Construction Markup Calculator
Enter your cost and a markup percentage to get your selling price — or enter cost and target price to see the resulting markup and margin.
Markup vs. margin — the formulas
Markup is the percentage added on top of cost to arrive at your selling price:
Selling Price = Cost × (1 + Markup %)
The same numbers also produce a profit margin — profit as a percentage of the selling price, not of cost. This is why a 25% markup is not a 25% margin:
Margin (%) = (Selling Price − Cost) ÷ Selling Price × 100
A scope of work costs $80,000. Applying a 25% markup gives a selling price of $80,000 × 1.25 = $100,000. Gross profit is $20,000, but the resulting margin is only $20,000 ÷ $100,000 = 20% — not 25%.
Frequently asked questions
Why is markup always higher than margin for the same profit?
Markup is calculated on cost (a smaller base), while margin is calculated on selling price (a larger base). For any positive profit, dividing by the smaller number always gives a bigger percentage.
What markup should I use to hit a target margin?
Use Markup % = Margin % ÷ (1 − Margin %). For example, to hit a 20% margin you need a 25% markup, and to hit a 30% margin you need roughly a 42.9% markup.
Does markup already include overhead?
Only if you added overhead into your cost base before applying markup. Many contractors calculate overhead separately and build it into the cost figure first, then apply markup on top for profit.
Related guides
Pricing every job by hand?
Metrak prices your BOQ line by line and rolls it up into a proposal automatically — with your markup applied consistently every time.