Pricing hub
Contractor Pricing Guide
Calculate labor, materials, markup, margin, minimum charges, and profitable job prices before you send a quote.
Labor
Bill enough to cover wages, burden, overhead, and profit.
Materials
Include waste, pickup time, delivery, and markup.
Overhead
Recover insurance, software, admin, vehicles, and downtime.
Profit
Price for a healthy business, not just a covered paycheck.
Pricing basics
Start with cost, then add overhead and profit
A profitable price starts with direct labor and materials, then overhead, risk, and profit. Skip overhead or underprice labor and the job looks busy while you still lose money.
- Calculate your real billable labor rate
- Add materials, equipment, travel, and disposal
- Use markup to cover overhead and profit
- Protect small jobs with minimum charges
Use the right calculator for the job
Project cost calculators, labor rate tools, markup and margin calculators, and trade-specific quantity tools help you sanity-check numbers before you put them in a customer-facing quote.
Price only works if the customer understands it
Once the math is right, present scope clearly with line items, photos, notes, payment terms, and a professional estimate. The number and the explanation sell together.
Related resources
Templates, calculators, trade pages, and software guides for the next step.
Frequently asked questions
How should contractors price jobs?
Start with direct labor and materials, add overhead, include job risk, and add profit. Then present scope clearly so the customer understands the price.
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is added to cost to create the selling price. Margin is the percentage of the selling price that remains as gross profit.
Should contractors use minimum charges?
Yes. Minimums help cover travel, setup, admin, scheduling, and invoicing time on small jobs.
What should I do after I calculate the price?
Turn the number into a professional estimate with scope and payment terms. Software or templates both work depending on how often you quote.
Need to turn a price into a customer-ready quote? Browse free templates or see how Dave handles estimates.
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