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Markup & Profit: A Contractor's Guide
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 by Michael C. Stone
Back Cover
At last, a book on how to figure the right markup for a construction company! Construction contracting businesses have the highest rate of failure of any type of business in America today. Why? Because too many contractors undercharge for their work. They don't calculate their true costs of doing business, they don't consider their investment of capital, and they don't allow for "surprises." In other words, they don't work out how much they need to have left over after covering all their costs to make sure they stay in business.
In this guide, Michael Stone, a highly-successful contractor, lecturer and consultant, explains the importance of setting your own markup - and not just picking a markup figure that someone else uses, or a number you found in an estimating book! Every business is unique, with different labor costs, different overhead costs, different profit requirements - so their markup should be different, too. Mr. Stone gives you the background and calculations you need to correctly figure markup based on your individual business. He writes in simple layman's language and includes examples, formulas and sample problems to help you. When you've read this book, you'll thoroughly understand what markup is and how to arrive at it. And just as important, you'll know how and why you should apply it to your job costs to arrive at the right sales price for your work. And that's the secret to success in this industry.
Mr. Stone reviews the basics of what it takes to survive in the construction business. You'll learn how to :
- Calculate your full overhead
- Price your work at the proper markup
- Forecast increases in your overhead
- Set and keep a budget
- Figure all your job costs
- Sell yourself and your work
- Estimate your break-even point
- Recognize an unprofitable job
- Compute a fair wage for yourself
- Write a good contract
This book gives you the key to operating a profitable, contracting business - figuring and using the correct markup on every job. It gives the simple mathematical principles and formulas that you can use, regardless of the type of work you do. Learn from the book yourself, and then use it to train your sales staff, in marketing techniques and calculating markup on their sales.  Use the sample problems in the back of the book to test your own understanding, and to check your employees' grasp of how to figure markup.
To help you keep your company organized, the book includes sample worksheets and sales contracts, lead sheets, subcontract forms, notification forms, job schedules, checklists, and other blank forms. Add your company's name, address, or logo, then photocopy them as you need them. Or, use the FREE CD-ROM included inside the back cover. Open the forms you need in Word, WordPerfect or Word for Macintosh, change them to suit your needs, fill them out, then print.
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