Invoice software for plumbers comes in two shapes: a generic invoicing app that any trade could use, and the invoicing inside a plumbing job management product. The generic app is cheaper and faster to start; the job management product is where the invoice stops being a document and becomes the end of a job record. This page gives six checks to apply to either, quotes what the plumbing products cost from their own pricing pages, and points to the free plumbing invoice tool on this site as the place to start without buying anything.
Six checks for any invoice software a plumber will use
One, parts and labor on separate lines. Two, a price book so tasks are tapped rather than typed. Three, the approved estimate carried forward as the invoice. Four, a signature and a photo attached on site. Five, payment on the phone with the invoice marked paid in the same record. Six, an export to QuickBooks Online or Xero so the accountant is not re-keying. A generic app usually passes the first and the last; the plumbing products are built for the four in the middle.
What the plumbing products charge
From the vendors' own pricing pages on the day they were read: Tradify's Lite plan is $47 USD per user per month, with Pro at $51 and Plus at $61. Jobber's Core plan is $49 a month including one user, and additional users are $29 a month each. Housecall Pro's Basic plan is $59 a month billed annually, or $79 billed monthly. Every one of those includes invoicing as part of a job management subscription, so the comparison against a generic invoicing app is really job management against invoicing alone.
When the generic app is enough, and when it stops being enough
A one-truck shop that quotes by phone and bills at the door can run on a generic invoicing app for a long time. It stops being enough at the point the shop needs the invoice to remember the customer: the second visit to the same water heater, the property manager with twelve units, the agreement due next spring. At that point the invoice needs to hang off a record, and the record is the product.
Start with the free tool, move the records when they matter
The free plumbing invoice tool on this site is a plumbing invoice with the right lines, printable and savable, and it costs nothing. The RoughInDesk plan is the record behind it: customers, properties, work orders and agreements, with the invoice attached to the job. That order, free document first and paid records when the records are the problem, is deliberate, and it is the order most shops actually grow in.
Questions people ask about invoice software for plumbers
What should a plumbing invoice always include?
Your business name and contact, the customer and property, the date, parts and labor on separate lines with quantities and prices, any tax, the total, the payment terms and the payment status. A signature and a photo are not required but settle disputes.
Is it worth paying per user for invoicing?
Only if every technician invoices from the truck. If one office person raises all the invoices, a single-user plan or the free tool is enough until the truck becomes the bottleneck.
Can I export invoices if I change software?
Check before you sign up. A product that cannot export invoices with their line items and payments is holding your records hostage, and that matters more than any feature on the list.