How to price a job so it still makes money

Start with direct cost. Labor hours multiplied by the fully burdened hourly cost, plus materials at what you pay today, plus any subcontracted work at its quoted price. Burdened means wage plus payroll taxes, insurance and the time you pay for that is not on the roof.

Add overhead as a percentage. Trucks, phones, software, the person who answers it, insurance and the estimate you did not win are all real. Divide last year's overhead by last year's revenue and use that number until you have a better one.

Then apply margin, not markup. Margin is profit divided by price, so a 33% margin needs a 50% markup on cost. Confusing the two is the most common quiet leak in a service business.

Finally, sanity-check per hour. Divide the price by crew hours. If the job leaves less per hour than your worst recurring contract, the price is wrong regardless of what the spreadsheet says.