The app labels this lens internal only, and this article uses the same words, because the whole point of the feature is the boundary around it.
What it adds
Two fields on every spec item: unit cost, what you pay, and markup, the percentage you add. Both live in the item's drawer.
From those you get projected profit per line, rolled up per section and per project, alongside the allowance and actual figures you already had.
Nulls are respected
A line with no cost is not a line with zero cost. Profit rollups exclude lines they cannot compute rather than pretending those lines are free, and they tell you how many lines are costed so you know how much of the picture you are looking at.
Internal only means internal only
Cost, markup, and profit are excluded from every outward facing surface:
- the client share portal
- the client PDF and the print route
- trade packages
- shared product links
- the selections packet
- the homeowner home manual
This is enforced where the data is read, not by hiding columns in the interface. A surface that composes several of these, like the packet or the manual, inherits the same fence, because a composed document is only as fenced as its ingredients.
Do not screen share the wrong tab
The fence protects what the app sends. It cannot protect what is on your monitor. If you are walking a client through the job on a shared screen, use the Spec sheet view or the share link, not the editor with the drawer open.
Getting real costs in
Typed costs are estimates. Two paths put supplier numbers in instead: carry a unit cost on a library product so every insert brings it along, or ingest a supplier quote and confirm the lines, which writes unit cost directly.
Related money settings
Markup is usually a section level default rather than a per item number. Allowances and actuals are a separate, client facing system and are covered on their own.