Pricing & Revenue Playbook for General Contractors Companies
Price your project management, not just the trades. Coordination is what clients are paying a GC for.
Written by Jonathan Blake, from 25,000+ doors knocked and 1,000+ jobs closed. Updated October 2026.
TL;DR — Too Long; Didn't Read
Many GCs mark up subcontractor bids and forget to charge for what they actually provide: management, scheduling, supervision and risk. Price general conditions properly, bill on a draw schedule, and protect margin with clear contracts.
- Price general conditions: supervision, permits, insurance, cleanup, dumpsters.
- Add overhead and profit on top of subcontractor and material costs.
- Choose fixed price or cost-plus for each project type deliberately.
- Bill on a draw schedule tied to completed work.
- Track job costs weekly, not after the job is over.
Bottom line: Charge for running the job, and watch the numbers while it's running.
A GC who prices only the trades is working for free on the hardest part of the job: keeping everything on schedule, solving problems and dealing with inspectors.
General Conditions
- Project supervision and management time.
- Permits, plans and inspections.
- Insurance and bonding.
- Dumpsters, portable toilets and temporary protection.
- Final cleaning.
Contract price = (subcontractors + materials + self-performed labor + general conditions) × (1 + overhead and profit markup)
Fixed Price or Cost-Plus
Fixed price rewards efficient GCs on well-defined scopes. Cost-plus fits projects with unknowns, like old houses or open design. Pick deliberately and explain why to the client.
Draw Schedules
Tie payments to completed milestones: foundation, framing, dry-in, rough inspections, drywall, finishes. Cash stays ahead of costs, and the client pays for progress they can see.
Weekly Job Costing
Compare actual costs to budget every week. Finding an overrun in week three lets you fix it. Finding it at closeout just tells you what you lost.
Common General Contractors Pricing & Revenue Mistakes
Funding projects with your own cash
The fix: Use deposits and progress billing.
Not tracking job costs
The fix: Track costs weekly against the budget.
Underpricing supervision
The fix: Include supervision and project management in every bid.
Copy-and-Use Script: Progress billing schedule
Swap the bracketed parts for your own details.
- Deposit: [x]%
- Foundation: [x]%
- Framing: [x]%
- Drywall: [x]%
- Completion: [x]%
Run your numbers
Job Pricing Calculator
Price from your real costs and target margin, then show the monthly payment next to it.
Prefilled with typical general contractors numbers. Change any of them to yours.
- Direct job cost
- $28,000
- Cost with overhead
- $32,200
- Gross profit on the job
- $18,000
- Monthly payment to show
- $977/mo
A planning tool. Defaults are starting assumptions, not guarantees.
The basics behind this playbook
Implementation Plan
This month
- Build a general conditions checklist
- Set your overhead and profit markup
Every contract
- Choose fixed or cost-plus deliberately
- Set a draw schedule
Every week
- Review job cost against budget
Pricing & Revenue Self-Assessment
Check off what your general contractors business already does. Your score and next three moves update as you go.
- General conditions priced
- Overhead and profit markup set
- Contract type chosen deliberately
Saved in this browser only.
Key Takeaways
- 1Clients pay GCs for coordination, so price it
- 2General conditions are real costs
- 3Pick fixed price or cost-plus on purpose
- 4Draws should follow visible progress
- 5Weekly job costing catches overruns early
General Contractors Pricing & Revenue FAQ
What margin should a GC target?
How do GCs protect profit?
Should GCs bill progress payments?
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