Contractor Pricing Calculators · reviewed September 1, 2026
Contractor Markup & Margin Calculator
See the difference between markup and gross margin, and calculate the selling price required to hit a target margin on labor and materials.
Quick answer
Contractor markup and margin quick answer
Answer: Markup measures profit relative to cost, while margin measures profit relative to the final selling price. The percentages are not interchangeable.
A $5,000 job cost with 30% markup sells for $6,500, but that is only a 23.1% gross margin. To achieve a 30% gross margin, the price must be about $7,142.86.
References
Sources & assumptions
Formulas on this page are direct geometry or business-math relationships. Product-specific coverage inputs are intentionally editable.
Last reviewed September 1, 2026. Defaults are starting points; product-specific inputs are editable wherever coverage varies.
No. A 30% markup on cost produces about a 23.1% margin.
How do I price for a 30% margin?
Divide total cost by 0.70.
Does this know my overhead?
No. Include overhead in cost if your estimating method requires it.
Public API & AI agent access
Yes — Contractor Markup & Margin Calculator is callable programmatically through /api/v1/contractor-margin, the public calculator API, MCP, A2A and WebMCP. Structured results include a human-facing citation URL.