Plumbing jobs vary on scale. You can also run into problems that take longer to fix than you have accounted for.
So to avoid selling yourself short and running into disputes with clients, know how to price a plumbing job can help.
Visit the property before pricing up the work
Before you name a price for plumbing work, visit the property beforehand to evaluate the damage and estimate the amount of time you expect it will take you to complete. Whilst there make sure you gather as much information as possible about every eventuality. Take photographs (even if it is just on your mobile phone) so you can refer back to them when it comes to sitting down to price a job if it is a larger project. Even if you are carrying out a smallish job of a couple of days or so, it is always worth ensuring you have something to remind of what was actually involved or the layout of the area you will be working in so you can consider any problems you might just forget about once you've left the potential customer.
The exception to this rule is emergency call outs which you can charge more for. Naturally with call outs there is no opportunity to visit the property before you have to start the work, particularly if the work is a real emergency such as a leak or burst.
Charging an hourly rate
On smaller jobs to avoid losing pay on a job, you can consider charging an hourly rate.
Customers invariably do not like paying hourly rates so it is best practice to give a ballpark figure to put their mind at rest.
However, make it known that if you run into problems, the job may take longer than estimated. It's probably a good idea to get some scope of works in place which makes this clear so that everyone knows where the boundaries are when it comes to the project. If the customer is unclear about what is included and what is not then this can lead to communication breakdowns, and potentially to ruined working relationships. Best to set off on a clear formal footing with terms which clearly state what is included in the project and what is not. That way there is more peace of mind on both sides. It also can appear more professional if you have some paperwork to protect both sides (and the relationship between client and tradesperson) to begin with.
The average hourly rate for plumbing contractors in the UK is £40 an hour but this will vary slightly depending on the part of the country you live in. For example, in London, plumbing rates can be significantly higher than other regions of the UK, such as the North West.
If you are just starting out as a plumber, get some prices from other contractors in your area so you can be competitive without selling yourself short.
To get an idea of how long jobs may take and what you can reasonably expect to charge for labour costs, check out this table.
Assess how much work is required
Before committing to a price for a job, it is best practice to visit the property beforehand to evaluate how much work is required. Bear in mind that complications can arise once you start the job and to earn the trust of your customers you should be able to explain what work is required and highlight any potential hiccups.
Don’t forget to account for the time it takes to do the peripheral work and clean up afterwards.
Examine the pipes and surrounding areas to check for damage and determine whether the pipes are accessible.
Consider whether you will need to crawl into tight spaces, or remove rusted or stripped screws.
These seemingly innocuous acts can ratchet up the time it takes to complete a job.
Formula for pricing plumbing jobs
One straightforward way to price up simple plumbing jobs is to decide how much you want to earn per week then literally divide that number between the hours of the week you want to work. Decide on a profit margin on top of your basic costs (overhead), such as your van, tools, use of home as an office (if you are working from a home base), van insurance, overalls, and so forth. These are your fixed costs and should be added to the hourly rate that you want to earn per week. This is then considered your net billable hourly rate. On top of your net billable hourly rate you then add materials and again any profit margin you want to add to materials.
Here is an example of the simple formula for a self employed plumber with no other employees:
Target weekly labour only income
£30 per hour x 40 hours = £1,200
Basic Costs
Calculate costs for the items below for the full year and divide by 52 weeks of the year
- Van finance or rental fees
- Van insurance
- MOT
- Van road tax
- Public liability insurance
- Use of home as an office
- Workwear (overalls, PPE, footwear)
- Van maintenance
- Telephone & internet
- Tools investment
- Any other fixed costs
Add the total of the costs to the £1,200
For the purposes of illustration, let's calculate a weekly total cost of £500.
Therefore, £1,200 + £500 = £1,700.
Plus 10% profit margin. = £170 per week.
Total = £1,870 per week.
Divided by 40 hours per week.
£46.75 is your net billable rate using this calculation.
Any materials should be charged on top of this net hourly billable rate and of course, the figures can be adjusted depending on your fixed costs and what you want to earn as an individual. Again, bear in mind the demand and supply variations throughout the UK and the regional differences in pricing overall.
Charge extra for materials
The price for materials should not be included in your hourly estimation for a job, charge extra for them.
You should tell your clients what materials will be needed and why.
Any materials you do require should be added to the final invoice as separate items. If you believe additional materials will be needed, again it is a good idea to clarify this with the customer before simply buying them and presuming they will be happy to pay. Keep the relationship professional and quote clearly for everything.
Large scale projects
Large scale projects are harder to price up because they require pre-planning work and possibly additional staff members whose hourly rates also have to be taken into consideration and priced accordingly.
Urban renewal projects, new houses and commercial contracts typically require you to go over plans of the building to assess or design the layout of pipes.
This draft work can be time consuming in itself and should be added to the overall cost of the job. Don't forget to also consider a contingency sum on larger jobs since there will always be some unexpected downtime or parts of the project which take longer than expected. A reasonable contingency sum to add is around 10% - 15%.
Plumbers estimating software
There are also estimating software packages available specifically for tradespeople which may well be helpful if you will be regularly pricing up larger plumbing jobs.
Whilst many plumbers still use the traditional paper and pen to compile estimates, or have moved on to standard spreadsheets using tools like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, invariably they find that as they get busier and / or their business grows, they struggle to find the time to utilise these simple methods. Moving across to dedicated estimating software is a natural step to take to save both time and money in the longer term. Time is money after all, and if you are spending that time jotting down parts of jobs and researching over and over again for prices for your materials, you are not out on the tools carrying out the work you hope to be paid for. Another added advantage to using software for estimating is there is arguably less room for human error, unless of course the software was originally fed garbage data in the first place. Then, of course, the old adage holds true; garbage in, garbage out.
Some of the software available for the construction industry overall include:
- Tradify
- Buildertrend
- Planswift
- Contractor Foreman
- UDA Construction Online
- InEight Estimate
- BIM 360
- Sage 100 Contractor (formerly Sage Master Builder)
- McCormick Estimating Software
- Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate (Formerly Sage Timerline Office)
- Trimble Estimation (Formerly Viewpoint Estimating)
- Quotesoft Duct & Quotesoft Pipe
- Explorer Eclipse
A plumbing contractor can make a reasonable living, especially if you establish a reputation as a reliable contractor that charges reasonable rates.
So long as you are upfront about the time required to do a job and make clients aware of potential complications, you should not encounter any disputes regarding the cost of plumbing work as long as you master how to price a plumbing job fully.
