BuildWellMarkup
Markup is the amount added to a job’s costs to reach the selling price, usually expressed as a percentage of those costs.
If a job costs you $10,000 in labor, materials and subs, and you price it at $12,500, the markup is $2,500, or 25% of cost. The formula is (price − cost) ÷ cost.
Markup has to cover two things: your overhead (the truck, insurance, office, software and the time you spend estimating and running the business) and your profit. A markup that only covers overhead leaves you working for free.
Some contractors apply one markup to the whole job; others mark up materials, labor and subcontracts at different rates, since each carries different risk. Either works if the result covers overhead and profit across your year.
Markup is easy to apply when estimating, but the number that tells you how the business is doing is margin: profit as a percentage of the price. A 25% markup is a 20% margin, not 25%. Confusing the two leads straight to underpriced jobs.
BuildWell prices labor at the metro’s BLS median wage and materials at local store prices, then adds your overhead and markup.
Estimates, signatures and invoices in one app
BuildWell writes itemized estimates priced for your area, gets them signed on the client’s phone, and turns them into invoices.
- AI estimates priced for your area
- Estimates, invoices, clients and projects
- Clients sign on any phone
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- iPhone, Android and the web
- AI estimates priced for your area
- Estimates, invoices, clients and projects
- Clients sign on any phone
- Card and bank payments, no extra BuildWell fee
- iPhone, Android and the web
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Estimates, invoices, e-signatures and payments in one place, on your phone and on the web.