Setting your margins on a quotation
In a calculated quotation you build up your selling price from your cost price. The margin on cost price is the percentage you charge on top of that cost price: selling price = cost price + margin %. If you set a margin of 25% on a cost price of 100, your selling price becomes 125.
You set that margin at three levels: per line, on a selection of lines or across the entire quotation. They interact with each other: the last change determines what appears on the line.
Margin per line
You set the margin per line in the line detail of a post, via the margin column.
If you load an item from the item library, Robaws takes over the margin from the ratio between the selling price and the cost price on the item file. You are then free to adjust that margin, line by line.
Margin on a selection of lines
Do you want to set several lines to the same margin in one go — for example all the lines of one chapter? Then use the flexible margin setting:
- On the left in the quotation lines, tick the lines for which you want to set the margin.
- Click the right mouse button and choose Configure margins.
- In the window, fill in the margin per cost type: Margin item, Margin work, Margin material and Margin OA.
- Click Total or Relative to apply the margin to the selected lines.
Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
Total | The margin you enter overwrites the current margin on the line. Current margin 20%, entered 5% → new margin 5%. |
Relative | The margin you enter is added to the current margin on the line. Current margin 20%, entered 5% → new margin 25%. |
If you leave a cost type empty, the margin for that type is left untouched.
Margin across the entire quotation
On the 'margins' tab of the quotation you set margins for all lines together. You will find three cards there:
Card | What it does |
|---|---|
Commission | A percentage that a third party receives, for example the architect. See adding a commission to your quotation. |
Indirect cost margin | A percentage on top of the amount of a line, which is treated as an indirect cost. You do not see this back in the 'margin' column at line level. |
Default margin | The ordinary margin on cost price, which you do find back at line level. |
Commission and indirect cost margin are applied to all lines automatically as soon as you fill them in — the card shows this with the note 'Automatically applied'.
With Default margin you choose for yourself. Fill in the margins per cost type and then click Total or Relative (the same logic as above). In the window that opens, you choose how long the margin lasts:
Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
Apply once | The margin is applied once to the existing lines. New lines get their own margin from the item file. |
Apply automatically | The margin continues to apply for the rest of the quotation, including lines you add later. With Undo you switch that off again. |
Checking your margin
Under the overview tab you see the total margin for the whole quotation: as margin on cost price, as total margin and as an amount.
Per post you get the detailed analysis under the analysis tab:
- at the top the margin per unit price, broken down by cost type;
- below that the margin for the entire post (unit price × quantity), again as margin on cost price, as total margin and as an amount.
Updated on: 04/09/2026
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