What Markup Gives a 70 Percent Margin?
Markup, against cost
233.3%
To keep 70 percent of the price, add 233.3 percent to a $10,000 cost: $33,333.33.
How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Your cost for the job10000 $
- I want to setMargin percent
- That number70 % or $
Price to charge$33,333.33
| Your cost | $10,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Price | $33,333.33 |
| Gross profit | $23,333.33 |
| Markup, against cost | 233.3% |
| Margin, against price | 70%this is the one your accountant means |
| If you want this margin | Mark up cost by | On $10,000 cost, charge |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 11.1% | $11,111.11 |
| 15% | 17.6% | $11,764.71 |
| 20% | 25% | $12,500.00 |
| 25% | 33.3% | $13,333.33 |
| 30% | 42.9% | $14,285.71 |
| 35% | 53.8% | $15,384.62 |
| 40% | 66.7% | $16,666.67 |
| 50% | 100% | $20,000.00 |
Margin compared
Going the other way, the required markup climbs much faster than the margin does.
| Margin | Price to charge | Markup, against cost |
|---|---|---|
| 10% margin | $11,111.11 | 11.1% |
| 20% margin | $12,500.00 | 25% |
| 30% margin | $14,285.71 | 42.9% |
| 40% margin | $16,666.67 | 66.7% |
| 50% margin | $20,000.00 | 100% |
What else matters here
Seventy percent margin is a 233.3 percent markup, and a number like 233.3 percent is a sign that markup has stopped being a useful tool for this kind of work.
Markup exists to turn a known cost into a price, which works when there is a cost to start from. On an inspection, a report, a design, a load calculation, a consultation or an expert opinion, the material cost is a sheet of paper. Multiplying it by anything produces nothing, so the price has to come from the value of the answer and from what your time is worth.
Which makes the real question on this kind of work the cost of your own hour rather than the cost of anything you bought. Price the time honestly, including the driving, the research, the writing up and the phone call afterwards, and check the result against the margin rather than against a multiplier. The labor cost calculator on this site works out what an hour genuinely costs, which is the only cost input this sort of job has.
What this calculator assumes
- Markup is measured against your cost. Margin is measured against the price. They are never the same number and confusing them is the most expensive arithmetic mistake in the trades.
- A 50 percent markup is a 33.3 percent margin. To actually keep 50 percent of the price you have to mark up by 100 percent.
Questions people ask
What markup gives a 70 percent margin?
233.3 percent. On a $10,000 cost that is a price of $33,333.33 and $23,333.33 of gross profit.
How do I price work with no material cost?
By the value of the answer and the cost of your own time, not by a multiplier. Markup needs a cost to multiply, and on an inspection or a report there is barely one.
Is a 233 percent markup unreasonable?
The number is meaningless rather than unreasonable. On labor and knowledge work the margin is the sensible measure, and the markup figure it converts to has no useful interpretation.
The markup vs margin calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.