Job profit calculator

A job can feel busy and still leave you with almost nothing once every cost is counted. This calculator shows the real profit and margin on a job from your price and your costs, so you know which work actually pays. Here is how it's worked out and the costs people forget.

How job profit is worked out

Profit is simple on the surface: it's your price minus what the job cost you. The catch is counting every cost, not just the obvious ones.

Profit = price − (materials + labour + overheads).

Enter your price and your costs and the calculator gives you the profit in pounds, the margin as a percentage of the price, and the markup on your cost, so you can see the job from every angle.

Count every cost, including your own time

The number that catches people out is their own labour. Even as a sole trader, your time has a value, and if you don't price it in, a job can look profitable while really just paying you a poor wage. Include these:

• Materials, with handling and waste, at what they actually cost you this week.
• Labour, your time priced at a proper day rate, not left out because it's "just you".
• Overheads, a share of the van, insurance, tools and the hours spent quoting.

Price your labour with the day rate calculator first, then feed it in here as a cost. That's the difference between real profit and a job that just kept you busy.

A worked example

Take a job you've quoted at £2,000, with the costs built up honestly.

That's a £500 profit, a 25% margin of the price, and a 33.3% markup on the cost. Leave your labour out and the same job looks like £1,300 of profit, which is the fantasy that makes trades feel like they're working flat out for nothing.

Profit or margin: read both

Profit in pounds tells you what a job put in your pocket. Margin as a percentage tells you how healthy it was, and lets you compare a small job to a big one fairly. A £500 profit is good on a £2,000 job and thin on a £20,000 one. Watch the margin across your jobs and you'll spot the work that's quietly not worth doing.

When the profit is thin or negative

If the number comes out low or red, that's the calculator doing its job, not bad news to hide from. There are only two honest fixes: charge more, or cut a genuine cost. Pretending the cost isn't there just moves the loss somewhere you can't see it. Some jobs you'll price up, some you'll walk away from, and knowing which is which before you start is the whole point.

Price for the profit you want

This tool checks a price you've already set. To work the other way, deciding the margin you want to keep and finding the price that gets you there, use the markup and margin calculator. For the full build-up of a price from materials, labour, overheads and profit, read how to price a job so you actually make a profit.

Snapquo keeps your priced items in a saved list so every quote carries the margin you set, and turns the accepted quote into an invoice without you redoing the sums. Getting the profit right on paper is where it starts.

This tool and guide are for general guidance, not financial or tax advice. Your costs, tax and market will differ. Treat the result as a clear starting point and adjust it to your business.