From estimate to completed job

How Trade Profit Lab Works

Trade Profit Lab follows the same basic path as a real contractor job: understand the cost, set the price, do the work, compare actual results, and use what you learned to improve the next estimate.

1Understand Costs
2Set the Price
3Do the Job
4Review Actuals
5Improve the Next Estimate

Before the quote

1. Understand What the Job Really Costs

Pricing should begin with realistic cost inputs. A wage or material allowance alone rarely describes everything the business must recover.

Labor Burden

Base wage is not necessarily the employee's true cost. Employer payroll taxes, workers' compensation, benefits, employee-specific expenses, and paid non-working time can all affect cost.

Calculate Labor Burden

Labor Rate

True employee cost is only one part of a sustainable customer rate. Productive utilization, overhead, and desired profit may also need to be recovered.

Calculate Labor Rate

Job Costing

Estimate the expected labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment, and other direct expenses required to complete the job.

Learn About Job Costing

Overhead

Direct job cost does not necessarily include every expense of running the business. Jobs collectively need to recover appropriate company overhead.

Calculate Overhead Recovery

Build the quote

2. Set a Price That Supports Your Target Margin

Once expected cost is known, pricing can be built deliberately instead of guessed. Markup is based on cost. Margin is based on selling price. They are related, but they are not interchangeable.

Price for a target marginSelling Price = Job Cost ÷ (1 − Target Margin)

The Markup & Margin Calculator converts markup and margin and determines the selling price required for a target gross margin. For a deeper explanation, read the Markup vs Margin guide.

Calculate Your Selling Price

During the work

3. Do the Work and Track What Actually Happens

The estimate is the starting point, not the final result. During or after the job, capture the actual labor, materials, subcontractor costs, equipment costs, and other direct expenses.

Estimated Cost ≠ Actual Cost

Trade Profit Lab does not replace time tracking, purchasing, or project-management systems. Use the real records available to your business when reviewing the completed job.

After the work

4. Compare the Estimate With the Actual Result

Actual job result

Actual Revenue − Actual Job Cost = Actual Job Profit
Actual Job Profit ÷ Revenue × 100 = Actual Job Margin

Compare estimated cost with actual cost, expected profit with actual profit, and target margin with actual margin. Job-level profit may still need to support company overhead and other business expenses, so it is not necessarily company net profit.

Calculate Actual Job Profit

Use the variance

5. Use the Variance to Improve the Next Job

The value of job costing is not limited to knowing what happened. Actual results can show that labor consistently takes longer, materials regularly exceed budget, some job types produce stronger margins, subcontractor allowances are too low, target margins are being missed, or overhead recovery assumptions need attention.

EstimatePerformMeasureLearnEstimate Better

Start with your question

Which Trade Profit Lab Tool Should I Use?

Question	Tool
What does this employee really cost me?	Labor Burden Calculator
What hourly labor rate should I use?	Labor Rate Calculator
What costs belong to this job?	Job Costing Guide
How much overhead must my jobs recover?	Overhead Recovery Calculator
What should this complete job estimate sell for?	Job Estimate & Pricing Calculator
What should I charge for my target margin?	Markup & Margin Calculator
Did this job actually make money?	Job Profit Calculator
How much revenue do I need to cover fixed costs?	Break-Even Calculator

One job, from estimate to review

Example: From Job Cost to Actual Profit

Before the job

Estimated labor: $2,500
Materials: $2,000
Subcontractors: $1,000
Equipment / other: $500
Estimated job cost: $6,000
Target margin: 40%
Required selling price: $10,000

$6,000 ÷ (1 − 0.40) = $10,000

After the job

Actual labor: $2,800
Materials: $2,100
Subcontractors: $1,000
Equipment / other: $600
Actual job cost: $6,500
Revenue: $10,000
Actual job profit: $3,500
Actual margin: 35%

$3,500 ÷ $10,000 = 35%

The contractor targeted a 40% margin but achieved 35% because actual costs were $500 higher than estimated. This is the kind of feedback the connected workflow is designed to make visible.

Estimate Before the Job. Measure After the Job.

BeforeExpected Cost → Target Margin → Selling Price

AfterActual Cost → Actual Profit → Actual Margin

From Job Profit to Business Profitability

Individual job profitability is only part of the picture. The business also needs enough total contribution and revenue to cover fixed costs before company-level profit begins.

Calculate Break-Even

Learn more about Trade Profit Lab

The Trade Profit Lab workflow