Job cost vs selling price

The cost of a job and the price on the quote are different documents that happen to describe the same visit. Mixing them is how a sensible hourly rate still produces a weak job.

Internal cost includes the materials you expect to use, with waste, the hours at the cost to the business, parking and disposal you pay, hire, permits, and what a subcontractor charges you. Overhead allocated to the job is part of that cost as well. None of those numbers need to appear on the customer PDF.

The selling price is what you ask the customer to pay before tax: material selling values, labour at the customer rate, charges you choose to pass on, call-out and any uplift, after discount. You can show that as one figure, as groups of work, or as lines with quantities and selling prices. A detailed layout should still add up to the quoted price. If you set a target price by hand, the customer-facing lines are scaled so the subtotal matches, without revealing the costs underneath.

A useful habit is to finish the cost before you read the price. If the only number you remember is the total the customer sees, you cannot tell whether the job funds the van. Check a simple job here, then build the real quote in the app where the customer copy and the internal copy stay apart.