Educational only: Business decision support, not accounting, tax or legal advice.
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Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: Market-neutral small-business planning using your own assumptions.
What this planner helps you decide
Best for
Service businesses comparing an original quote with actual job delivery costs.
Outputs
Actual margin, cost overrun and the future price needed to restore target margin.
Start here
Enter estimated and actual costs in matching categories, then investigate the largest variance.
Use a different tool when: Do not use this to price construction scope changes with sequencing, delay, subcontractor and retention effects; use Construction Change Order Pricing Planner for that decision. Use this tool to compare quoted and actual job economics and identify overruns.
Decision pack · Step 3 of 5
Quote to Cash
Connect a viable service rate to a scoped quote, realised job margin, collection cost and short-term cash forecast.
- 1. Set the service rate
- 2. Build the project quote
- 3. Review realised margin
- 4. Price the collection delay
- 5. Forecast short-term cash
Current decision: Where did actual labour, materials or overhead differ from the estimate?
Next: Quantify the cost of waiting for payment.Quote & capacity
Job Costing & Margin: actual margin
Actual margin, cost overrun and the future price needed to restore target margin.
Amounts use the same currency as your inputs. No currency conversion is performed.
Owner presets
Load an illustrative trade configuration. These editable examples are not market-rate benchmarks.
Quoted and actual job assumptions
Compare job costs excluding indirect tax using one consistent allocation basis.
Your numbers stay in this browser
Agreed or proposed job price.
Hours allowed in the quote.
Hours used to deliver the job.
Internal delivery cost, not customer rate.
Materials allowed in the quote.
Materials actually used.
Margin to restore in a future quote.
Subcontractor, travel and overhead costsOpen the assumptions you are less likely to change on every comparison.
Subcontractor allowance.
Actual subcontractor cost.
Travel cost allowance.
Actual travel cost.
Overhead allocated to the job.
Updated overhead allocation.
Job cost reconciliation
Quoted and actual economics, excluding indirect tax.
PDF and CSV exports stay on this device. Clean page links contain no inputs.
Estimated and actual cost breakdown
Labour uses the same cost per hour for estimate and actual, so labour variance reflects hours only.
| Cost component | Estimated | Actual | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 10,000.00 | 12,000.00 | 2,000.00 |
| Materials | 3,000.00 | 3,500.00 | 500.00 |
| Subcontractors | 1,000.00 | 1,500.00 | 500.00 |
| Overhead | 2,000.00 | 2,000.00 | 0.00 |
| Other costs (travel) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Total job cost | 16,000.00 | 19,000.00 | 3,000.00 |
Scenario comparison
Each row names the assumption axis changed from the baseline.
ScenarioResultDifference
Estimated job cost16,000.00Baseline
Actual job cost19,000.003,000.00
Future price at target margin23,750.004,750.00
Save these results, change an input, then compare the updated figures with this baseline.
The baseline is temporary in this tab and is not added to shared scenario links or generated reports.
Calculation details
View calculation detailsView the formulas and inputs used for these results.
Actual job margin
Actual job margin
(quoted price − actual cost) ÷ quoted price5%Result5%
Percentage of the quoted ex-indirect tax job price retained after actual job cost. The engine retains raw precision; the registered formatter rounds only the displayed result.
Review the job-margin formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Actual job marginQuoted Price
- 20,000
- Actual job marginActual Cost
- 19,000
Actual job profit
Actual job profit
quoted price − actual cost1,000/job ex indirect taxResult1,000.00
per job, excluding indirect tax. The engine retains raw precision; the registered formatter rounds only the displayed result.
Review the job-profit formula →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Actual job profitQuoted Price
- 20,000
- Actual job profitActual Cost
- 19,000
Cost overrun
Estimated job cost
estimated labour + materials + subcontractors + travel + overhead16,000/job ex indirect taxActual job cost
actual labour + materials + subcontractors + travel + overhead19,000/job ex indirect taxLabour cost variance
actual labour hours × shared labour cost per hour − estimated labour hours × shared labour cost per hour2,000/job ex indirect taxMaterials cost variance
actual component cost − estimated component cost500/job ex indirect taxSubcontractors cost variance
actual component cost − estimated component cost500/job ex indirect taxOverhead cost variance
actual component cost − estimated component cost0/job ex indirect taxOther costs (travel) cost variance
actual component cost − estimated component cost0/job ex indirect taxCost overrun
actual cost − estimated cost3,000/job ex indirect taxResult3,000.00
Actual cost less estimated cost, per job and excluding indirect tax. Positive is an overrun, negative is an underrun and zero is on estimate. The engine retains raw precision; the registered formatter rounds only the displayed result.
Review the cost-reconciliation formulas →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Estimated job costEstimated Labour
- 10,000
- Estimated job costMaterials
- 3,000
- Estimated job costSubcontractors
- 1,000
- Estimated job costTravel
- 0
- Estimated job costOverhead
- 2,000
- Actual job costActual Labour
- 12,000
- Actual job costMaterials
- 3,500
- Actual job costSubcontractors
- 1,500
- Actual job costTravel
- 0
- Actual job costOverhead
- 2,000
- Labour cost varianceEstimated
- 10,000
- Labour cost varianceActual
- 12,000
- Materials cost varianceEstimated
- 3,000
- Materials cost varianceActual
- 3,500
- Subcontractors cost varianceEstimated
- 1,000
- Subcontractors cost varianceActual
- 1,500
- Overhead cost varianceEstimated
- 2,000
- Overhead cost varianceActual
- 2,000
- Other costs (travel) cost varianceEstimated
- 0
- Other costs (travel) cost varianceActual
- 0
- Cost overrunActual Cost
- 19,000
- Cost overrunEstimated Cost
- 16,000
Largest overrun driver
Largest overrun driver
largest positive component cost variancelabourResultlabour
Component with the largest positive actual-versus-estimated cost variance. Driver selection uses raw component deltas; the text result does not introduce numeric rounding.
Review the component-variance method →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Largest overrun driverLabour
- 2,000
- Largest overrun driverMaterials
- 500
- Largest overrun driverSubcontractors
- 500
- Largest overrun driverTravel
- 0
- Largest overrun driverOverhead
- 0
Future price at target margin
Future price at target margin
actual cost ÷ (1 − target margin)23,750/job ex indirect taxResult23,750.00
per future job, excluding indirect tax, if actual cost repeats. The engine retains raw precision; the registered formatter rounds only the displayed result.
Review the target-margin price formula →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Future price at target marginActual Cost
- 19,000
- Future price at target marginTarget Margin
- 0.2
Future price change
Future price at target margin
actual cost ÷ (1 − target margin)23,750/job ex indirect taxFuture price change
future price − quoted price3,750/job ex indirect taxResult3,750.00
Future target-margin price less the current quoted price, excluding indirect tax. The engine retains raw precision; the registered formatter rounds only the displayed result.
Review the future-price change formula →Inputs used by these formula steps
- Future price at target marginActual Cost
- 19,000
- Future price at target marginTarget Margin
- 0.2
- Future price changeFuture Price
- 23,750
- Future price changeQuoted Price
- 20,000
Inputs used
- Quoted price, excluding indirect tax
- 20,000.00
- Estimated labour hours
- 100
- Actual labour hours
- 120
- Labour cost per hour
- 100.00
- Estimated materials
- 3,000.00
- Actual materials
- 3,500.00
- Estimated subcontractors
- 1,000.00
- Actual subcontractors
- 1,500.00
- Estimated travel
- 0.00
- Actual travel
- 0.00
- Estimated allocated overhead
- 2,000.00
- Actual allocated overhead
- 2,000.00
- Future target margin
- 20%
Open this calculator with preset values
This calculator supports documented, shareable scenario URLs. Compatible assistants and applications can construct links using the parameters below.
Scenario links contain only allowlisted numeric and closed-choice inputs shown in the URL; Margin101 excludes free text and identifying fields. Anyone you share the URL with can read those numbers, so do not include private or identifying data.
| Parameter | Meaning | Unit | Allowed values | Presence | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| actualLabourHours | Hours used to deliver the job. | hours/job | 0 to 100000 | Required | 120 |
| actualMaterials | Materials actually used. | currency units/job | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 3500 |
| actualOverhead | Updated overhead allocation. | currency units/job | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 2000 |
| actualSubcontractors | Actual subcontractor cost. | currency units/job | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 1500 |
| actualTravel | Actual travel cost. | currency units/job | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 0 |
| estimatedLabourHours | Hours allowed in the quote. | hours/job | 0 to 100000 | Required | 100 |
| estimatedMaterials | Materials allowed in the quote. | currency units/job | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 3000 |
| estimatedOverhead | Overhead allocated to the job. | currency units/job | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 2000 |
| estimatedSubcontractors | Subcontractor allowance. | currency units/job | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 1000 |
| estimatedTravel | Travel cost allowance. | currency units/job | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 0 |
| labourCostPerHour | Internal delivery cost, not customer rate. | currency units/labour hour | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 100 |
| quotedPrice | Agreed or proposed job price. | currency units/job, ex indirect tax | 0 to 10000000 | Required | 20000 |
| targetMargin | Margin to restore in a future quote. | proportion of future job price retained as contribution | 0 to 0.95 | Required | 0.2 |
Job Costing & Margin: actual margin
Use the estimate-versus-actual result to improve the next quote rather than trying to recover a completed-job variance.
Formula summary
- Primary formula
- actual job margin = (quoted price − actual job cost) ÷ quoted price
Data used here
- The estimate uses your inputs and the general business formula documented in the methodology.
Decision checks
Act on the result
Investigate the largest cost overrun and update the corresponding labour, material or overhead allowance.
Stress-test the decision
Retest the future price with a realistic contingency and the actual delivery cost pattern from comparable jobs.
When this estimate can be misleading
- This is a job-level planning view, not bookkeeping or a cash-flow statement.
- All commercial amounts exclude indirect tax and use your own cost allocations.
- It does not model payroll, awards, tax, debt collection, warranties or demand.
- Use the estimate-versus-actual result to improve the next quote rather than trying to recover a completed-job variance.
Educational estimate, not advice. See all assumptions & limitations →
Related reading
Guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- Job Costing: Estimate, Track and Review Margin
Compare estimated and actual labour, materials, subcontractors and overhead, then choose the next pricing or delivery action.
Read guide - How to Cost Labour and Materials in a Service Quote
Keep labour, materials, subcontractors and allocated overhead visible without counting the same cost twice.
Read guide - What to Review When Service Costs Rise
Re-cost actual work, isolate the changed input and decide whether to revise scope, rate, process or capacity.
Read guide - Job Costing Estimate-v-Actual Worksheet
Capture estimated and actual job costs on one basis and reconcile variances without double counting.
Read guide - How to Decide Whether to Bid on a Low-Margin Job
Separate job contribution from capacity, cash timing, strategic value and downside risk before deciding whether to bid.
Read guide - How to Compare Crew Sizes for Job Profitability
Compare matched crew records by worker-hours, accepted output, loaded labour cost and contribution without asserting an ideal crew size.
Read guide - Direct, Indirect, Variable and Fixed Costs for Decisions
Classify traceability and cost behaviour separately against a named object, activity driver, period and relevant range.
Read guide - Cost per Job, Order or Customer: Pick the Denominator
Match the denominator to the cost pool and decision, reconcile total cost and avoid comparing unlike per-object figures.
Read guide
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare quoted and actual job economics and identify overruns?
Investigate the largest cost overrun and update the corresponding labour, material or overhead allowance.
Is the future price a recommendation?
No. It is the mathematical price for your entered actual cost and target margin.
Does this replace job accounting?
No. Reconcile final records with your accounting system and adviser where appropriate.
Which planning assumptions should I stress-test?
Compare a plausible alternative scenario and verify the decision-critical assumption that changes the plan most.