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Help Center › Sales, quotes & pricing › Costs & markups: labor, overhead, margin, tax, deposit
Costs & markups: labor, overhead, margin, tax, deposit
Set your labor rate, overhead, markups or target margin, minimum job, sales tax, deposit, rounding and quote expiry.
This is where cost becomes price. Open Settings, group Prices and quotes, tab Costs & markups. The menu item Pricing opens it too.
Warning: The starting values shipped in VisionScaper (labor rate, overhead, markups, margin, tax rate, deposit, minimum job, rounding and valid days) are placeholders, not approved. Enter your own. The sales tax hint says “Your state’s rate — e.g. CT 6.35%. Check with your accountant.”
Card: Your costs
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Labor cost per hour ($) | Burdened: wage plus payroll taxes, workers’ comp and insurance, per crew member hour |
| Overhead (%) | Trucks, office and insurance, added on top of direct cost to get true cost |
| Minimum job ($) | Quotes under this are raised to it |
| Mobilization per job ($) | A flat charge added to each job |
Card: Your price to the customer
First choose Pricing method:
- Markup by category: a percent on top of each cost type. Fields: Materials markup %, Labor markup %, Equipment markup %, Subcontractors markup %, Disposal markup %, Delivery markup %, Other markup %.
- Target gross margin: every cost is priced so your gross profit equals the target percent of the price. Field: Target gross margin (%). Margin mode applies overhead and then the margin.
A hint explains that a 50% markup equals a 33% margin.
Then the rest of the card:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sales tax (%) | Your tax rate |
| Tax applies to | Whole job, Materials only, or No sales tax |
| Deposit when signed (%) | The share of the total due at signing |
| Round section prices up to ($) | Each section price rounds up to the next multiple of this, unless you typed your own price |
| Quotes are good for (days) | Sets the default “Price good until” date on new quotes |
| On proposals show | Price for each section or Total only |
Steps
- Open Costs & markups.
- Enter your labor rate and overhead.
- Pick Markup by category or Target gross margin, and fill the percents.
- Enter tax, what it applies to, and the deposit.
- Set rounding, quote days and what proposals show.
- Tap Save costs & markups.
How the numbers combine
Per section: cost lines add up (labor lines use your labor rate unless you set a rate on the line). Price = each cost plus its markup (or cost with overhead divided by one minus the margin). Section prices round up. Add mobilization, subtract any discount, raise to the minimum job. Tax is a percent of the taxable part. The deposit is a percent of the total with tax.
Quotes show a red gross-profit figure when margin is under 25%.
Expiry
The Price good until date on the proposal defaults to today plus your valid days. After that date the customer can no longer sign: the signing page says “This proposal has expired or was withdrawn.” The quote shows as Expired, and the main button becomes Send it again.
Tips
- Pick one method and stay with it.
- Ask your accountant about tax and the deposit.
- You can change the price of any section by hand on a quote.
If something goes wrong
- Prices too low. Check the labor rate and the method.
- Tax shows 0. Tax may be set to No sales tax.