A backflow tester who prices multi-device jobs more than once usually ends up with a spreadsheet: full price for the first device, a discounted rate for each additional one, a filing fee per device, and a retest line for anything that failed. That sheet is correct if every row's formula is right and stays right every time a device is added or removed. This page names no specific product -- it compares against the generic method of pricing a job in a spreadsheet or by hand, not a competing calculator.
A spreadsheet can price this correctly, and many testers already have one. What it does not do on its own is stop a discount formula from being applied to the wrong row after a device is added, or catch a filing fee left off a device that failed.
This calculator applies the first-device-full-price rule, the multi-device discount, the per-device filing fee, and the retest fee to the devices you enter, shows every line separately, and lets you copy the full breakdown as a plain-text record for an invoice or work order -- no formula to write or re-check.
| Question | Where to answer it |
|---|---|
| Can I price a multi-device job in a spreadsheet? | Yes -- if the discount and filing-fee rows stay right as devices change. |
| Does the discount apply to the first device? | No -- only to devices after the first, the mistake this calculator's FAQ and this page both call out. |
| Does the filing fee still apply to a discounted or failed device? | Yes -- filing is per device regardless of the testing discount or pass/fail result. |
| Can I hand someone the full breakdown without re-deriving it? | This calculator's copy-breakdown output, not a screenshot of a formula bar. |
| Does either one know my water utility's requirements? | Neither -- both only total the fee schedule you enter. |
Yes, with the right formula: full price for the first device, a discounted rate for every device after it, a per-device filing fee added regardless of the discount, and a retest fee for any device that failed. The arithmetic is not hard — getting every row's discount and filing fee right, and keeping it right as devices are added or removed, is where a hand-built sheet most often drifts.
Two places: applying the multi-device discount to the first device by mistake (it should stay full price, since it carries the trip's travel and setup cost), and forgetting the filing fee still applies to a discounted or failed device, since most water utilities require a separate report per device regardless of the testing rate charged.
Whether a copied formula still points at the right row after a device was added or removed, and whether the filing fee and retest fee were both included for every device that needed them. A calculator built for this one job runs the same formula every time and shows the full per-device breakdown so the total is checkable by eye.
No. Both this calculator and a spreadsheet only total the fee schedule you enter. Neither knows your water utility's required report form, filing deadline, or device-type requirements — confirm those against your local cross-connection control program before invoicing or filing.
No. The calculator this page links to runs entirely in your browser; nothing you enter is uploaded.