The other calculators on this site work out what a job consumes. These ones work out what you should charge for it. They take your own numbers rather than measurements, and they answer the questions that decide whether a busy year is also a profitable one.
Pick your number
| Calculator | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Markup vs margin | Convert between the two. They are not the same number and the gap costs money. |
| Labor burden | What a painting hour really costs you once burden and non-billable time are in. |
| Break even | The revenue that covers your fixed costs before any profit. |
| Overhead recovery | The rate that spreads your annual fixed costs across the work you sell. |
| Minimum job | The floor below which a small job costs more than it brings in. |
| Production rate | Derive your own rates from hours and areas you have already recorded. |
| Crew day cost | What it costs to put a crew on site for a day, all layers included. |
| Job profitability | Estimated against actual, per job, which is where the truth lives. |
| Discount impact | What a price cut actually costs and how much work replaces it. |
| Painting price | The full stack from measured quantities to a price you can quote. |
The order these go in
They are not independent. Used in the right sequence they build a price from the ground up, and each one feeds the next.
Start with what an hour actually costs you. That is not the wage: it is the wage plus payroll taxes, insurance, holiday and sick pay, training, travel and every other hour you pay for but do not bill. That multiplier comes out of the labor burden calculator and the reasoning is in painting labor burden.
Then work out what your business costs to exist, and how much of it each hour or crew day has to carry. That is overhead recovery, explained in painting business overhead. Get the arithmetic right here: overhead expressed as a share of revenue is divided into the cost, not added onto it, and adding it leaves you short by an amount that grows with the job.
Now you have a cost. Turning it into a price means adding profit, and deciding whether you are applying a markup to cost or targeting a margin on the price. Those are different numbers from the same intention, which is what the markup vs margin calculator exists to settle. See painting contractor markup percentage.
Then check the shape of the result
Break even tells you the volume that has to be sold before any of this produces profit, covered in painting business break even. The minimum job charge tells you the floor below which small work costs more than it brings in, in painting minimum job charge. Job profitability compares what you estimated against what actually happened, which is the only feedback that improves the next quote.
The two that save the most money
Discount impact is the one most painters have never run. A price cut comes out of profit rather than out of the whole price, because the paint, the crew hours and the overhead all cost the same as before. A cut that sounds small can remove a large share of what the job was going to earn, and replacing it takes far more additional work than people expect. The reasoning is in should you discount painting jobs.
Production rate is the other. Rates borrowed from a book describe someone else’s crew. Deriving them from hours and areas you have already recorded gives you figures that match your own people, your own methods and the kind of work you actually take, which is the difference between an estimate that holds and one that drifts. The method is in painting production rates.
A quick sanity check on any bid
Painting is labour dominated, and on most jobs materials are the smaller half by a wide margin. If a bid comes out with an unusually high material share, the hours are probably too low, and prep is the usual culprit. That check takes seconds and is set out in painting labor vs material ratio.
These are calculators, not a quoting system
Worth being straight about the limit. Each of these answers one question and forgets it the moment you close the tab. They will not store your rates, produce a document, or send anything to a customer.
If you want the same engine to hold your rates and turn measurements into a branded quote you can send from the driveway, that is what the paid product does. It runs in a browser with nothing to install, and it is free for your first three quotes with no card required. That is the extent of the pitch: the calculators above are free and always will be, and they are genuinely useful on their own.
What each tool needs and what it returns
None of these ask for measurements. They take figures from your own business, which means the answer is yours rather than an industry average.
| Tool | What you put in | What it returns |
|---|---|---|
| Markup vs Margin | Job cost, Markup you apply | Price, Margin you actually get, Gross profit |
| Labor Burden | Base hourly wage, Burden rate | True hourly cost, Burden per hour, Annual cost at 1,800 billable hours |
| Break Even | Fixed annual overhead, Gross margin you achieve | Revenue needed to break even, Per month, Per week |
| Overhead Recovery | Annual overhead, Billable hours a year, Loaded labor cost per hour | Overhead per billable hour, Total cost per hour, Hourly rate at break even |
| Minimum Job Charge | Hours consumed regardless of job size, Loaded labor cost per hour, Travel and mobilization, Overhead recovery | Minimum job charge, Direct cost of the visit, After overhead recovery |
| Production Rate | Area painted, Hours it actually took, Painters on the job | Sq ft per crew hour, Sq ft per painter hour, Hours per 1,000 sq ft |
| Crew Day Cost | Painters in the crew, Hours in the day, Average base wage, Burden rate | Crew cost per day, Per five day week, Day rate at break even |
| Job Profitability | What you invoiced, Materials you bought, Hours actually worked, Loaded labor cost per hour | Gross profit, Gross margin, Profit per hour worked |
| Discount Impact | Quoted price, Discount offered, Your gross margin | Profit after discount, Share of profit given away, Profit before discount |
| Painting Price | Materials, Labor hours, Base wage per hour, Burden rate | Price to quote, Direct cost, Overhead recovered |
Nothing is stored. Each tool answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab, which is deliberate: these are meant to be reached for and used, not set up.
The order they go in
They are not independent. Burden feeds overhead recovery, both feed the price, and break even tells you the volume that price has to be sold at. Working them in that sequence builds a number from the ground up. Working them in isolation gives you five figures that do not reconcile.
If you only run one, run labor burden. Pricing from a bare wage rather than a burdened hour is the most common and most expensive arithmetic error in the trade, and every other figure on this page inherits it.
What these will not do
They will not store your rates, produce a document, or send anything to a customer. That is the paid product, which runs in a browser, is free for your first 3 quotes and needs no card. The calculators here are free and stay free.
Frequently asked questions
What is labor burden and why does it matter?
It is everything you pay for a painter beyond the wage: payroll taxes, insurance, holiday and sick pay, training, travel and every paid hour that is not billable. Pricing off the bare wage means every hour you sell loses the difference, and you will not see it until the year is over.
Do I add my overhead percentage to the job cost?
Not if it is expressed as a share of revenue. A share of revenue is divided into the cost rather than added to it, because it is a slice of the final price rather than a slice of the cost. Adding it leaves you short, and the shortfall grows as jobs get bigger.
What is the difference between markup and margin?
Markup is calculated on your cost. Margin is the share of the final price you keep. The same intention produces two different numbers depending on which you use, which is why applying a markup while thinking in margin quietly underprices work. The markup vs margin calculator converts between them.
How do I set a minimum job charge?
Total the costs that do not shrink with the job: travel, scoping, set up, pack down, cleaning and the admin from quote to payment, all at your burdened rate. Add the overhead the job should carry for the capacity it really uses, add materials, then add profit. It is a price, not a break even figure.
Should I use published production rates?
Only as a starting point. Published figures describe someone else’s crew, methods and job mix. Deriving your own from hours and areas you have already recorded gives you rates that match your business, and that is the difference between estimates that hold and estimates that drift.
Are these tools free?
Yes. All of them run in your browser, with no signup and no email address, and that is not going to change. The paid product is a separate quoting tool that stores your rates and produces a branded document to send to a customer.
Which of these should I run first?
Labor burden. Every other figure here builds on the cost of an hour, so if that is wrong because it was taken from the bare wage, the overhead recovery, the price and the break even are all wrong with it.
Do these tools save my numbers?
No. Each answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab. Nothing is stored and no account is involved. If you want your rates held and turned into a sendable quote, that is the paid product.