What is my target margin?

Your target margin is the profit margin your workspace aims for. Set it in Settings, then Workspace, then Financials. It does two jobs: every new estimate section starts at it, and every job is measured against it afterwards.

The starting point

When you add a section to a new estimate, that section opens at the target margin. You are free to change it. Selling a section below target prices that one job and nothing else, so a competitive bid costs you nothing beyond the bid.

If a location carries its own margin, projects at that location start there instead. A location with a margin of its own always wins over the workspace number.

The mark

The same number is what a finished job is compared against. A job sold at 20% against a 40% target reads as below target on its Financials tab and in the project margin donut on Reports, and it keeps reading that way for as long as it exists.

That is the point rather than a fault. The target is what you meant to make, so the gap between it and what a job actually made is the thing worth seeing. Lowering the target to make jobs look green just moves the mark.

What changing it does, and does not do

Changing the target never changes an estimate you have already written. The margin is fixed onto each section the moment that section is created, so past work keeps the numbers it was sold with. Only sections created after the change start at the new number.

There is no per-project override. A job's margin is whatever you priced it at; the target stays a single workspace number so that every job is scored the same way.

Where you see it

• On an estimate, as the starting margin on each section. See How do I create and send an estimate?.
• On a project's Financials tab, as the target the job is measured against.
• On Reports, in the project margin donut. See How do I run a financial report?.