What is the difference between markup and margin?

Markup is the profit added as a percentage of cost. Margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price. If a job costs £8,000, a 25% markup gives a £10,000 price and a 20% margin.

Should travel and material collection be included?

They consume time and vehicle cost because of the job, so they should be considered even where they are not shown as separate customer line items.

What contingency should I use?

The tool suggests a range from the risks selected, but no percentage is right for every job. The user remains responsible for choosing and checking it.

Does the customer proposal reveal my profit?

No. The customer proposal excludes internal labour cost, overhead, supplier prices, contingency reasoning, profit and margin.

Builder Quote Calculator UK: Costs, Markup & Profit

Step 1 of 5

Job

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Step 1 · Job

What are you pricing?

Job name

Trade or work type

Job location optional

Customer type

Expected start optional

Estimated working days

Price you are thinking of quoting before VAT optional

Enter this to test your planned quote against the true cost. Leave it blank to use the profit target below.

Job complete enough?You can return without losing figures.

Step 2 of 5

Costs

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Step 2 · Direct costs

Materials, including what gets cut, broken or left over

Description	Qty	Unit cost	Wastage %	Total

Subcontractors

Equipment or hire

Skip and waste

Delivery charges

Permits or licences

Specialist services

Other direct costs

Step 2 · Labour

Pay for every pair of hands, including your own

How would you like to calculate labour?

Simple totalIndividual workers

Number of workers

Days

Hours per day

Rate type

Internal labour cost

Use what the labour costs the business, not necessarily the customer-facing rate.

Step 2 · Forgotten timeThe job uses time even when no tool is in your hand

Quoting, sourcing, calls, travel to suppliers and final clean-up belong to this job, even if the customer never sees them as separate lines.

Time used by this job	Hours	Internal hourly cost	Total
Site visit			£0.00
Preparing the quote			£0.00
Ordering and collecting materials			£0.00
Customer calls and administration			£0.00
Cleaning, waste and final inspection			£0.00
Unpaid return visits			£0.00

Step 2 · TravelYour van does not move for free

Number of journeys

Return miles per journey

Your estimated vehicle cost per mile

Editable business estimate, not an official tax rate.

Parking

Congestion charges

Tolls

Other travel costs

Step 2 · Business overhead

The customer cannot see every cost your business carries

Choose a method

Percentage of job costsMonthly overhead per day

Overhead contribution

A share for vehicle finance, insurance, tools, phone, software, accountant, storage, advertising and other running costs.

Costs complete enough?You can return without losing figures.

Step 3 of 5

Risk

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Risk complete enough?You can return without losing figures.

Step 4 of 5

Profit

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Step 4 · Profit

Choose what the job needs to leave behind

Set profit as

Fixed amountMarkup on costMargin on selling price

Target profit margin

Markup and margin are not twins.

If a job costs £8,000, a 25% markup gives a £10,000 price. The £2,000 profit is a 20% margin on that selling price.

VAT treatment

VAT rate

Editable. Check the correct treatment with your accountant where necessary.

What-if test

What happens if the customer asks for a discount?

A discount comes out of profit pound for pound unless the scope or cost changes with it.

Discount

Extra labour days

Materials rise

Callback hours

Callback internal hourly cost

Extra skip or hire

Subcontractor increase

Delay days carrying overhead

New profit£0

New margin0%

Profit change£0

Profit per day£0

New customer price£0

Cash required£0

Alternatives to a bare discount

Reduce the scope, change the materials, split optional work, change the programme, increase the deposit or improve the payment terms.

Payment pressure

Make sure the job is not borrowing money from you

Deposit

Stage payments

Final payment

Schedule total100%

Deposit amount£0

Stage amount£0

Final amount£0

Early funding gap£0

Your payment percentages add up to the quoted customer total.

Profit complete enough?You can return without losing figures.

Step 5 of 5

Proposal

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Step 5 · Proposal

Turn the numbers into a clear customer proposal

The customer copy never reveals your internal cost, supplier prices, overhead, contingency reasoning, profit or margin.

Business name

Proposal number

Business address

Customer address

Telephone

Email

Website

Customer name

Quote valid for

Scope of work

Materials included

Work stages

Customer responsibilities

Access requirements

Exclusions

Assumptions

Optional extras

Payment schedule wording

Variation wording

Delay wording

Workmanship or warranty wording

Proposal complete enough?You can return without losing figures.

Price the job before the job prices you.

Start with the price you are thinking of sending

Job

What are you pricing?

Costs

Materials, including what gets cut, broken or left over

Pay for every pair of hands, including your own

The customer cannot see every cost your business carries

Risk

What could turn a tidy quote into an awkward job?

Profit

Choose what the job needs to leave behind

Result at your selected profit target

What deserves another look

What happens if the customer asks for a discount?

Make sure the job is not borrowing money from you

Proposal

Turn the numbers into a clear customer proposal

A calculator can test the numbers. A human review can challenge the assumptions.

Job-calculator questions

Saved jobs on this device

The result is transparent, not magic