What a job costs you, and what each price leaves
Your hours, at what an hour really costs you, plus materials and anything else: that is what the job costs you. Any price above that leaves you something, and the table shows how much.
Work out what a job costs you
Two people for a day of 8 hours is 16.
A rental, dump fees, a sub.
Pick one to see a price for each acre, yard or foot beside the price of the job.
If you want it checked. Leave it empty if not.
Type your hours and what an hour costs you, or your materials. The answer shows here.
One job, worked through
An example with made-up numbers, not a going rate
Say a job takes 16 hours of work, an hour costs you $45 all in, and materials are $600. The job costs you $1,320: $720 of time and $600 of materials.
Five prices, and what each leaves
An example with made-up numbers, not a going rate
| Price | You keep | Of every $100 |
|---|---|---|
| $1,467 | $147 | $10 |
| $1,650 | $330 | $20 |
| $1,886 | $566 | $30 |
| $2,200 | $880 | $40 |
| $2,640 | $1,320 | $50 |
A price you already have in mind
You may already have a figure in your head for a job like this. Check it against the cost before you say it out loud.
In the example, at $1,800 you keep $480, which is $27 of every $100. At $1,200 you lose $120 on the job, however fair the price sounded.
What each hour brings in
Take the materials out of the price and divide what is left by the hours. In the example, at $1,800 each hour worked brings in $75.
Set that beside what an hour costs you, $45 here, and you see the same job from the hour's side.
Use what the hour really costs you, not just the wage
If you type a bare wage as the cost of an hour, the job looks cheaper than it is and every price looks better than it is.
The hour has to carry what you pay on top of wages, the hours you cannot bill and your overhead. First work out what an hour costs you, then bring that number here.
Price it by the size of the job
If you sell this kind of work by the acre, the yard, the foot or the inch, pick what the job is measured by and type its size. The calculator divides each price by it, so beside the price of the whole job you see the price for each acre or each yard.
A price for each acre or yard grows when the job does. A flat price does not.
What to charge for a job you sell by its size starts from these same sums.
How it is worked out
- Hours of work times what an hour costs you is the time.
- Add materials and anything else: a rental, dump fees, a sub. That is what the job costs you.
- A price less that cost is what you keep. What you keep, divided by the price, is your share of every $100.
- Each price on the ladder is rounded up, to the whole dollar or to the cent when the amount is small, so what you keep is never short of its step.
In TailGateBid
On the Rates page of TailGateBid, when the app suggests a price for a service it rounds up the same way. On a quote it does not: a quote takes the price you type and leaves it alone.
A line on a quote can carry what it costs you beside its price, and the quote then shows you what the job leaves. Your customer does not see that part.
Once you have a price, add sales tax and work out the deposit. If you set prices by adding a percent on top of cost, see what that really leaves you. All four calculators are free and ask for no sign-up.
Where each number comes from
- When this page works out a price for you, it never aims to leave you more than $90 of every $100. TailGateBid's own price suggestions stop at the same place. A price you type yourself can leave more.
- The ladder shows the prices that leave about $10, $20, $30, $40, $50 of every $100. The steps are our choice: a ladder to read across, not advice.
In TailGateBid a line on a quote can carry what it costs you, and the quote shows what the job leaves. Your customer never sees that part.
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Related
- What an hour costs youIn the example, $25 an hour of pay turns into $57.05 for every hour you can bill.
- What you keep of every $100Something that costs $100 and sells for $150 leaves you $33.33 of every $100, not half.
- Deposit and sales taxOn a sample quote, 7.25% of $2,035.00 is $147.54 of tax, and a 10% deposit on the total is $225.75.
- QuotesOptions, add-ons and a signature on your customer's own phone.
By TailGateBid. .
A calculator works from the numbers you type. Check the answer against your own books.