Is that job actually making money? Enter the price and what it costs you — labour, materials and everything else — to see your profit and margin per job.
Check profit per job
Calculated from your inputs.
See how this was calculated
| Job price | — |
| Labour cost | — |
| Materials cost | — |
| Other costs | — |
| Total job costs | — |
| Profit (price − costs) | — |
| Profit margin | — |
Profit = price − (labour + materials + other). Margin = profit ÷ price.
How to read your result
Job price $1,200: labour $450, materials $300, other $100.
- Total costs: $450 + $300 + $100 = $850
- Profit: $1,200 − $850 = $350
- Margin: $350 ÷ $1,200 = 29.2%
Example numbers to show the math — enter your own job above.
Which trades is this for?
Any job-based trade where you need to know what each job actually earns.
- Handyman & remodeling: varied jobs that can be easy to misprice.
- HVAC & plumbing installs: larger jobs where a few points of margin make a difference.
- Landscaping projects: material-heavy work with costs that are easy to miss.
Assumptions & limits
- Use your loaded labour cost. Wages alone don’t tell the whole story — include employer burden (payroll taxes, comp, benefits). The labour rate calculator helps you work out the full cost.
- Don’t overlook “other” costs. Permits, disposal, rentals, subcontractors and card fees add up. Give them a realistic estimate instead of rounding them down to zero.
- This is gross profit per job, before fixed overhead (rent, insurance, office). It shows whether the job itself makes money, not whether your business is profitable for the month.
- A negative result means the job is losing money. It’s not a calculator error.
- This is a pricing aid, not financial advice.
Common questions
What’s a good profit margin per job?
It depends on your trade and overhead, but 20–30% gross margin per job is a common target for small trade businesses. That leaves room to cover fixed overhead and earn net profit. If your margins are consistently under 15%, take a closer look at your prices and costs.
Should labour cost be the wage or the loaded cost?
Always use loaded cost. A $25/hr wage costs you $30–$33/hr once you include employer burden. Pricing labour using wages alone can cost you 20% or more of your labour profit.
What goes in “other costs”?
Include anything the job costs beyond direct labour and materials: permits, disposal fees, equipment rental, subcontractors, fuel for the job and card processing fees. You can group smaller expenses together, but don’t leave them at zero.
The calculator says I’m losing money. Now what?
Start by checking your inputs, especially loaded labour costs and anything you’ve included under “other.” If the loss is accurate, your options are to raise the price, reduce the cost or stop taking that type of work.
Related free tools
Guides by trade
Worked examples showing how roofers use this calculator with their own numbers:
Related reading
Take this further
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