Calculate your selling price and profit margin from your job costs.
50% markup does not equal 50% margin.
Markup is based on cost: $1,000 + 50% = $1,500
Margin is based on selling price: $500 / $1,500 = 33.3%
This is one of the most common pricing mistakes contractors make.
The Contractor Pricing Guide covers markup, margin, labor rates, and how to price jobs profitably.
If you charge a 50% markup on a $1,000 job, you sell it for $1,500 — but your margin is only 33%, not 50%. That gap is where most contractors quietly lose money. Pricing conversations rarely specify which number is meant, so a contractor thinking "50% on every job" might really be running 33%, and not noticing until the year-end numbers don't add up.
The calculator shows both at once. Put in a cost, pick a markup, see the selling price and the actual margin. It's the same arithmetic every estimator does, but laid out so the gap between markup and margin is impossible to miss.
Margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup). So 50% markup is 33% margin. 100% markup is 50% margin. 25% markup is 20% margin. The bigger the markup, the bigger the gap.
Want a full pricing method including target margin and Good/Better/Best bundling? See the Contractor Pricing Guide ($29, free with Pro/Premium).
