Free pricing calculator
Enter direct cost, overhead allowance, contingency and your target margin. The calculator returns the bid price and markup needed to reach that margin instead of guessing at a percentage.
Many contractors talk about markup and margin as if they were interchangeable. They are not. Markup measures profit against cost. Margin measures profit against selling price. If you want a 25 percent margin and accidentally apply a 25 percent markup, the job lands closer to a 20 percent margin. That gap can be the difference between a healthy job and a job that only looks profitable on paper.
The confusion gets worse when overhead and contingency are floating outside the estimate instead of being priced consciously. A margin target only works if the cost basis underneath it is honest.
Markup = profit divided by cost.
Margin = profit divided by selling price.
If you start with a target margin, the required markup is not the same percentage. For example, a 25 percent target margin requires a markup of 33.3 percent on the relevant cost basis. This calculator first builds the cost basis using direct cost, overhead allowance and contingency, then calculates the price required to hit the requested margin.
Suppose a job has $10,000 in direct cost, $1,500 in overhead allowance and 5 percent contingency. Your adjusted cost basis becomes $12,075. If the target margin is 25 percent, the selling price has to be higher than a simple 25 percent add-on. The calculator solves that relationship and shows the markup required to land at the intended margin.
This matters most on small jobs and change orders, where one mistaken pricing habit can erase the cushion that pays for office overhead, callbacks, warranty time and owner profit.
Some estimators bury overhead and risk inside labor hours. Others throw on a flat markup and hope the result is enough. A cleaner approach is to decide which costs belong in direct job cost, which allowances should be explicit and what margin the company wants after those items are covered.
This calculator is most useful after the direct cost is already mostly known. It helps when you are pricing a bid summary, checking a change order, testing different margin targets or explaining to someone on the team why a 20 percent markup does not produce a 20 percent margin.
If you still need help building the cost side of the estimate, pair this page with the labor burden guide, the markup guide, the equipment rate calculator and the broader Excel estimating workflow guide.
That depends on local practice and the way tax must be shown in the bid. In many workflows, tax is shown separately so profit analysis is not distorted. This calculator focuses on cost, markup and margin, not local tax compliance.
Usually no. Scope risk, market pressure, schedule constraints and warranty exposure all affect the margin a contractor may need. The tool helps translate a chosen target into price; it does not choose the right target automatically.