Job margin calculator for trades
Put the job in and get a price that actually leaves you a margin. Built for UK, US and Canadian trades, in your own numbers, with nothing guessed for you.
The job
Your own rate. We do not guess it for you.
Industry norm is 15–25% — an assumption, not research. Change it.
Van, insurance, phone, software, admin time. Rough is fine.
Add travel
Days on site × 1 if you go home each night
Know the real mileage? Type it in and we use your number.
Travel cost $0
Quote this job at
$0
- Total cost
- $0
- Profit
- $0
- Margin
- 0.0%
- Markup
- 0.0%
- Of which materials markup
- $0
- Hourly rate you actually earn (labour + profit per hour)
- $0
Margin is profit as a share of the price. Markup is profit as a share of the cost. 20% markup is a 16.7% margin.
What quoting costs you
173 hours a year spent quoting. That is 22 working days.
The NOW Report 2026 (Powered Now with Installer, 140 UK trades) found tradespeople spend 5 hours 20 minutes a week on quoting, invoicing and chasing.
Priceloom drafts the quote from a voice note in your own prices. Most of that time comes back.
Join the Pro waitlistHow the price is worked out
Labour is your hours times your rate. Materials go in at cost, and the markup you set is what you sell them on for. Travel, skips, hire and subcontract are added on top, then overheads are applied as a percentage of everything so far. That total is what the job costs you. The quoted price is the number that leaves your target margin once the cost is taken off it, which is the cost divided by one minus the margin — not the cost with the margin added on.
Two numbers here are assumptions, not research: the 15–25% materials markup is an industry norm we have put in as a starting point, and the travel estimate multiplies the straight-line distance by a road factor of 1.25. Change both to whatever matches your work.
Margin vs markup
Margin is profit as a share of the price. Markup is profit as a share of the cost. 20% markup is a 16.7% margin.
| Markup | Margin |
|---|---|
| 10% | 9.1% |
| 20% | 16.7% |
| 25% | 20.0% |
| 50% | 33.3% |
Where the numbers come from
The NOW Report 2026 (Powered Now with Installer, 140 UK trades) found tradespeople spend 5 hours 20 minutes a week on quoting, invoicing and chasing.
The 15–25% materials markup is an industry norm, not a study. The postcode and ZIP lookups behind the travel estimate are postcodes.io for the UK and zippopotam.us for the US and Canada. Nothing else on this page is a statistic.
Questions people ask
What margin should a tradesperson aim for?
Most trade businesses aim for 10–20% net margin after overheads, and more on small jobs where the fixed costs bite. There is no right number: put your own overheads in and the calculator shows what the price has to be to keep the margin you choose.
What is the difference between margin and markup?
Margin is profit as a share of the price you charge. Markup is profit as a share of what the job cost you. The same job at 25% markup is a 20% margin, which is why quoting on markup alone quietly undercharges.
How accurate is the travel estimate?
It is a straight-line distance between the two postcodes with 25% added for roads, so treat it as a rough figure. If you know the real mileage, type it in instead and the calculator uses your number.
Does Priceloom see my figures?
No. Everything is worked out in your browser and nothing is sent to us. The only outside calls are the postcode lookups to postcodes.io and zippopotam.us when you ask for a distance.