Contractor Job Pricing & Profit Calculator

How to price a contractor job

Start with what the job really costs before deciding what to charge.

ProjectFigures separates contractor cost from customer price. Add materials, true direct labor and other job-attributable costs first. Then add a contingency allowance and only the business overhead allocation you have already decided belongs to the job. That creates the modeled pre-tax break-even cost.

In Price a Job, your target margin converts break-even into a recommended pre-tax quote. In Check a Quote, the same break-even model tests an existing tax-exclusive customer subtotal and can show a planned loss without hiding it.

Direct costs

Use contractor cost, not marked-up sell price.

Materials, subcontractors, equipment or rental, permits, delivery, disposal, project-specific insurance or bonding, and other direct project costs should represent what your business expects to pay for this job. Customer selling price never belongs in a cost field.

Labor

True labor cost is different from a billable rate.

The preferred labor method is job hours × true employer cost per productive hour. A Labor Burden result can supply that true-cost rate. Do not use a break-even billable rate or target-margin selling rate as direct labor cost or you will double-count pricing layers.

Calculate true labor cost first →

Contingency & overhead

Contingency is not profit, and overhead is not labor burden.

Percentage contingency and percentage overhead both use direct job cost as their independent base. Overhead does not compound on contingency. ProjectFigures does not invent a company-wide allocation from rent, admin, fleet or software costs; use an allocation rule you already trust.

Resolve a business overhead recovery rate or job allocation →

Margin vs markup

Margin and markup are related, but they are not the same percentage.

• Profit: selling price − break-even cost
• Margin: profit ÷ selling price
• Markup: profit ÷ break-even cost
• Price from target margin: break-even cost ÷ (1 − margin)

For example, a 20% target margin requires a 25% markup on break-even cost. The calculator accepts target margin and reports the equivalent markup so the two are never mislabeled.

Convert markup and margin directly →

Tax boundary

All V1 profitability arithmetic is before customer sales tax, VAT or GST.

The recommended quote is pre-tax, and Check a Quote expects the tax-exclusive customer subtotal. Collected customer tax is not treated as profit, contingency or overhead recovery. Purchase-tax treatment can vary, so enter the amount your business actually treats as job cost. This calculator does not provide tax advice.

Connected workflow

Move from material quantity and labor economics into one job price.

Concrete Calculatorcan supply material subtotal and delivery without adding a derived total twice. Labor Burden Calculatorcan supply true productive-hour labor cost while leaving selling rates out of direct cost.

If the customer adds scope after the base job is priced, useChange Order Pricingfor the incremental added work. Original Job Pricing direct costs do not automatically become change direct costs.

Worked example

Break-even 9,200 at a 20% target margin.

Suppose direct job cost is 8,000, contingency is 400 and allocated overhead is 800. Break-even is 9,200. At a 20% target margin, the recommended pre-tax quote is 11,500, planned job profit is 2,300 and equivalent markup is 25%.

Common mistake

Do not charge the same economic layer twice.

Common double-counting errors include importing a Concrete material total after already importing its subtotal and delivery, using a Labor selling rate as direct labor cost, calling contingency profit, repeating project-specific expenses inside overhead, or putting customer tax inside profitability math.