Plumber software, as opposed to plumbing business software, is the search a working plumber makes: what do I need on my phone to do this job, price it, bill it and move on? The answer is shorter than the vendor feature lists suggest. A plumber needs to see the customer's history before knocking, price the task from a book, get the estimate approved, record what was done, raise the invoice and take the payment. Six things, all on the phone, none of them requiring the office. This page goes through the six and says which are free.
Before the door: the history and the access notes
The record for the property should tell the plumber what is installed, what was done last time and how to get in: the gate code, the dog, the shutoff location. That is the customer record, and it is the part of plumber software that has to be paid for, because it has to be reliable and shared with the office. Reading it takes a minute and saves the diagnostic conversation that would otherwise start at the door.
At the job: the price book and the approved estimate
The task should be priced by tapping it in the book, not by working it out on the tailgate. The estimate shows the customer the flat rate, they approve it on the phone with a signature, and the work starts. The flat rate pricing, price book and estimate tools on this site do this for free; the book stays on the phone and the estimate prints or saves. The paid product stores the estimate against the job so the invoice can be built from it.
After the job: the record, the invoice and the payment
A photo of the finished work, the parts used, the time taken and the invoice raised from the approved estimate: that is the job closed. Payment on the phone before leaving is the part that keeps a small shop's cash flowing. The free invoice tool produces the invoice; the pipe size tool is there for the measurement questions that come up mid-job. The record the invoice attaches to is the subscription.
The trade this software serves
Plumber software is built around the working day described in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational outlook for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, cited below: service calls, installations and repairs at customers' properties, often alone, with the paperwork done wherever there is signal. The tools on this site were designed for that day rather than for a desk, which is why every one of them works on a phone first.
Questions people ask about plumber software
Which plumber software is free?
On this site: flat rate pricing, estimate, invoice, service agreement, inspection checklist, price book, contract, proposal and pipe size. None needs an account. The subscription is for keeping and sharing the records those tools produce.
Do I need the office to use plumber software?
No. The point is that the plumber does the job end to end from the phone. The office sees the same record and does not need to re-type anything.
What about plumbing code and calculation apps?
They are reference tools, not business tools, and mostly outside what this site covers. The pipe size tool is the one measurement tool here because it is the one an estimate usually needs.