When a supplier changes a material cost, calculate its effect on the items you actually buy before changing selling prices. Check each price's rule or fixed-price setting, review existing commitments separately, and confirm the output before sending catalog changes to Jobber.
Start with the supplier change, not an inflation headline
Use a dated supplier quote or invoice, the unit purchased and any delivery cost you allocate to that item. A general construction index cannot tell you what your shop now pays for a capacitor, coil or box of fittings. Compare the actual old and new costs for the same specification and unit.
Keep the supplier document with your working file. Record when the new cost takes effect and which catalog items it affects. A price increase on one supplier line does not mean every service in the book needs the same percentage change.
1. Track landed cost and compare like units
Landed cost starts with the invoice price and includes costs you deliberately allocate, such as freight. Check package size before comparing numbers: a ten-pack at $30 is $3 each, while a single fitting at $4 is $4 each. Comparing the package price with the each price would create a misleading increase.
Review the parts you buy repeatedly and the items carrying the largest dollars first. Preserve an untouched export of the current catalog. In a working copy, record the old cost, verified new cost, approved selling price and whether that price is manual or governed by a pricing rule. Leave unsupported costs in a review list instead of filling them with guesses.
2. Calculate the selling-price decision separately
A cost increase and a selling-price increase are separate decisions. If you want to preserve a gross-margin percentage, divide the new cost by one minus that target margin. Markup divides profit by cost; gross margin divides profit by selling price.
For an illustrative 40% material gross-margin target, divide cost by 0.60. A $100 cost gives a $166.67 selling price after rounding. If cost rises to $130, adding only the $30 difference produces a $196.67 price and approximately 33.90% gross margin. Preserving the illustrative 40% target instead gives $216.67.
| Illustrative decision | Material cost | Selling price | Gross margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before the change | $100.00 | $166.67 | Approximately 40% |
| Add only the $30 cost increase | $130.00 | $196.67 | Approximately 33.90% |
| Preserve the 40% target | $130.00 | $216.67 | Approximately 40% |
These are worked examples, not recommended trade rates. They exclude labor, overhead, tax and other charges. Use the margin target appropriate to the item and your business. Read markup versus margin for contractors if you need to check the denominators before changing a schedule.
An intentionally fixed selling price should stay fixed until you decide to change it. Recording a higher cost is useful even when you keep the price: it shows the margin you are now accepting. It does not itself authorize repricing.
3. Keep material and labor assumptions distinct
Review labor assumptions alongside materials, but do not treat a supplier increase as evidence that every labor rate changed. Keep the material cost, labor hours and burdened labor rate separate so you can see which input actually moved.
Check whether labor expense is already recorded elsewhere before adding it to a service's cost. Double-counting labor can make the calculated margin look worse than the job's economics. A useful price review identifies both the source of each cost and the method used to recover overhead.
4. Apply the decision to the price book deliberately
For occasional edits, a spreadsheet or native catalog may be enough. A master catalog becomes useful when supplier changes repeatedly force the same edits across several pricebooks. The workflow should let you review affected rows and preserve exceptions:
- Save an export or snapshot before changing the catalog.
- Update only the costs you have verified.
- Preview the intended rule or price adjustment.
- Compare the old and proposed selling prices, including manual prices and items without cost data.
- Apply the reviewed catalog change.
- Review the output separately, then confirm the Jobber push or export the selected book.
In Pricebookr, an import from Jobber is a point-in-time pull. Hand-set selling prices remain manual when costs or pricing rules change. If you want those items governed by a schedule, review and confirm that conversion rather than assuming a new cost will overwrite their prices.
There is no background timer that silently pushes every edit to Jobber. The connected account, enabled books and reviewed push determine what is sent. For the transfer choices and mapping limits, see the Jobber CSV versus mapped-sync guide.
5. Review existing work and explain the change
A catalog update does not revise an agreement or rewrite existing Jobber job and quote lines for you. Review open estimates, accepted quotes and scheduled work separately before proposing a revised price. The catalog workflow here controls the prices you prepare for future use.
When explaining a change, use the specific inputs you can support. For example: “The supplier price for this part changed since the earlier estimate. This revised price uses the current part cost.” That is sample wording, not a customer quotation. If only one component changed, do not describe the whole job as more expensive without checking it.
For ongoing maintenance, choose a review cadence that fits your purchasing pattern. A new supplier sheet is a reason to inspect the affected items; it is not a universal percentage trigger or permission to change every price immediately.
Keep the decision reviewable
The goal is a defensible cost record, a deliberate selling-price decision and a clear output step. Retain the dated source, review file and resulting catalog history so a later margin change can be traced to its inputs.
See how to review a bulk price change before applying it.
FAQ
Will changing a material cost automatically change its selling price?
Do not assume it will. Check whether the selling price is manual or rule-governed. Pricebookr preserves hand-set prices when costs change; moving an item onto a schedule is a separate reviewed decision.
How do I preserve a 40% gross margin after a cost increase?
Divide the applicable cost by 0.60, then round the resulting selling price. For example, $130 divided by 0.60 is $216.67 after rounding. This is illustrative material-only math, not a recommendation for an installed service price.
Does updating the catalog change an accepted quote?
No such change should be assumed. Review the specific document and agreed scope separately. A Pricebookr catalog push does not serve as an instruction to reprice existing Jobber jobs or quotes.
What should I do when an item's material cost is missing?
Keep its approved selling price and flag the cost for review. Verify an invoice and its unit before entering a number. A blank or zero cost is not a reason to guess a cost or replace a working price with zero.
When should I send reviewed prices to Jobber?
After the catalog review and application step, inspect the proposed Jobber output and confirm the push when ready. Importing costs or editing a rule does not automatically authorize that output.