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Profit Margin Calculator
Enter what a job earned and what it cost you. The calculator shows the gross profit in pounds and the margin as a percentage, so you can see whether the job was really worth doing.
Include your own time at your day rate.
Travel, hire, waste, subcontractors.
Working out what to charge before the job instead? Use the job pricing calculator.
Gross profit
£550.00
- Total cost
- £1,850.00
- Profit margin
- 22.9%
- Equivalent markup on cost
- 29.7%
Save & track your job profit
The full Job Pricing & Profit Calculator in Tradie Business Base saves every job, compares quoted profit with actual profit and shows how your margins move over time.
Why margin matters more than turnover
A busy year at 5% margin is far more fragile than a quieter one at 20%. Margin is what pays for the quiet weeks, the replacement van and the tax bill, so it is the number worth tracking job by job.
Work out the margin after the job is finished, using real hours and real material spend. Comparing that with the margin you quoted shows exactly where estimates slip.
Margin is not markup
Adding 20% to your costs does not give you a 20% margin. £1,000 of costs plus 20% markup is £1,200 — a margin of 16.7%. The bigger the markup, the wider the gap, which is why the two get confused so often.
Fixing a thin margin
If a job came in under target, look at where it went: extra hours, extra trips, materials priced from memory, or work added on site without a variation. Each has a different fix, and none of them is simply charging less next time.
- Track hours per job so labour creep shows up rather than hiding.
- Price materials from a current merchant quote, not last year's memory.
- Put variations in writing before the extra work starts.
- Set a minimum charge so short jobs still cover travel and setup.
Common questions
How do I work out profit margin on a job?
Take everything the job earned, subtract every cost it created — labour, materials, travel, hire and waste — and divide the profit left by the revenue. Multiply by 100 for the percentage.
Is my own labour a cost?
If you are pricing to grow a business, yes. Charge your own time at your day rate so the profit you see is genuine business profit rather than your wages in disguise.
What is a good profit margin for a trade job?
Many UK trades aim for 10–20% on top of full costs on domestic work, with more on specialist or high-risk jobs. What matters more is whether your margin is consistent and whether it survives contact with the actual job.
Should VAT be included in job revenue?
No. If you are VAT registered, the VAT you charge belongs to HMRC. Use the net figures — revenue and costs excluding VAT — or the margin will look better than it is.
General guidance for UK trades, not tax, legal or financial advice.
Learn more
Learn more about job profit
Revenue, costs, profit and margin explained — with a worked UK example for a real trade job.
Read: How to Calculate Profit on a JobRelated tools
Job Pricing Calculator
Add labour, materials, travel and margin to get the price you should quote.
Day Rate Calculator
Work out the day rate you need once overheads and non-billable days are counted.
Material Markup Calculator
Turn trade prices into customer prices — and work backwards from what you charged.
Free Invoice & Quote Generator
Build a compliant UK invoice or quote with VAT and download it in minutes.
Ready to manage the whole job?
Free calculators answer one question once. Tradie Business Base saves the numbers against real jobs and customers, turns them into quotes and invoices, tracks expenses and shows what your business is making — From £9 a month for everything.