What Margin Is a 70 Percent Markup?
Margin, against price
41.2%
Seventy percent added to a $10,000 cost is a $17,000 price, and $7,000 out of $17,000 is 41.2 percent.
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 setMarkup percent
- That number70 % or $
Price to charge$17,000.00
| Your cost | $10,000.00 |
|---|---|
| Price | $17,000.00 |
| Gross profit | $7,000.00 |
| Markup, against cost | 70% |
| Margin, against price | 41.2%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 |
Markup compared
The gap between markup and margin widens as the number grows. Same cost, five markups.
| Markup | Price to charge | Margin, against price |
|---|---|---|
| 10% markup | $11,000.00 | 9.1% |
| 20% markup | $12,000.00 | 16.7% |
| 30% markup | $13,000.00 | 23.1% |
| 40% markup | $14,000.00 | 28.6% |
| 50% markup | $15,000.00 | 33.3% |
What else matters here
Seventy percent markup is a 41.2 percent margin, and there is one cost on a job this size that almost nobody puts in the cost column: getting paid.
A card processing fee of three percent is charged on the price, not on the cost. On a $17,000 price that is $510, and $510 out of $7,000 of gross profit is 7.3 percent of the earnings on the job. Financing a customer through a third party lender costs several times that, often between five and twelve percent of the amount financed, and it is deducted before the money reaches you.
Those fees are a real cost of the sale and they belong in the estimate rather than in a surprise at the end of the month. Some states allow a surcharge on card payments with disclosure rules attached and some do not, and card network rules add their own conditions, so check before adding a line. Where a surcharge is not workable, the alternatives are pricing the fee into the job, offering a discount for check or bank transfer, or simply knowing what the lane costs and choosing it deliberately.
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 margin is a 70 percent markup?
41.2 percent. On a $10,000 cost that is a $17,000 price and $7,000 of gross profit.
How much do card fees cost on a job?
A three percent fee on a $17,000 price is $510, which is 7.3 percent of $7,000 of gross profit. Third party financing usually costs several times that, deducted before the money reaches you.
Can I add a card surcharge?
Sometimes. Several states restrict or regulate surcharges and the card networks attach disclosure conditions, so check the rules for your state before adding a line. Pricing the fee in or discounting for check are the alternatives.
The markup vs margin calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.