Contractor Job Pricing / Job Profit Calculator
Build a customer price for this job that recovers labor, materials, trip time, contingency, allocated overhead, and your target net margin — then see profit $ and realized margin %. For owners setting a bid or estimate — not for homeowners shopping “cost of service.”
Price this job
Self-serve math for business owners. Tax, insurance, and burden figures you enter are yours; presets are examples only, not recommendations or advice. No consulting or custom estimates.
Methodology
A) Cost-up mode (default)
B) Bill-rate mode (handoff from hourly-rate tool)
Double-count guard: when bill-rate mode is on, this calculator does not re-apply full job overhead % + full margin on the labor line. Margin applies to materials + extras only. See the warning banner when that mode is active.
Build your bill rate first with the
contractor billable hourly rate calculator,
then use Pass to job pricing to hand off bill_rate, cost_per_billable, and margin.
Worked examples
Cost-up (fictional service job)
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Labor hours | 10 |
| Labor cost $/hr | $50.00 |
| Materials | $500.00 |
| Contingency | 10% |
| Overhead | 10% |
| Target margin | 20% |
Direct $1,000 → contingency $100 → before OH $1,100 → overhead $110 → total cost $1,210.00 → customer price $1,512.50 → profit $302.50 (20% margin; equiv. markup 25%).
Bill-rate handoff (same job, P1 rate)
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Labor hours | 10 |
| Bill rate | $125.00/hr |
| Cost per billable | $100.00/hr |
| Materials | $500.00 |
| Contingency / OH / margin | 10% / 10% / 20% on extras only |
Labor line $1,250 → extras cost $605 → extras price $756.25 → customer price $2,006.25 → profit $401.25 (labor cost basis $1,000 + extras $605 = $1,605). Guard prevents margining the $1,250 labor line again.
Assumptions
- Default labor mode = cost-up: labor $/hr is loaded labor cost; contingency + OH + margin-on-price at job level.
- v1 materials packaging: materials at supplier cost inside total_cost; single job-level margin. Optional “mark up materials first” is documented and toggled separately.
- Bill-rate mode: labor line = hours × bill_rate; job OH% + margin apply to materials + extras only.
- Margin vs markup: target is net margin on price; equivalent markup is derived.
- Tax: optional additive display only (
price × (1 + tax)); blank means omitted, not zero. - Percent fields: enter percent points (
20for 20%). Values in (0,1) auto-correct with a warning. - Profit display:
profit = round2(price) − round2(total_cost)so tiles reconcile. - Presets: example input defaults only — not recommended prices or advice.
Common mistakes
- Treating markup % as margin % (20% markup ≠ 20% margin).
- Using
cost × (1 + margin%)when you meant margin-on-price. - Forgetting trip / drive time and fuel.
- Pricing materials at cost with no recovery (in cost-up, job margin covers them; don’t also forget contingency/OH).
- Using a 2080-based wage as a bill rate (skips burden, utilization, OH, profit) — build the rate in the hourly tool first.
- Double-counting: applying full job OH% + full margin again on labor when the bill rate already includes them.
- Entering
0.20under a % field when you meant 20%.
FAQ
How do I price a job as a contractor?
Stack recoverable costs (labor, materials, travel, contingency, overhead), then set customer price with margin-on-price: price = total_cost ÷ (1 − target margin). This tool does that math for you.
What’s the difference between cost-up and bill-rate mode?
Cost-up starts from loaded labor cost and applies OH + margin at the job level. Bill-rate multiplies hours by a sell rate that already embeds OH + margin on labor; job margin then applies only to materials and extras.
How does this connect to the hourly rate calculator?
Use the hourly-rate tool to build a bill rate, then “Pass to job pricing” sends bill_rate, cost_per_billable, and margin as URL params into this page.
Why isn’t job margin applied to the labor line in bill-rate mode?
Because that would double-count profit (and usually overhead) already baked into the bill rate. The double-count guard keeps margin on materials + extras only.
Is this a bid or an estimate tool from BUILDER?
Neither as a service — it’s a self-serve calculator so you can compute what to charge. No custom estimates, coaching, or consulting.
Is this for homeowners checking contractor prices?
No. This page is for contractors and home-service business owners deciding what to charge and checking job profit. It is not a “cost of remodel / cost of plumber” shopping tool.
Can I run a materials-only job?
Yes — set labor hours to 0 (or leave blank) and enter materials and/or travel cash. Labor cost $/hr and bill rate are optional in that case (labor line = $0). You’ll see a materials-only warning. Hours > 0 still requires a labor rate. Hours = 0 with no materials/travel still blocks.