Calculate project profitability with revenue, direct costs, allocated overhead, and margin analysis with visual P&L waterfall.
The waterfall chart is the heart of this tool: it starts at the project's revenue and steps the money down through each subtraction until a final profit number lands. You enter revenue, the direct costs of doing the project, and the overhead your business allocates to it; the calculator returns gross profit, net profit, both margin percentages, and a visual P&L waterfall that shows where the money went. The surprise for most users is how much allocated overhead matters: a project can clear its direct costs comfortably and still finish at a loss once its share of firm overhead is charged.
A concrete input and expected output from the current implementation.
Input
Revenue: $100,000. Direct costs: $60,000. Allocated overhead: $25,000.
Expected output
Gross profit $40,000 (40.0% margin); net profit $15,000 (15.0% margin). Waterfall: +$100,000 revenue, -$60,000 direct costs, -$25,000 allocated overhead, ending at net profit $15,000.
Revenue minus direct costs is $40,000, which is 40% of $100,000; subtracting the $25,000 overhead leaves $15,000, which is 15% of revenue. The waterfall's final bar equals the same total, so the chart reconciles exactly.
The calculation is a fixed sequence of subtractions on the inputs you supply: revenue minus direct costs gives gross profit, then the allocated overhead is removed to give net profit. Each margin is that profit divided by revenue, so both percentages share the same denominator. The waterfall renders the same sequence visually, bar by bar, and the final bar always equals the arithmetic total.
Overhead is the part of the calculation that is not tied to any single invoice: rent, insurance, management salaries, software. Because it cannot be measured per project, it must be assigned using an allocation basis you provide, such as a fixed dollar amount or a rate tied to revenue, hours, or headcount. The tool applies your allocation and shows its effect; it cannot tell you whether the basis is right.
No. It applies the allocation you enter and shows the consequence; it does not derive the rate from your books. The defensible basis comes from your own budget or historical data: total firm overhead divided by the driver you choose, such as revenue or billable hours. Treating overhead as zero will flatter every project's profit.
Because gross profit is only the first subtraction. After direct costs come out, the allocated overhead is still charged against the project's revenue, and that second subtraction can take the number below zero. A project with a healthy gross margin can still end with a negative net margin; that is exactly what this tool is designed to surface.
The example and behavioral notes were checked against the browser implementation. Standards and primary references below define the relevant format, formula, or platform behavior.
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