Plan your materials
Paint coverage
Area + coats → gallons to buy
Open calculatorFREE PAINTING CONTRACTOR TOOL
Painting Markup and Profit Calculator
Turn labor, materials, overhead, and target margin into a customer sell price.
KNOW THE MATH
A number you can explain.
Selling price = total entered costs ÷ (1 − margin / 100). Markup = profit ÷ cost. Margin = profit ÷ selling price.
Our methodology & assumptions WORKED STARTING EXAMPLE
$2,769.23
- Total entered costs
- $1,800.00
- Profit after allocated overhead
- $969.23
- Margin on selling price
- 35%
- Equivalent markup on costs
- 53.85%
- Price = entered costs ÷ (1 − 35% margin).
- Profit = selling price − labor − materials − allocated overhead.
- Margin divides profit by price. Markup divides profit by cost.
Before you quote
Is 35% markup the same as 35% margin?
No. On $1,000 of costs, 35% markup gives a $1,350 price and a 25.93% margin. A 35% margin requires a $1,538.46 price, equivalent to 53.85% markup.
What costs belong in this calculation?
Include labor with payroll burden, paint and supplies, and the job's share of overhead. Combine equipment or subcontractor costs into the appropriate cost budget so they are not omitted.
Is the result gross profit or net profit?
The displayed profit is after the overhead you allocate here. Unentered expenses and income taxes are still excluded. It is a job-planning result, not a complete company profit-and-loss statement.
Estimating framework: Painting Contractors Association. This tool's starting values are editable examples, not rates published by PCA.