A plumbers pricing guide written for the contractor is a guide to building a price book, because the price book is where every estimate and invoice draws its figures, and a shop without one prices at the kitchen table from memory. The loaded rate from the shop's own costs; the list of tasks the shop does often; the hours and parts behind each; the parts markup; the fees; and the book that holds them all at one revision. The price book template on this site is that book, free and without an account.
Start from the shop's costs
The wage, the truck, the insurance, the license, the tools, the office and the software, over the hours a technician can actually bill in a year. That is the loaded rate, and it is the one figure nobody can copy from another shop. The BLS wage data cited below is a check on the wage part; everything else is the shop's own.
List the tasks the shop does often
Two dozen tasks cover most of a residential shop's week. Each gets its hours and its parts, and the flat rate pricing tool on this site turns those into a task price at the loaded rate. The task the shop does rarely stays hourly.
Markup, fees and the awkward jobs
The parts markup set once and applied everywhere. The call-out, the diagnostic and the after-hours fees as lines with a price. The awkward job, the one that opens a wall, priced hourly with the rate stated. Each is a row in the book, so the estimate never has to invent it.
The book, at one revision
Every task, part, fee and rate at one revision date, and every estimate and invoice printed from it. When a cost changes the book is revised and the estimates after it follow. RoughInDesk Pro holds the book and prints from it; the template on this site builds it.
Questions people ask about plumbers pricing guide
Should I publish my prices?
Some shops do, for the common tasks; most quote from the book on site. Either way the book exists first.
How do I know my prices are competitive?
You know they are profitable, from the costs. Competitiveness shows up in the close rate, which the paid product reports.
Is the guide's tool free?
Yes: the price book template and the flat rate pricing tool work without an account.