Price a line by its markup or its marginUpdated
Put in what it costs you and the percentage you want, and let the price follow.
Written 30 September 2026 · updated 17 October 2026
What is said in this recording
Rather than guessing a price and hoping, put in what the work costs you and the margin you want on it. The price is worked out for you, and you can see the profit on the quote before you send it.
Step by step
- 1
Tick “Track cost & profit” above the lines.
Two extra boxes appear on every line: what it costs you, and the percentage you want.
- 2
Enter what the line costs you — parts, materials, whatever you pay out.
- 3
Enter the percentage you want on it.
The box is headed Markup % or Margin % depending on which method your business uses — Settings › Business details, “How you work out a price from a cost”. The unit price fills itself in. Type a price instead and the percentage follows the other way.
- 4
Price labour as a line of its own, at your rate.
An hour of your time has no invoice behind it, so there is nothing to mark up. Leaving the cost blank is the honest answer, and the reports treat it as unknown rather than as pure profit.
- 5
Check the profit panel on the right.
Cost to you, what it sells for, the gross profit in pounds, and BOTH percentages — markup on cost and gross profit margin — so you can see what the job really makes whichever way you price. None of it appears on anything the customer sees.
Worth knowing
Markup and margin are different sums, and the gap is not small
Markup is a percentage of what the work COST you: 30% on a £100 part sells it for £130. Gross profit margin is a percentage of what the CUSTOMER PAYS: 30% on the same part sells it for £142.86, and £42.86 of that is yours. On a £100 cost the two give £120 and £125 at 20%, £130 and £142.86 at 30%, £140 and £166.67 at 40%, and £150 and £200 at 50%. Neither is wrong — a trade usually means the first and an accountant the second — but typing one while meaning the other costs you money on every job.
Choosing your method, and what it does not change
Settings › Business details has “How you work out a price from a cost”. Businesses start on markup on cost, because that is what the box has always done. Switching changes what the percentage box means on prices you work out from then on — it recalculates nothing. Quotes, invoices and price list items keep the prices they were given, and a price a customer has already agreed to never moves. If you open an older draft after switching, the price stays exactly as you saved it and the percentage beside it is simply shown the new way round.
A margin of 100% or more has no price at all
At 100% margin the cost would have to be nothing, and above it the sum turns negative. If you type one, the price stays as it was and the panel says why. Markup has no such limit — 100% markup is just doubling.
The figure in the recording is an example, not advice
It uses 20% on materials, which is about what the trades put on parts, and prices the labour as a day rate on its own line rather than marking it up. Yours is yours. Nothing here suggests a number — it only does the arithmetic once you have decided.
A line with no cost is unknown, not free
Leave the cost blank and the reports count that line as something they cannot speak for, rather than as pure profit. That is why the reports print a coverage percentage.