Understand product pricing
Your product cost is what you pay the supplier. Markup is the extra amount you add to that cost. In Programa, you enter markup as a percentage.
For example, a handle costs $125. A 20% markup adds $25. The client price is $150 before tax and shipping.
Use this guide to enter product costs, set client prices and check the final total.
1. Check tax before entering prices
Open the schedule’s … menu, then select Tax settings.
Or, open the "Settings" tab on the left-hand toolbar and navigate to the "Tax" section.
Check whether project prices include or exclude tax.
This setting determines the product price you enter. Check whether the supplier’s quote includes tax.
If the supplier quotes a price excluding tax:
Project setting | Price to enter |
Prices exclude tax | Enter the quoted price unchanged. Programa adds tax to the total. |
Prices include tax | Calculate the price with tax included before you enter it. |
Example: A supplier quotes $125 excluding tax for one handle. The applicable tax rate is 8%.
If project prices exclude tax, enter $125.
If project prices include tax, add $12.50 tax. Enter $137.50.
Need help with the calculation? Open the product tax calculator. Enter the supplier price and tax rate, then copy the price for your spec.
The remaining examples in this guide use prices excluding tax.
2. Open the Financial tab
You can edit product pricing from any view:
Open the product’s details.
Select Financial.
To see pricing in the working schedule:
View | Where to find pricing |
Classic | Open Display settings → Displayed fields. Select Financial. |
Sheet | Open Display settings → Displayed fields. Select the pricing columns you need. |
List | Open Display settings → Displayed fields. Select the pricing fields you need. List can show up to six selected fields. |
Card | Cards show one pricing field: Client price. You cannot change which pricing field appears. Select the price to open Financial. |
The instructions below use the Financial tab. In Sheet, you can also edit pricing cells directly.
The Financial tab follows the order you work out a price in:
Section | What it covers |
Product pricing | What one unit costs you, estimated shipping, how many you need and your product cost. |
Client pricing | Your markup, profit, client savings, client price and tax. |
Totals | The client price before tax, tax, shipping and client total. |
If you cannot access financial information, ask your studio owner to enable access.
3. Enter the product pricing
In Product pricing, enter the prices you have for one unit:
Field | What to enter |
Unit retail price | The recommended retail price for one item. |
Unit trade price | What you pay the supplier for one item, such as one handle. |
Trade discount | The supplier’s discount percentage, if you know it. |
Estimated shipping | The cost to ship every unit of this product in the project. |
In the US, suppliers commonly use MSRP: manufacturer’s suggested retail price. Enter this price in Unit retail price.
Programa uses Unit trade price to calculate cost. If Unit trade price is blank, Programa uses Unit retail price.
Blank and zero are different. A Unit trade price of 0 sets the cost to zero, even when Unit retail price contains a price.
If you know the supplier’s discount percentage, enter Unit retail price and the percentage in Trade discount. Programa calculates Unit trade price.
Add estimated shipping
Enter shipping once, for every unit of the product in the project. If shipping all four handles costs $40, enter $40.
Programa does not add markup or tax to shipping.
If you do not see Estimated shipping, shipping is turned off for the project. The shipping setting applies to every schedule in the project. To turn it on:
Open the schedule’s … menu.
Select Estimated shipping.
Turn on Show estimated shipping cost.
Choose how to include shipping.
Select Save for project.
Option | Result |
Add shipping to client total | Adds the estimate to the client total. |
Add shipping separately | Shows the estimate separately without increasing the client total. |
4. Check the quantity and product cost
Below the pricing inputs, Programa shows how many units you need and what they cost you.
To set the quantity:
Open Product details → Locations & quantities.
Enter the quantity for each assigned location.
If the product has no location, enter its quantity in Quantity.
A blank quantity and a quantity of 0 are different. A blank quantity shows as a dash, and tax shows Enter a quantity to calculate tax. A quantity of 0 shows as 0. In both cases, the product is priced at $0.
You can add a quantity unit, such as m² or ft². The price and quantity must use the same unit.
For example, if you enter a quantity in m², enter the price for one m².
Example: four handles
Field | Value |
Unit retail price | $200 |
Unit trade price | $125 |
Estimated shipping | $40 |
Quantity | 4 |
Product cost is $125 × 4 = $500. The helper text below the field shows how Programa worked it out.
For finished items made from components, see How to price assemblies and component products.
5. Set the client pricing
In Client pricing, decide what to charge your client.
Add markup applies to every schedule in the project. Each product can have its own markup percentage.
Open the schedule’s … menu.
Turn on Add markup.
Return to the product’s Financial tab.
In Client pricing, enter a percentage in Markup.
Programa applies markup to Unit trade price. If Unit trade price is blank, Programa applies markup to Unit retail price.
For the four handles, enter 20 in Markup. Programa calculates:
Field | Amount |
Markup | 20% × $500 = $100 |
Profit | $600 − $500 = $100 |
Client savings | $800 − $600 = $200 (25%) |
Client price | $600 |
Tax | 8% × $600 = $48 |
Profit shows the difference between the client price and product cost, before tax and shipping. This amount does not account for your other business expenses.
Client savings shows how much less the client pays compared with the retail price. The four handles have a total retail price of $800, and the client pays $600 before tax and shipping. Programa needs a Unit retail price above zero to calculate a savings percentage.
If you do not use markup, leave Add markup off. Programa hides the markup fields and does not add markup.
6. Check the totals
Totals brings everything together. The example uses 8% tax, prices excluding tax, and shipping added to the client total.
Line | Amount |
Client price before tax | $600 |
Tax | $48 |
Shipping | $40 |
Client total | $688 |
If shipping is shown separately, the client total is $660, with a separate $40 shipping estimate.
If project prices include tax, Programa does not add that tax again.
See how Programa calculates a price
Select an underlined pricing label in Classic or Financial.
In Sheet or List, select a pricing column heading to keep its explanation open.
These explanations are available only in working schedules.
Show totals in your schedule
Turn on Display settings → Financial summary.
This shows schedule totals. It does not add pricing fields to each product.
Before you use the final total, check the quantity, tax rate and shipping option.
If a price does not look right
Cost is zero: check the quantity and Unit trade price. If Unit trade price is 0, Programa uses zero as the cost. A blank quantity also prices the product at $0.
Tax says Enter a quantity to calculate tax: the product has no quantity yet. Enter it in Locations & quantities.
Markup is missing: check that Add markup is on for the project.
Estimated shipping is missing: shipping is turned off for the project. Turn it on in the schedule’s … menu.
Tax looks incorrect: check whether prices include tax and which rate applies to the product.
A calculation is unclear: select the pricing label or column heading to see the calculation.