Know if your quote was right. Before the job ends.
MarginPal quotes your jobs, tracks every receipt and invoice, and compares what you said it would cost to what it really did — live, on every job. So you stop finding out you underquoted when it's too late.
- No card required
- Quoted vs actual, live
- AI receipt & invoice scanning
- Works on site, offline
- Built in the UK Designed for UK trades, UK pricing, UK tax conventions.
- Encrypted, UK-hosted Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, stored in the UK.
- Secured by Stripe Payment data handled and stored by Stripe. We never see card numbers.
- GDPR compliant Full data rights — view, export, delete on request, any time.
You quoted it. But did you actually make money?
MarginPal was built from the back of a van — we know where the hours really go, and why your margin keeps surprising you.
You find out too late
The accountant totals it up in March and tells you Job #104 lost you £600. By then you've quoted five more just like it.
Receipts and invoices go everywhere
Builders' merchant receipts in the van. Customer invoices in a folder. VAT figures in your head. Nothing talks to anything.
Your quote was a guess
You've priced jobs the same way for years. No way to know if it's the right number — or £40 a day too low.
One job, from receipt to profit.
Snap it at the till
Point the camera at any receipt or invoice. AI reads every line and files it to the right job before you’re back in the van.
Margin updates itself
Revenue, costs, profit and margin recalculate the moment anything lands. The budget traffic light flips the day drift starts.
It tells you straight
Plain-English AI notes — “materials at 87% with three days to go” — while there’s still time to do something about it.
Every receipt. Every invoice. On the right job.
Snap a builders' merchant receipt and MarginPal's AI reads every line, categorises it, and rolls it straight into the job's Actual Cost. Upload a customer invoice the same way — it goes to Actual Revenue. Both sides of the ledger, zero typing.
- One flow, both sides. Receipts feed Actual Cost. Invoices feed Actual Revenue.
- Line-item OCR. Every item, every price, every VAT code — with confidence scores.
- Auto-matched to the job. No dragging, no dropdowns. Scan and move on.
- End-of-year clarity. Every receipt categorised and attached to its job — no shoebox to dig through.
Every job tells you if it made money.
MarginPal seeds every job with your quoted numbers, then tracks expenses and invoices as they land. You see the five numbers that matter — Revenue, Est. Cost, Actual Cost, Profit, Margin — with a budget-health traffic light and live AI notes that re-run within minutes of every receipt or invoice you upload.
You'll beat quoted margin by £340
Actuals are running 6% ahead of estimate. Consider pricing similar jobs 8% higher.
Materials at 87% of budget on Job #151
You're three days in with most of the timber already used. Check the spec before ordering more.
One invoice outstanding · £1,620
Mrs Ellis accepted two weeks ago. A follow-up nudge usually gets paid within five days.
It learns your business. Then it tells you stuff you didn't know.
MarginPal's AI is trained on your jobs, your suppliers, your customers, your pricing. The more receipts, invoices and quotes you feed it, the more specific the advice gets.
- Week 1
Getting to know you
Your margin is running at 58% — strong for the trade.
Generic advice, but accurate. The AI is still learning what "normal" looks like for you.
- Month 1
Patterns appearing
Your bathroom jobs run 22% above estimate. Worth raising those quotes.
It now sees what you specifically do well — and where you under-quote.
- Month 3+
It knows your business
Your Friday quotes are 6% under what you charge mid-week. Wickes is 14% pricier than Selco for sealants on similar jobs.
Specific suppliers, specific patterns, specific customers. Yours, not generic.
All learning is per-account — your data shapes your insights only. We don't train on your numbers to advise other tradies.
Your invoices and expenses, straight into the books.
Connect MarginPal to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage and your invoices and expenses flow through automatically — with receipts attached and contacts matched. Payment status flows back, so a job marked paid in your accounts updates in MarginPal. Auto-sync is on by default; switch it off and push records manually whenever you like.
Get connectedQuote it. Track it. Prove you made money.
- 01
Quote the customer
Build a quote with line items — each line priced with its own cost estimate. Customer accepts or declines in one tap.
- 02
Convert to a job
Accepted? Convert with one tap. The quote locks, a job is created, and your Quoted Revenue and Est. Cost are seeded from the totals.
- 03
Upload receipts & invoices
Snap a receipt at the till or drop in a customer invoice. AI reads every line — expenses go to Actual Cost, invoices go to Actual Revenue.
- 04
See quoted vs actual, live
Five KPIs on every job, a budget-health traffic light, and AI notes that update within minutes of every upload. You find out before the job ends — not after.
Start at step one: quote software built for tradies
Made for tradies. Tuned to yours.
MarginPal works for any trade that quotes, runs jobs, and tracks costs. The AI picks up on the things specific to your trade as you go.
Don't see your trade? It still works — every trade that runs jobs against quotes is a fit. More in the FAQ.
Fair, flat pricing. A scan allowance that scales with you.
AI receipt scanning and live quoted-vs-actual tracking on every tier. AI margin insights unlock on Business. Each plan includes a fixed monthly scan allowance — need more? Upgrade any time.
Solo
For sole traders getting organised.
- Up to 3 members
- Manual quote management
- AI receipt scanning
- Quoted vs actual tracking
Pro
Everything a one-van operation needs.
- Up to 10 members
- Branded quote PDFs
- Send quotes by email
- Customer accept/decline
- AI receipt scanning
- Quoted vs actual tracking
- Accounting integrations (Xero, QuickBooks, Sage)
Business
For small crews running multiple jobs.
- Up to 20 members
- Branded quote PDFs
- Send quotes by email
- Customer accept/decline
- AI receipt scanning
- Quoted vs actual tracking
- AI margin insights
- Accounting integrations (Xero, QuickBooks, Sage)
- Priority support
Prices include 20% UK VAT. Cancel anytime.
Straight answers.
Who is MarginPal for?
UK-based tradespeople — electricians, plumbers, builders, tilers, handypeople, and small crews — who quote customers, run jobs, and want to know if they actually made money on each one.
What's the difference between quoted and actual?
When you quote a job, you estimate what it'll earn (Quoted Revenue) and what it'll cost you (Estimated Cost). When the job runs, invoices build up your Actual Revenue and receipts build up your Actual Cost. MarginPal shows both side by side, live, so you spot drift before it hits your margin.
How does the AI receipt and invoice scanning work?
Snap a photo of any receipt or invoice. Our OCR reads every line item and figures out VAT. Receipts roll into the job's Actual Cost; invoices roll into Actual Revenue. If the AI isn't sure about a field, it flags a confidence score so you can tap to confirm — no typing.
What are AI insights?
Each job gets natural-language notes — grouped by margin, cost, revenue, and scheduling. The AI re-runs within minutes of every receipt or invoice you upload, so the advice reflects what just happened. Things like "materials are at 87% of budget with three days to go" or "you'll beat quoted margin by £340." Useful, not dashboardy.
Does it integrate with Xero, QuickBooks or Sage?
Yes. Connect Xero or QuickBooks Online and your invoices and expenses flow straight into the books — receipts attached, contacts matched, payment status synced back. Sage is next up. Accounting integrations are included on the Pro and Business plans.
Is my data safe?
Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, stored in the UK, and never sold or shared. We only use it to run the app and to make your own insights smarter — we don't train cross-customer models on your numbers.
Will it work on site with no signal?
Yes. The mobile app works offline — snap receipts and log jobs anywhere, and it syncs when you're back online.
Do I need an accountant too?
MarginPal doesn't replace your accountant — it makes their job (and your bill) smaller. Every receipt and invoice is categorised and attached to its job, so when year-end comes round the financial picture is organised rather than a shoebox of receipts and a folder of invoices.
Is there a free trial?
Yes — every new account starts with a 14-day free trial of the full Business feature set, including AI margin insights, and no card is required to start. When it ends you pick the plan that suits you, and you're only charged once you subscribe.
What happens if I reach my receipt scan limit?
Each plan includes a fixed monthly scan allowance — 75 on Solo, 250 on Pro, 600 on Business. When you reach your limit, scanning simply pauses until your allowance resets next billing period. There are no extra per-scan charges — if you regularly need more, just upgrade your plan any time.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes, no contract, no questions. Cancel with a tap and you keep access through to the end of your current billing month.
Ready to see what your jobs really earn?
Quote, track, and compare — all in one app. 14-day free trial on Business, set up in the time it takes to boil the kettle.