Markup and margin are not the same thing. A 30% markup is only a ~23% margin. Enter your job cost and the margin you actually need, and get the price to charge.
Most contractors add a flat "30% markup" and wonder why they can't pay themselves. Here's the trap: if you mark up a $5,000 cost by 30%, you charge $6,500. But your margin is only 23% ($1,500 ÷ $6,500). To actually keep 30% of the price, you need a 43% markup.
Add every non-job expense — truck payment, insurance, fuel, software, phone, shop rent, and the weeks you're between jobs. Divide by the number of jobs you run a year. That's the overhead you must recover on every single job, not just the busy ones.
Price = Cost ÷ (1 − Margin). A $5,000 job at a 30% target margin prices at $7,143 — not $6,500. That gap is the difference between a business that grows and one that bleeds.
Overhead per job doesn't shrink on a small job. If your overhead is $600/job and you're only charging $300 profit on a quick one, you're underwater. Clovr tracks your real cost and margin on every estimate so a thin job gets caught before you sign it.