How do you calculate quote margin?

Subtract your fully loaded job cost from the quoted price to get the absolute margin, then divide by your price basis. A $125 quote on $100 cost gives $25 margin, or 25 percent.

What is a good margin on a refractory relining quote?

Contractors typically target 20 to 35 percent on labor-heavy relining work, more on emergency call-outs. The 25 percent in this example sits in a healthy range for planned work.

Should margin be measured on price or cost?

Margin percent uses the selling price as the basis, as shown here. Markup uses cost as the basis. A 25 percent margin on price is a 33 percent markup on cost, so be clear which you are quoting.

What does the reference basis input do?

It sets the denominator for the percentage. Enter the quoted price for a true margin, or enter cost if you actually want a markup figure. Here the basis is 100, giving 25 percent.

Why is my margin thinner than expected on lining jobs?

Material price swings, crew standby during furnace cooldown, and patch re-work all erode margin. If those are not in your job cost input, the calculated margin is optimistic.

How do I hit a target margin from a known cost?

Divide your cost by one minus the target margin. To make 25 percent on a $100 cost job, quote $133, not $125, which only yields the 25 percent shown here because the basis was 100.

Refractories, Furnace Linings & Foundry Consumables calculator

Quote Margin Calculator

Quote Margin shows the profit built into a refractory relining or gunning quote as both a dollar figure and a percentage. Estimators and sales engineers at refractory contractors use it to confirm a bid clears their required margin before it goes out the door, since lining jobs carry volatile material and crew costs. Because a fixed-price outage bid leaves no room to recover a bad estimate, knowing your margin percent against the quoted price is the difference between a profitable campaign and a job you lose money on. This calculator returns the absolute margin and the margin percent against your chosen reference basis.

What this calculator does

Quote Margin shows the profit built into a refractory relining or gunning quote as both a dollar figure and a percentage.
Use it when quote margin in refractories, furnace linings and foundry consumables needs a clean margin number for a refractories, furnace linings and foundry consumables go / no-go review.
It computes the margin as quoted price minus job cost, then divides that margin by your reference basis to express it as a percentage.

Formula used

Quote Margin margin = available value - required value
Margin percent = margin ÷ reference value

Inputs explained

Quoted price to customer:
Fully loaded lining job cost:
Quoted price basis for margin:

How to use the result

Use it while finalizing a fixed-price relining, gunning or patch quote to verify it meets your target margin before submitting.
It uses the cost you enter; if your fully loaded job cost omits waste, re-work, or crew standby, the real margin will be thinner than the number shown.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for steel mill products stands at 348.53 (BLS, May 2026), up 6.7% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move.
Industrial electricity averages 8.66 cents per kWh across the U.S. (EIA, Apr 2026), up 5.5% from a year earlier. Energy-intensive steps carry this directly into unit cost.
The U.S. has 3,569 primary metal manufacturing establishments employing about 354,911 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

How do you calculate quote margin? Subtract your fully loaded job cost from the quoted price to get the absolute margin, then divide by your price basis. A $125 quote on $100 cost gives $25 margin, or 25 percent.
What is a good margin on a refractory relining quote? Contractors typically target 20 to 35 percent on labor-heavy relining work, more on emergency call-outs. The 25 percent in this example sits in a healthy range for planned work.
Should margin be measured on price or cost? Margin percent uses the selling price as the basis, as shown here. Markup uses cost as the basis. A 25 percent margin on price is a 33 percent markup on cost, so be clear which you are quoting.
What does the reference basis input do? It sets the denominator for the percentage. Enter the quoted price for a true margin, or enter cost if you actually want a markup figure. Here the basis is 100, giving 25 percent.
Why is my margin thinner than expected on lining jobs? Material price swings, crew standby during furnace cooldown, and patch re-work all erode margin. If those are not in your job cost input, the calculated margin is optimistic.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.