Plumbing pricing
Plumbing pricing calculator: work out your hourly rate, then price jobs flat-rate
Price plumbing jobs from your own costs, not from a number someone else charges. First work out what an hour you can actually bill costs your shop, wages and overhead included, and add your profit: that is your hourly rate. Then price each job as a flat rate: the hours it normally takes times your rate, plus parts at your markup. The calculator below does both, and turns one job into a good, better, best menu. The numbers in it are examples; replace them with yours.
1. The hourly rate your shop needs
A truck can only be on one job at a time, so the rate rests on the hours you can bill, not the hours you’re open.
Based on 50 working weeks: $339,000 a year in wages and overhead over 2,700 billable hours.
3. What a service call costs you
Every visit uses truck time, whether or not it turns into a job.
A call that doesn’t turn into a job uses $123.33 of truck time at $148 an hour. Charge it as a trip fee credited to the repair, or build the drive time into your flat prices; doing both charges the customer twice.
How to price plumbing jobs, step by step
- Find your real billable hours. Paid hours minus driving, parts runs, estimates that don’t close and callbacks. This is the number most shops overestimate.
- Add up a year of costs. Tech wages with payroll taxes and benefits, plus every overhead line: your own pay, truck payments and fuel, insurance, licenses, tools, office, software, marketing.
- Divide, then add profit. Costs ÷ billable hours is break-even. Divide again by (1 − your profit share) for the rate you need.
- Price the job, not the clock. Hours the job normally takes × your rate, plus parts at your markup. Keep your job times honest; a flat rate that assumes your fastest day loses money on every slow one.
- Offer a choice. Repair, rebuild or replace, each one a fix you’d stand behind.
- Re-run it when costs change. A raise, a new truck or an insurance renewal moves your rate; your prices should move with it.
Flat rate or hourly?
Flat-rate pricing gives the customer a price before you start, which makes yes easier, and it rewards a fast, well-stocked truck. The risk moves to you: if the job runs long, you eat it. Hourly billing is simpler when you can’t know the scope until you open a wall or a slab. Many shops run flat rates for the repairs they see every week and time and materials, with a written estimate, for everything else.
Your prices come from your costs. Your calls come from the plumbers around you.
MyIntelBrief watches the plumbing companies near you — the services and specials they post, their new reviews, the techs they’re hiring, new shops opening — and emails you a short brief on what changed. Type your company name and pick it from the dropdown for a free look at who you’re competing with. Here’s a sample brief for a plumbing company.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you price a plumbing job?
- Start from what an hour of your billable time costs you: wages plus overhead, divided by the hours you can actually bill. Add your profit to get your hourly rate. Then price the job, not the clock: the hours the job normally takes times your rate, plus parts at your markup. Many shops then present two or three options for the same problem so the customer chooses the level of fix.
- How much should I charge per hour as a plumber?
- Enough to cover your costs and your profit over the hours you can really bill, which is the only number that fits your shop. Two plumbers in the same town can need very different rates because their wages, trucks, insurance and drive times differ. The calculator above works it out from your own numbers; a rate copied from someone else carries their costs, not yours.
- What is flat-rate plumbing pricing?
- A fixed price for a defined job, quoted before the work starts, instead of billing time and materials afterwards. It is usually built from the hours the job normally takes, your hourly rate and your parts with markup. The customer knows the price up front; you carry the risk if the job runs long, which is why honest job times matter.
- Is flat rate or hourly better for a plumbing business?
- Flat rate is easier for customers to say yes to and rewards a fast, well-stocked truck. Hourly is simpler when the scope is genuinely unknown until you open a wall. Many shops use flat rates for common repairs and time and materials, with a written estimate, for the rest.
- Should a plumber charge a service call fee?
- A visit costs you truck time whether or not it turns into a job. Some shops charge a trip or diagnostic fee and credit it against the repair; some build the drive time into every flat price instead. Either works. Doing both charges the customer twice for the same drive.
- How should I set my parts markup?
- Set it so parts cover what they really cost you: buying, stocking, the trips to the supply house, returns and the warranty you stand behind. Many shops use a sliding scale, with a higher markup on cheap parts and a lower one on expensive equipment, so a $5 part and a $1,500 water heater are both priced sensibly.
- What are good, better, best options in plumbing?
- Three ways to solve the same problem at three prices, for example repair the part that failed, rebuild the whole assembly, or replace the fixture. Customers like a choice, and the option they pick tells you what they value. Each option should be a real fix you would stand behind.
- How often should I update my plumbing prices?
- Whenever your costs move: a raise for your techs, a new truck payment, an insurance renewal, a supplier price change. Re-run your hourly rate, then reprice your common jobs from it.
More pricing calculators for service businesses: HVAC, auto repair, lawn care, cleaning, pest control, roofing, electrical and landscaping. See how MyIntelBrief works for home services, or what to check when the phone goes quiet.