Job profit calculator

What a job made is income less what it cost you. Put in the figures and the calculator shows profit in pounds and margin in percent. The page shows the sum in words so it is useful without the calculator.

This public version takes figures you type. The version inside the app reads your own jobs and costs, so you type nothing twice.

How to work it out

Add up what the job cost you. That is materials plus labour you paid to a subbie or day worker plus other costs such as skip hire, parking, fuel and plant hire. Take that total from the income the customer paid.

Profit equals income minus costs. Margin equals profit divided by income, times 100.

Example. Income £1,200. Materials £350. Labour £300. Other £45. Costs are £695. Profit is £505. Margin is 42.1 percent.

If you do the work yourself with no subbie, labour paid out is nil. The cost is your time valued as you price it, or nil if you only want cash profit.

What counts as a cost

Count what you paid because of that job. Materials on the van for that job, the subbie’s day, the skip, the parking. Do not count your monthly phone bill in full for one job. If a cost covers many jobs, split it fairly or keep it out of job profit and count it as overhead.

If CIS was deducted from your income as a subcontractor, the deduction is an advance towards tax, not a job cost. It does not reduce profit on the job. Your profit is before that deduction is held by the contractor. The same is true for VAT where you are VAT registered. Work on net figures if VAT is in both income and materials.

Common pitfalls

Forgetting travel and parking can make a job look paid when it was not. Quoting to win and leaving labour out does the same. Put every cost on the job when you pay it, so the profit you read at the end is real.

Pricing on margin without counting profit in pounds is another pitfall. A high margin on a small price can still be a small bank balance. Read both figures. Profit in pounds pays bills. Margin tells you if the price was right.

The version in the app

This page takes figures you type. In the app you do not type them again.

YellowTradie holds the job, the quote, the invoice, the timesheet hours that become a labour line, and the costs you add with a receipt. The job page shows income for that job from its own invoice and costs from its own cost records. Profit and margin are worked from those records, not from figures you retype.

That is the part no public calculator can copy. A public calculator works with what you type. The app works with what you kept.

Questions

How is markup different from margin?

Markup is profit over costs. Margin is profit over income. A £500 job that costs £400 has £100 profit. Markup is 25 percent. Margin is 20 percent. This calculator shows margin.

Should I include my own labour?

If you want the true cost of the job, yes. Value your own days at the day rate you need. If you only want cash left after buying materials and paying a subbie, leave your own labour out and read the result as cash profit.

Does this handle VAT?

Work on net figures where you are VAT registered. Income net of VAT and materials net of VAT. The profit figure is then net of VAT. Where you are not VAT registered, the gross figures are fine because no VAT sits outside.

Does CIS affect job profit?

CIS deductions held by a contractor are not a job cost. They are tax paid in advance. Count income before the deduction when you work out profit, and count the deduction as tax held, not as cost.

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