Why set pricing defaults?
Rather than entering your markup percentages and financial settings manually on every project, you can configure defaults that are applied automatically to every new job. You can still overtype any value on a specific project — the defaults simply give you a consistent starting point.
It is always quicker to adjust one or two boxes on a specific job than it is to fill in all six from scratch every time. Set your most common percentages as the defaults and tweak as needed.
Setting up default markup
- 1
Go to Tools > Miscellaneous File.
- 2
On the left-hand side, you will see the markup boxes for your trade platform:
- Mechanical — generic materials, labour, and further specialised material breakdowns.
- Electrical — materials and labour with electrical-specific headings.
- Ductwork — separate fields for bought-out materials and manufactured materials, so you can apply different percentages depending on whether you are buying or manufacturing.
- 3
Enter your standard markup percentages. For example:
- Materials markup: 20 %
- Labour markup: 50 % — if your cost rate is £20/hr and you sell at £30/hr, that is a 50 % uplift.
On the mechanical platform, you also have boxes for specialised materials (e.g. valves, equipment) which can carry a different percentage to your generic materials.
- 4
Click Exit to save.
How it works
When you create a new job and reach the summary table, your markup percentages are already pre-filled at the top. The system uses your cost rate and the markup percentage to calculate the selling rate automatically — for instance, a cost rate of £20/hr with a 50 % markup gives a selling rate of £30/hr.
You can still overtype any value for a specific project without affecting the defaults. The next new job you create will revert to the standard percentages.
Default markup percentages only affect new projects created after the change. Existing projects retain whatever settings were in place when they were created.