Allowance Markup Distribution

You control how your allowance markup appears on an estimate from Sales > Estimates > Job Name > Details, using the Allowance Markup Distribution drop-down. This setting determines whether your margin spreads across the rest of the estimate or stays visible within the allowance line item, giving you flexibility over how transparent your pricing appears to clients.

Markup is profit calculated as a percentage of cost. Margin measures the same profit as a percentage of the selling price, so it is always lower than markup for the same sale. JACK uses markup throughout the platform at the global, cost category and item levels, so every profit percentage you enter or see in Estimates and Job Budgets is calculated on cost, not on selling price.

Navigate to Sales > Estimates > Job Name > Details and select an option from the Allowance Markup Distribution drop-down.

The markup on allowance items is evenly distributed across all non-allowance items. The customer sees only the allowance amount, with no visible margin.

When to use this: if you include a specific product (for example, an oven with a listed model and brand), customers can easily look up its retail price. Distributing the markup avoids questions about why your allowance price appears higher, since your margin is built into the rest of the estimate.

The markup remains within the allowance item itself and is visible in that line item amount.

Distribution applies no matter where you add the markup, whether at the global level, the cost category level, or directly on the item. If you apply markup directly to an allowance item, JACK still distributes it across non-allowance items rather than showing it in that line, in line with your selected distribution option.

Markup at these levels stacks rather than overrides. If you apply a global markup and then add a cost category or item-level markup on top, JACK combines all three rather than the more specific level replacing the global one.

Choosing the right Allowance Markup Distribution setting keeps your margin calculations consistent with how transparent you want your estimate to appear to clients, whatever mix of global, cost category and item-level markup you use to build your price. If your allowance amount changes once work is underway, see Create A Variation From An Allowance Item for how that shortfall or surplus is handled.