What a cost profile contains
Each profile defines markup percentages across four cost categories:- Materials — Applied to line items linked to your materials catalog
- Labor — Applied to loaded labor costs (base wage + burden)
- Equipment — Applied to hourly or daily equipment rates
- Subcontractors — Applied to subcontractor line items
Create a cost profile
1
Open Cost Profiles
In the sidebar, go to Costs > Cost Profiles.
2
Create a new profile
Click New Profile.
3
Name the profile
Give it a name that reflects its intended use — for example,
Residential Standard, Commercial Rates, Competitive Bid, or Cost Plus.4
Set markup by category
Enter markup percentages for each cost category:
- Materials markup %
- Labor markup %
- Equipment markup %
- Subcontractor markup %
5
Add overhead and profit
Set the overhead % and profit margin % that apply on top of the marked-up subtotals.
6
Add category overrides (optional)
If a specific material or labor category needs a different markup rate from the default, add a category override. For example, you might apply a higher markup to specialty electrical materials than to general lumber.
7
Save
Click Save. The profile is now available to apply to any estimate.
Apply a profile to an estimate
1
Open the estimate
Go to the estimate you want to price.
2
Select a cost profile
In the estimate header, open the Cost Profile dropdown and select the profile you want to use.
3
Review the updated totals
Line item pricing and the estimate total adjust automatically. All markup, overhead, and profit from the profile are reflected in the displayed sell prices.
How the markup calculation works
Markup layers are applied sequentially. For a material line item with a $100 base cost, a 20% material markup, 10% overhead, and 15% profit margin:
The stacking order (markup → overhead → profit) is fixed. If you prefer a flat compound markup instead, contact support to discuss profile configuration options.
Default vs. custom profiles
Your organization has one default profile that is automatically applied to every new estimate. You can change the default at any time from the Cost Profiles list. Custom profiles are available whenever an estimate needs a different pricing strategy — for example, a one-off government bid that requires cost-plus pricing, or a premium project where you’re carrying a higher profit margin.Default profile
Applied automatically to new estimates. Set this to your most common markup structure to reduce setup time on every new job.
Custom profiles
Create as many as you need for different project types, clients, or competitive conditions. Switch between them on any estimate without restriction.
Common profile configurations
Cost profiles and division pricing
If your organization uses division-level pricing overrides on materials, labor, or equipment, those division costs serve as the base cost before your cost profile markup is applied. The profile markup percentage is applied on top of whatever unit cost the division pricing returns — not on top of the organization default. This means division pricing and cost profiles stack multiplicatively, so review your effective sell price when combining both.
Next steps
Estimates
Apply cost profiles when building or reviewing an estimate.
Materials
Review the material costs your profiles mark up.
Labor
Understand how loaded labor costs interact with profile markup.
Divisions
Configure division-level cost overrides that feed into profiles.