Live margin on estimates: see the profit before you send the price

Why estimates lose money quietly

Most estimates are built from prices, not costs. The total looks right, the customer signs, and only later does anyone find out that one option barely covered labor. The usual culprits: a part whose cost went up, a labor line that assumed a faster tech, or a cost nobody entered at all. Live margin puts the profit on screen while the estimate is still a draft.

What you see

• Gross margin and markup for each option, updated with every line.
• Your target, so an option below it stands out.
• Missing costs, flagged on the line. A line with no cost on file is never treated as free and never filled with a guess.

Good, Better and Best, side by side

Three options only help if all three pay. With margin on each, the estimator can see that Good is fine at 52%, Better is the sweet spot, and Best needs its labor line looked at before it goes out. Example numbers only; your targets are your own. More on building the three in good, better, best pricing.

Where the costs come from

Part costs come from your Price Book and suppliers, and change when supplier prices change (with your OK; see supplier price updates). Labor uses your rates. After the job, job costing compares the estimate to what the job really used, so the next estimate is better; see job costing for contractors.

Approvals for off-book prices

Roles and permissions decide who can discount. A tech who wants to go below the Price Book or below target can ask, and the owner or office approves, so the margin rule does not depend on everyone remembering it.

Check your own numbers

If markup and margin get mixed up in your shop, read markup vs margin and try the job pricing and markup calculator. Then see it on a real estimate in Job Walk.