percent or a fixed amount. The prices follow the new total.
4. Read the price at each margin. Price at each margin lists the price, profit and markup from 15% to 50%. Loaded labor rate and Break-even answer two more questions further down.
5. Download the worksheet. Press Download PDF for a printable worksheet in English, Spanish or side by side. Pick your currency first. Nothing is saved or uploaded.

Margin and markup are not the same number

Both describe profit, but they divide it by different things. Margin is profit divided by the price. Markup is profit divided by the cost. On the same job, margin is always the smaller percent. The first panel shows both every time, because they are easy to mix up.

Mixing them up quietly lowers the price. Say a job costs $700 and you want a 30% margin. Adding 30% to the cost gives $910. The profit is $210, and $210 divided by $910 is a 23.1% margin. A true 30% margin needs the cost divided by 0.70, which is $1,000.

The panel works from any pair you know. These made-up examples show how the pairs line up:

• Cost $800 and markup 25%: price $1,000, profit $200, margin 20%.
• Cost $700 and margin 30%: price $1,000, profit $300, markup 42.9%.
• Cost $700 and markup 50%: price $1,050, profit $350, margin 33.3%.

A margin of 100% or more has no answer, because no price can be all profit, so the panel says so instead of showing a number. When anyone quotes you a percent, check which one they mean.

What goes into the job cost

Job cost adds up what the work costs you before profit and shows every step, so you can check it with a pencil.

Made-up example: 2 people, 12 hours each, at $30 an hour is $720. A burden of 25% adds $180. Materials of $900, subcontractors of $400 and other costs of $100 bring direct costs to $2,300. A 5% contingency adds $115, so the total before overhead is $2,415.

Overhead, entered two ways

Overhead is what you spend whether or not a job is running: rent, software, phone, insurance, a truck payment, your own admin time. At first the total reads before overhead. Press Add overhead and choose how to enter it: a percent of direct costs plus contingency, or a fixed amount.

• Made-up, percent: $2,415 and overhead of 10% add $241.50, so the job cost is $2,656.50.
• Made-up, fixed: the same $2,415 plus $150 gives $2,565.

Neither way is more correct. Both numbers are yours. The page does not supply a typical one.

How to read the margin table

Price at each margin shows eight rows, from 15% to 50% in steps of 5, and one more for a margin you type. Each row uses price = cost / (1 - margin), profit = price - cost and markup = profit / cost. Percents show one decimal, such as 33.3%.

On a $700 cost, a 20% margin gives $875 and a 30% margin gives $1,000. The check box works the other way: type $950 on that cost and it shows profit $250, margin 26.3% and markup 35.7%. The page never says what to charge. It shows the arithmetic and you decide.

Why an hour costs more than the wage

A wage is only part of what an employee costs. Loaded labor rate takes payroll taxes, insurance and benefits as one percent of wages. The page does not suggest a figure. Use your own records or ask your accountant.

Hours matter too. Driving, quotes, supply runs and slow days are paid but not billable, so the panel divides the cost of paid hours by billable hours only. It shows each step: wage plus burden per paid hour, the billable share of paid hours, then the cost per billable hour.

Made-up example: a $25 wage, 30% burden, 40 paid hours and 28 billable hours. $25 x 1.30 x 40 / 28 = $46.43 per billable hour. Use this rate in the job cost copies it into the job cost.

Break-even in plain words

Break-even asks how many jobs a month it takes to pay your fixed costs. Enter fixed costs, the average price and the variable cost per job, and a target profit if you want one. Optional hours per job also give billable hours per month.

Made-up example: fixed costs $4,000, price $450, variable cost $270. Profit per job is $180. $4,000 / $180 is 22.2, so 23 jobs, and 23 x $450 is $10,350. With a $1,000 target, $5,000 / $180 = 27.8, so 28 jobs and $12,600. At 6 hours a job, 23 jobs x 6 hours = 138 hours.

If the price does not exceed the variable cost, the panel says there is no break-even.

Trying several scenarios

Break-even also shows the price 10% lower, as typed and 10% higher. With the same $4,000 and $270:

• 10% lower, $405: profit $135, 30 jobs, $12,150.
• As typed, $450: profit $180, 23 jobs, $10,350.
• 10% higher, $495: profit $225, 18 jobs, $8,910.

A small price move changes the jobs needed a lot. Change one number at a time to see what caused each change.

Keeping the numbers honest, and your data private

A calculator only does arithmetic on what you type. Use real figures from invoices, bank statements and payroll records.

The PDF prints the solved table, the job cost table with formulas and an Assumptions block, with the note: Estimate based on the numbers you entered, not a quote.

Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is saved, uploaded or tied to an account. Digital Works Forge, a small web studio in San Antonio, built the page. Money is calculated in whole cents, each result rounded once. Tax questions belong with your accountant.

Frequently asked questions