Markup calculator. Cost to price, or price back to markup. And the margin next to it, because a 30% markup is a 23% margin and that gap is where quotes go wrong.
| Markup | Margin | $100 cost sells for |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 9.1% | $110 |
| 20% | 16.7% | $120 |
| 25% | 20.0% | $125 |
| 30% | 23.1% | $130 |
| 40% | 28.6% | $140 |
| 50% | 33.3% | $150 |
| 75% | 42.9% | $175 |
| 100% | 50.0% | $200 |
| 150% | 60.0% | $250 |
| 200% | 66.7% | $300 |
Australian figures, checked 19 September 2026. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Two numbers, one profit.
Markup measures profit against what a thing cost you. Margin measures the same profit against what you sold it for. On a $500 job sold for $700, the $200 is a 40% markup and a 28.6% margin. Neither is wrong; they're just answering different questions. Markup is the one you use to build a price. Margin is the one your accountant and your profit and loss use.
The trouble starts when a business decides it wants "30%", marks everything up by 30%, and then finds the accounts showing 23%. That's not a leak. It's the two numbers being read as one.
What to mark up, and how much.
Materials
15 to 30% for most trades. It pays for the supplier run, the holding, the returns and the warranty, not the profit on the job.
Labour
Where the margin actually lives. Set it with the charge-out rate calculator, not with a markup on the wage.
Subcontractors
10 to 20%. You carry the risk, the scheduling and the phone call when they don't turn up.
Retail
Keystone is a 100% markup, a 50% margin. Fashion goes higher; groceries and hardware live much lower on volume.
Before GST
Mark up ex-GST cost to ex-GST price, then add the 10%. The GST calculator does the last step.
Working backwards
Know the margin you want? Divide it by one minus itself to get the markup. 30% margin needs a 42.9% markup.
Quotes that mark themselves up.
If you're doing this sum for every quote, the better fix is a quote that builds itself: the job description in, the materials looked up, your markup applied, the price out, the customer sent it before you've left the driveway. That's part of what we build for tradies, and it's a fixed price.
Questions people ask.
What's the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is the profit as a share of the cost. Margin is the same profit as a share of the price. A $100 cost sold for $130 is a 30% markup but only a 23% margin, because $30 is 23% of $130. Quote in markup, read your accounts in margin, and don't let the two get swapped.
How do I calculate markup?
Price minus cost, divided by cost, times 100. Sold for $700, cost $500: that's $200 over $500, a 40% markup.
What markup should a tradie use on materials?
Most trades sit between 15% and 30% on materials, more on small parts and less on big-ticket items where the customer can see the supplier price. The materials markup has to cover picking them up, holding them, warranty and the ones that get returned; it isn't your profit on the job. Labour is where the margin lives.
What markup do I need to hit a margin?
Divide the margin by one minus the margin. For a 30% margin, 0.3 over 0.7 is a 42.9% markup. Choose the third option in the calculator and it does this for you.
Is markup before or after GST?
Before. Work out the price from your cost with GST on neither, then add 10% GST to the invoice if you're registered. Marking up a GST-inclusive supplier price and then adding GST again is a common way to end up either overcharging or, once you claim the input credit, confused.
Why does a 100% markup only give a 50% margin?
Because the price has doubled, so the profit is now half of it. Markup can go past 100%; margin never reaches it. That's why the two numbers drift further apart the higher they go.
Photo to come: Cal.
Calum Buchanan.
Melbourne. Ran the systems behind a services business, the phones, the invoices, the marketing, the reporting, and spent the last few years handing them to AI that works. This is that, for yours.