ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area How much to mark up materials for billing

Starting to work on my own and not sure about how much to mark up materials I buy to do jobs. Someone recommended 30%. Does that sound right? Any info would be helpful!

welcome Douglas.

I think it depends on the materials, i've noticed that lighting fixtures get marked up a lot more than say, romex.....

I agree with Sparky. It depends on the customer and how well I bought the item. I'm going to mark anything up at least 10%, but if I got a good deal on a circuit breaker (say $10 for a normal retail $35) I would charge 20% over normal retail making my actual mark up 420%. I am always willing to load up on any item I know I will use eventually if the price is right. I just bought 100 GE 20 amp breakers because I could get them for $.70 ea.

20-30% is usually good, depending on your overhead.