MARGENTRA™ is a practical Excel pricing and job-profitability system built for small contractors and trades businesses. Calculate what a job really costs, protect your target margin, test discounts and cost overruns, price change orders — and compare your estimates with what actually happened.
You can win the job. Keep your crew busy. Invoice the customer. Get paid. And still discover that the job made far less money than you expected.
The problem often starts before the work even begins — and by the time you discover it, the price may already be agreed.
MARGENTRA isn't just a basic margin calculator. It gives you a structured workflow for pricing and reviewing jobs.
Calculate a billed labor rate using the real business cost of labor and productive hours.
Enter recurring business overhead and calculate how much needs to be recovered per job and per billable hour.
Build the financial side of a quote using labor, materials, equipment, subcontractors, other direct costs and overhead. See the underlying cost, required quote, expected profit and expected margin.
See how a requested discount affects expected profit before agreeing to it.
Stress-test your quote: labor takes longer, materials cost more, the customer asks for a discount — or several problems happen at the same time.
Price additional work before doing it. Calculate the underlying cost, the minimum price at your target margin and the resulting margin.
Record completed jobs and compare estimated results with actual revenue and actual costs.
Key pricing and profitability information in one place — including current quote risk, actual profit, portfolio margin, profit variance and jobs below target margin.
Set your target margin and business assumptions once, then follow the built-in Quick Start workflow and guidance.
And confusing them can cost real money. Imagine your total job cost is €8,000 and you add 25% markup.
€8,000 cost plus 25% markup. Expected profit: €2,000.
€2,000 profit on €10,000 of revenue — not the 25% you had in mind.
About €667 difference, on a single quote.
MARGENTRA calculates pricing from the target margin, so you can see the difference before sending your price.
Quotes are estimates. Reality changes. Labor may take longer, materials may increase in cost, a customer may ask for a discount. MARGENTRA's What-If tool lets you test those scenarios before they happen.
Instead of asking “I think we'll still make money…” you can check the numbers.
A customer asks: “Can you give me 10% off?” Ten percent off the selling price doesn't necessarily mean ten percent less profit — the impact on profit can be much larger. MARGENTRA shows the expected profit lost to the discount before you agree to it. Then the decision is yours.
“While you're here, could you also…?” Small extras can become unpaid work. Enter the additional labor, materials, equipment, subcontractor costs and other direct costs, and calculate the minimum price required for your target margin. Price the extra before you do the extra.
Estimating gets more useful when you compare it with reality. After a job is completed, MARGENTRA lets you record actual revenue and actual costs. That gives you evidence you can use when reviewing future assumptions — instead of repeatedly guessing.
The MARGENTRA Owner Dashboard brings together key information in one place:
| Current quote | Recommended quote · target margin · expected profit · markup/margin risk |
|---|---|
| Discounting | Requested discount · profit lost to discount |
| Cost basis | Labor billed rate · overhead per job |
| Risk | Worst What-If result |
| Completed work | Completed jobs · actual revenue · actual profit · change-order revenue |
| Portfolio | Portfolio margin · profit variance vs estimate · jobs below target margin |
If you quote jobs involving labor, materials and overhead, MARGENTRA is designed to help you make the pricing math clearer.
Enter your target margin and basic business assumptions.
Use your actual labor costs and productive hours.
Calculate the overhead that needs to be recovered.
Enter the job-specific numbers. MARGENTRA calculates the underlying cost and the required selling price.
Test discounts, labor overruns and material cost increases.
Use the Change Order Pricer before additional work begins.
After the job, enter the actual numbers.
Compare estimates with completed-job results and use that information when preparing future quotes.
MARGENTRA is an Excel-based digital product. No mandatory monthly MARGENTRA subscription. No mandatory AI subscription. No paid API is required for the workbook's core calculations.
MARGENTRA's core calculations are performed inside the workbook. There is no requirement to send every quote and business cost to MARGENTRA servers for those calculations.
There is a single purchase option. Everything listed below is included — there is no upgraded tier, no add-on and no recurring charge of any kind.
Secure payment by card, PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay, depending on your region. Prices are shown excluding tax; VAT or sales tax is calculated and displayed at checkout based on your billing country.
We want you to know exactly what you're buying. MARGENTRA is a focused pricing and job-profitability system — and nothing more than that.
Imagine an estimating or pricing mistake costs your business €200. It only needs to happen once for that amount to be many times the purchase price.
MARGENTRA cannot guarantee that it will prevent every mistake or increase your profits. What it gives you is a structured way to check the pricing math, test risks and review results — before you commit to the price.
No. MARGENTRA is a pricing and job-profitability decision-support workbook. It doesn't replace professional accounting, bookkeeping, tax, legal or financial advice.
You don't need to be an accountant to use the workbook. MARGENTRA provides a structured workflow and performs its built-in calculations from the figures you enter.
No. It includes labor-rate calculation, overhead recovery, quote building, margin control, discount analysis, What-If scenarios, change-order pricing, completed-job tracking and an owner dashboard.
AI is not required for the core product, and you do not need ChatGPT. The core calculations are performed inside the Excel workbook.
No mandatory monthly MARGENTRA subscription is required for the core product. MARGENTRA costs , one time.
MARGENTRA is an Excel workbook and requires a compatible version of Microsoft Excel.
Yes. The What-If section lets you test labor changes, material-cost changes and discounts, and see their projected impact on profit and margin.
Yes. The Change Order Pricer is designed to calculate the underlying cost and margin of additional work before it is performed.
Yes. The Jobs section lets you record completed-job information so estimated and actual performance can be reviewed.
No. MARGENTRA performs calculations based on the information and assumptions you enter. Actual job results can differ.
Immediately. As soon as your payment is confirmed you are shown a download link on screen, and the same link is emailed to the address you enter at checkout. Delivery is normally instant and always within one hour. Full details are on our Delivery Policy page.
Your order is processed by Lemon Squeezy, our reseller and Merchant of Record. The charge shows as rather than our brand name.
Yes. Enter your company name and VAT or tax number at checkout and Lemon Squeezy issues a compliant invoice automatically. A copy is also included with the order confirmation emailed to you.
MARGENTRA is a business calculation and decision-support tool. It does not provide accounting, bookkeeping, tax, investment, legal or financial advice.
Calculations and projections depend on the accuracy and completeness of the information entered by the user. Actual job costs and profitability may differ because of changes in labor time, material prices, scope of work, unforeseen expenses and other factors.
Taxes and VAT are not calculated by the core model and must be handled according to the user's applicable jurisdiction and professional advice.
The user remains responsible for verifying all figures and for all pricing and business decisions. No specific amount of profit, revenue, savings or improvement in business performance is promised or guaranteed.
MARGENTRA™ — know your profit before you send the quote.
Pricing · Margin · Discounts · What-If · Change Orders · Actual Results