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Who uses this: An Admin sets item markups and the company-wide default markup in Company Settings; the person building an estimate or invoice applies a markup or margin on that record. Availability: All regions.
A markup is a percentage FieldPulse adds to an item’s unit cost to work out the unit price the customer sees. Enter the cost of a product or service along with a markup — or a target margin — and FieldPulse determines the price on the estimate or invoice for you. That gives you a consistent margin on your jobs and tells you how profitable a project will be.

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Overview

FieldPulse prices a line item from its unit cost in three ways, and you can use them together:
  • Automatic markup on a single item — set a markup percentage on one item in your Item List so its unit price is generated from its unit cost.
  • Company-wide default markup — set one default markup percentage that is pre-filled whenever you put an item on automatic markup.
  • Markup or margin on a record — apply a markup, or hit a target margin, across every line item on one estimate or invoice.
Markup and margin are related but not the same. A markup is a percentage added on top of cost, so a 50% markup applied to $198 of cost produces a $297 total. A margin is the percentage of the final price that is profit, so a 50% margin on that same $198 of cost produces a $396 total. FieldPulse accepts either number and prices each line to match.
If you have not entered unit costs on your line items, FieldPulse cannot generate a markup or a margin for them.

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Video walkthrough

This video walks through markups and margins in FieldPulse.

Watch the markups & margins walkthrough

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Before you begin

  • Enter a unit cost on every line item you want to mark up. Without a unit cost, FieldPulse cannot calculate a markup or a margin.
  • Decide whether you want a markup on individual items, one company-wide default markup, or both.

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Set an automatic markup on a single item

An automatic markup generates that item’s unit price from its unit cost, and keeps the price in step with the cost as the cost changes.
  1. Go to Company Settings > Estimates & Invoices > Item List.
  2. Select Create Item to add a new item, or select the edit icon on an existing item. The Item List subtab under Estimates & Invoices in Company Settings, with the Create Item button and an item's edit icon highlighted
  3. In the Unit Price field, select the square-with-an-arrow icon to open Price Update Method.
  4. Select Automatic Markup and enter the Automatic Markup Percentage.
  5. Select Save on the Price Update Method pop-up. The Price Update Method pop-up on the Add New Item panel, with Automatic Markup checked and an Automatic Markup Percentage of 10 entered
  6. Enter the rest of the item details and select Save Item.
The unit cost now generates the unit price, and the Unit Price field shows the markup that is set — a $10 unit cost with a 50% markup gives a $15.00 unit price. If the unit cost changes in the future, the unit price is updated as well. Repeat this for any other line items you want to mark up. The Add New Item panel showing a $10 Unit Cost producing a $15.00 Unit Price, labelled markup set at 50%

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Set a company-wide default markup

A company-wide default markup is one markup percentage that is pre-filled every time you put a line item on automatic markup, so you don’t retype the same number on each item.
  1. Go to Company Settings > Estimates & Invoices > Advanced. The Advanced subtab under Estimates & Invoices in Company Settings, showing the Advanced Invoice Settings page
  2. Turn Enable Automatic Markup on.
  3. Enter the Default Markup Percentage you want applied automatically.
  4. Select Save.
Advanced Invoice Settings with Enable Automatic Markup set to Yes, a Default Markup Percentage of 10, and the Save button highlighted When you create a new line item or edit an existing one after this, select the square-with-an-arrow icon in the Unit Price field and choose Automatic Markup — your default markup percentage is already entered. Select Save.

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Apply a markup or margin to an estimate or invoice

Applying a markup or margin on an estimate or invoice reprices every line item on that record at once, instead of item by item.
  1. Add your line items to the estimate or invoice.
  2. Select Apply Markup/Margin. An invoice record's line items with the Apply Markup/Margin option highlighted below the item list
  3. Select Apply a markup of and enter the markup percentage, or select Achieve a margin of and enter the margin percentage. The new estimate or invoice total appears in the bottom-left of the pop-up.
    The Markup/Margin pop-up with Apply a markup of 50% selected and a new total of $297.00
    The Markup/Margin pop-up with Achieve a margin of 50% selected and a new total of $396.00
  4. Select Confirm.
Any selection you make here overwrites the item prices on all items in the estimate or invoice.
After you select Confirm, FieldPulse recalculates each line’s unit price from its unit cost, and the unit prices and total prices are adjusted to the markup or margin you applied. The invoice line items after confirming a 50% margin, with unit prices and totals recalculated from each item's unit cost

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FAQs

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If I update the Unit Cost on a line item directly on an estimate or invoice, will the Unit Price recalculate?

No. Changing the Unit Cost on a line item within an estimate or invoice does not update the Unit Price automatically. Select Automatic Markup on that line item again for the unit price to be recalculated from the updated unit cost. Your markups are working when you enter a unit cost and FieldPulse fills in the customer’s unit price for you, and applying a markup or margin on a record reprices every line to the percentage you entered.