Security Camera Quote Checker: Equipment × (1 + Markup) + Labor, Markup and Margin

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Opens on the book's house and plot. Change any number to your own and press Calculate.

Our estimate: the equipment at store prices

Cameras

Each

Recorder with drive

Cable to buy m

Cable price per ft

Junction box each, one a camera

Plugs

Each

Doorbell camera

Our estimate: the markup and the labor

Equipment markup %

Labor a camera

Extra hours e.g. the doorbell

At an hour

The installer's quote, line by line

Cameras

At each

Recorder

Cable, boxes, connectors

Labor hours

At an hour

Doorbell, fitted

Anything else optional

Markup and margin (optional: blank uses the markup above)

A markup to convert %

A margin to convert %

Enter the equipment, the labor and the quote, then press Calculate.

The formula

Equipment at store prices = cameras × price + recorder + cable (m ÷ 0.3048 ft × price a foot) + junction boxes + plugs + doorbell
A fair estimate = equipment × (1 + markup) + labor (cameras × labor a camera + extra hours × rate)
The gap = (quote − estimate) ÷ quote: within 15% is the book's quote level
A line's markup = (quoted − store) ÷ store; its margin = (quoted − store) ÷ quoted
margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup); markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin)

The book's worked example, Chapter 10. Equipment at store prices: 1,147.06; with an example 50% markup 1,720.59; labor 5 × 140 + 1 h × 65 = 765.00: a fair quote of about 2,485.59. The installer's quote (illustrative) is 2,780.00; our estimate is 10.6% under it, inside the 15% quote level. Line by line: cameras marked up 77.8%, the recorder 48.6%, and 2.4 hours a camera. A 50% markup is a 33.33% margin.

Check it. Ask the installer for the model numbers and look up the store price of each: the markup is then a fact, not a guess. A higher price can be fair; ask what it buys (warranty, insurance, aftercare).

Honest limits. Markup pays for the installer's time, insurance, warranty, travel and risk: a quote above your estimate is a question to ask, not proof of overcharging. Labor rates are a cost guide's, not a local price. The book's house was worked out on paper from published figures, not surveyed by us: measure your own, and walk your own plot at night. Prices are illustrative US prices from November 2026, shown without a currency sign; put in your own. Everything stays in your browser: no sign-up, nothing stored.

These calculators go with Every Angle (Make It Add Up, Book 2), where every number on this page is worked by hand.