Markup vs. Margin: What’s the Difference?
Learn why a 25% markup produces only a 20% margin, how to convert between them, and which percentage belongs in your pricing decisions.
Read the guide
The field guide
Understand the numbers behind profitable work.
Plain-English explanations, formulas, and examples for contractors and service businesses that want to price with confidence.
Use the tools in sequence
Connect estimates, pricing, and actual results.
Not sure where to begin? See how the calculators and guides fit together from job cost to completed-job profit.
How to Calculate a Profitable Labor Rate
Build an hourly rate that covers wage, employer burden, nonbillable time, overhead, and profit instead of guessing from a competitor’s price.
Read the guideLabor Burden for Contractors
Understand the true cost of employee labor and how burden affects job costing, pricing, and profitability.
Read the guideHow to Recover Overhead in Every Job
Identify overhead accurately and spread it across realistic billable hours, crew days, or jobs without charging for the same expense twice.
Read the guideJob Costing for Contractors
Track actual labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment, and other costs, then compare the result with the estimate and job revenue.
Read the job costing guideHVAC Job Costing and Profitability
Apply labor burden, overhead, markup, margin, and actual-job review to HVAC service calls, repairs, maintenance, and replacement work.
Explore HVAC job economics