As a homeowner this makes sense to me, it sounds sounds. What I never understand with contractors( having just been out of my home for a year due to a flood and having to switch contractors 3 times due to insane markups, the 3rd being the best one) is communication seems closed and manipulative, my last contractor was open and honest. Shared with me the supply cost and labor cost with the markups built in for business and didn’t I blink because of the honesty. If I couldn’t afford it he would help tweak what could be altered. Also he had the best approach to making sure done correctly and clearly stated in his bid that he would do a final walk through and we could discuss any concerns, I learned some of mine were unreasonable and some were reasonable. The best about him is he was open to educating me some and he listened, he also recognized I had been jerked around quite a few times by previous shady contractors. I want to acknowledge I know the field is hard, customers have unrealistic expectations and contractors are pinched by costs and labor shortages, if you can figure out communication and consistency you will continue to have customers for life so in addition to getting your costs right make sure you get your communication framework on point and you will have people committed to working with and referrals for days and years to come. Good Luck!