Plumbing flat rate pricing guide

Step one: the loaded hourly cost

The rate is the wage plus the taxes, the insurance, the truck, the tools, the phone and the office, divided by the billable hours rather than the paid hours; the flat rate tool on this site produces it from your figures. Most shops that think they are unprofitable on labor have never done this division, and the result is usually a rate well above what the tech is paid.

Step two: the standard time per task

Each task the company does gets a time a competent tech takes on an ordinary job. It is the company's average, not the fastest tech's or the worst day's, and it is reviewed when the invoices show it drifting. The time multiplied by the loaded rate is the labor price of the task.

Step three: the parts at markup

The parts on the task at their cost, marked up enough that the parts line carries its share of the supply-house trip and the stock on the truck. When the part's cost changes the book follows it, which is why the cost lives in one place that the inventory and the book both read.

Step four: one price, with options

The customer sees a price for the task, and beside it the better repair and the replacement, each as a flat price. Nobody discusses hours. The pick becomes the invoice, and Pro records which version of the book priced it. From the vendors' own pricing pages: Tradify lists Lite at $47, Pro at $51 and Plus at $61 per user per month; Jobber lists Core at $49 per month for one user with additional users at $29 each; Housecall Pro lists Basic at $59 per month billed annually or $79 monthly. RoughInDesk Pro is $47 per month for the whole crew.