Markup isn't margin. This is what you actually keep.
Type your job cost and the number you price by — markup or margin — and see the final price, your profit, and the gap between the two. The confusion between markup and margin is the quiet leak in most contractors' profit. Close it here.
Margin is the share of the final price you keep as profit. Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin).
$12,500
On a $10,000 job cost, that leaves you $2,500 in profit.
A 25.0% markup is only a 20.0% margin. Price by markup when you think it's margin and you give away the difference on every job.
Updates live — verify against your own overhead before bidding
Markup → margin referencemargin = markup ÷ (1 + markup)
What margin does each markup actually give you? Read it off here. The margin is always smaller than the markup — that's the gap most contractors miss.
Enter your cost
Start from your real hard cost — labor, materials, equipment, the all-in.
Pick markup or margin
Price up from cost with a markup, or back from a margin you won't go below.
See the gap
Read your price, your profit, and both percentages so you never confuse the two again.
FAQ
What's the difference between markup and margin in construction?
Markup is the percentage you add on top of your job cost; margin is the percentage of the final price that's profit. They are not the same number. If a job costs $10,000 and you add 20% markup, the price is $12,000 and your profit ($2,000) is only 16.7% of that price — so a 20% markup is a 16.7% margin. Contractors who price for a 20% markup thinking it's a 20% margin quietly lose money on every job. This is the single most common pricing mistake in the trades.
How do I calculate markup in construction?
Markup price = cost × (1 + markup% ÷ 100). For a $10,000 job at 25% markup: $10,000 × 1.25 = $12,500, leaving $2,500 of profit. The resulting margin is profit ÷ price = $2,500 ÷ $12,500 = 20%. Flip the calculator to markup mode, type your cost and markup percentage, and it returns the price, the profit dollars, and the true margin instantly.
How do I price for a margin I actually want to keep?
Work backward from the price, not up from the cost: price = cost ÷ (1 − margin% ÷ 100). To keep a 30% margin on a $10,000 job: $10,000 ÷ 0.70 = $14,286. That requires a 42.9% markup — far more than most contractors expect. Use margin mode when you have a profit target you can't go below.
What markup gives a 30% margin?
A 42.9% markup yields a 30% margin. The formula is markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin). Other common pairs: a 25% margin needs 33.3% markup, a 20% margin needs 25% markup, a 50% margin needs 100% markup. The reference table in this tool lists the full markup-to-margin conversions side by side.
Why does a higher markup convert to a smaller margin number?
Because markup is measured against your cost (the smaller base) while margin is measured against your price (the larger base). The same profit dollars are always a bigger fraction of cost than of price, so your markup percentage will always read higher than your margin percentage. The two only converge near zero. Seeing both numbers together is the fastest way to stop under-pricing.