Reverse Calculator

Bid Price from Your Margin Goal

A job with 40 labor hours at $45, $1,500 of materials, and a 30% target margin needs a bid of $3,857. Job cost is $3,300, leaving $557 profit. Bid below $3,300 and you lose money.

Results

Visualization

Cashbizly provides illustrative business estimates only. Results depend on your inputs and assumptions and are not accounting, tax, or legal advice. Consult a CPA or financial advisor before major decisions. Tax-year figures (mileage, QBI, SEP, etc.) are labelled by year and should be verified at IRS.gov.

How It Works

Job Cost = Labor Hours x Rate + Materials. Bid = Job Cost / (1 - Margin%). This is reverse margin pricing applied to a quote. Always include a contingency for change orders; the margin is your buffer against underestimates.

What Should You Do?

Scenario 1: a painter with 20 hours at $40, $200 materials, 40% margin bids $1,133. Scenario 2: underestimating labor by 5 hours at 30% margin silently cuts profit by ~$214. Scenario 3: a 10-point margin increase on a $10k job adds $1,111 profit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should my margin cover overhead too?

Yes — if 30% is your total target including overhead, great; if it is only 'profit', add overhead separately. Track your true overhead ratio first.

How do I handle change orders?

Price them with the same margin formula; never absorb extras at cost or you erode the whole job margin.

What about taxes?

This is pre-tax job economics. Your business tax is separate; see our Quarterly Tax and SE Tax tools.

Authoritative References

SBA — Contracting — Pricing and bidding guidance for small contractors.
Investopedia — Markup — Margin vs markup applied to job costing.