What should a plumbing job cost at a flat rate?

What should this plumbing job cost at a flat rate?

Enter what a year of running your truck and shop costs, the hours you really bill, and one job's time and parts. You get your true cost per billable hour, a flat-rate price-book price with tiered parts markup and your target margin, the effective hourly rate, your minimum callout price, and how the flat price compares with time and materials when the job runs long or short. Then build a whole price book and export it as CSV.

Your numbers, not advice. Prices, costs and times are yours to check; every value is editable. Nothing is uploaded: inputs are used in this browser tab only. The starting numbers are invented examples, not market rates.

1. Your true hourly cost

Hourly wage ($) Burden: payroll tax, comp, benefits (%) Paid hours per year Billable hours per year Truck per year ($) Insurance per year ($) Tools and consumables per year ($) Phone, software, licence, office, marketing per year ($)

2. Parts markup tiers

Marginal, like tax brackets: each slice of a job's parts cost earns its own markup. The last tier has no ceiling.

Parts cost up to ($)	Markup (%)



Above that

3. One job

On-site hours Travel and supplier-run hours Parts cost ($) Target margin on time (%) Round price up to ($) Shortest visit you will do (hours) Your time-and-materials rate ($/hour)

Flat-rate price

Line	Value

Parts markup, slice by slice

Parts cost slice	Amount	Markup	Markup $

If the job runs longer than planned

Hours worked	Your cost	Profit on the flat price	Margin

Flat rate against time and materials

Hours worked	Time-and-materials bill	Your profit, T&M	Flat price	Your profit, flat

4. Price-book builder

Each row is priced with the shop numbers and markup tiers above. The starting rows are invented examples; replace them with your own jobs and your own hours.

Job	On-site hours	Travel hours	Parts cost ($)	Flat price	Margin

What's recognised

Input	Handling

More: How to build a plumbing flat-rate price book and this calculator vs. time and materials.

Common questions

How do I work out a flat-rate price for a plumbing job?

Take your true cost per billable hour, multiply by the hours the job takes including travel, divide by one minus your target margin, then add the parts at cost plus a tiered markup and round up. On the default numbers a 2.75-hour job with $120.00 of parts at a true cost of $100.00 an hour prices at $595.00, which leaves $200.00 (33.6%). Enter your own figures; the defaults are invented.

What is my true cost per hour as a plumber?

Your loaded wage spread over the hours you can actually bill, plus truck, insurance, tools and overhead over the same hours. On the defaults that is $70.00 for wages and burden plus $30.00 of truck, insurance, tools and overhead, $100.00 for every billable hour, because only 1,300 of 2,080 paid hours are sold.

What should my minimum callout price be?

The travel time plus your shortest visit, at true cost and your margin, rounded up. On the defaults that is 1.25 hours and $180.00 before any parts.

Is a flat rate better than time and materials?

It depends on how reliably you estimate hours. On the defaults the flat price of $595.00 leaves $200.00 if the job goes to plan, $62.50 if it runs 50% long and loses $75.00 at double the time; time and materials at $135.00 an hour keeps earning as the clock runs but the customer bears the overrun. Neither is advice; it is arithmetic on the numbers you type.

Is this advice or a price guide?

No. It does arithmetic on the numbers you type. Prices, costs and hours are yours to check, nothing is uploaded, and it is not business, tax, legal or licensing advice. Check your local licensing and permit rules and any rules on written estimates.