Plumbing Estimate Template

What goes on a plumbing estimate

A homeowner comparing three plumbers looks at the same few things: how many fixtures, what pipe goes in the walls, which water heater, and whether the permit is included. Those go in the job-specs strip under the header, so the comparison happens on your terms. The line items below it are grouped the way the work happens on site:

• Rough-in (supply and DWV): disconnecting and capping the old fixtures, then drains, vents, supply lines and valve bodies for each fixture, before the walls close.
• Fixtures and trim: the fixture and faucet allowance, then setting each fixture and installing faucets, valve trim, stops and traps after tile.
• Water heater, testing and permits: the heater and what goes with it, the supply and drain tests, inspection trips and the permit.

Upgrades the customer may want, such as a recirculation pump or a repipe of the rest of the house, go in the optional-items table, priced but outside the total.

How to take off a plumbing job

Residential plumbing labor is counted by fixture. Each fixture gets two labor units, rough hours and trim hours, and each covers that fixture’s drain, vent and supply piping back to the main or stack. The Plumbing Takeoff sheet lists common fixtures with editable units. They are starting points, not a standard, so replace them with the hours your crews actually log. This is the schedule from the completed example:

Demo, the water heater, the expansion tank, two tests and two inspection trips add 13.25 hours, for 42.25 in total. Pipe is taken off separately, by size: runs × average length gives footage, and waste plus the coil or stick length gives what to order. In the example, nine supply outlets at about 12 feet each come to 108 feet of 1/2" PEX, two 100-foot coils. The 3/4" mains add 68 feet, one coil, and 86 feet of PVC drain and vent is 11 ten-foot sticks. Fittings, supports and cement are an allowance at 60% of pipe material, a figure to check against your own supplier invoices. Size drains, vents and supply to the code where the job is. Some jurisdictions adopt the IPC, others the UPC or a state code, often with local amendments.

Pricing plumbing line by line

Build each price from cost on the Unit Price Builder: material, plus labor hours at your fully loaded rate, plus consumables and disposal, then overhead, then profit as a margin on price rather than a markup. The example uses a $64 loaded rate, 30% overhead and a 20% margin, so labor sells at $104 an hour. A water closet rough-in at 4 hours, with $195 of material and $10 of consumables, comes out at $749.13 and is quoted at $750. On a remodel, price per fixture rather than per foot of pipe. The customer understands a toilet, not 12 feet of 3-inch PVC.

The completed example is a primary bath remodel in a 1968 house outside Columbus, Ohio, plus a like-for-like 50-gallon gas water heater. Rough-in comes to $4,950, fixtures and trim to $3,650 including the $2,400 allowance, and the water heater, expansion tank, tests, inspections and permits to $2,965. That is $11,565 in total. There is no tax line because the plumber pays tax on materials and includes it in the prices. The 30% deposit is $3,469.50, due on acceptance, and the $8,095.50 balance is due after the final inspection.

The fixture allowance, and what is behind the wall

Two things move a remodel plumbing price after it is signed: the owner’s fixture choices and the condition of what you tie into. Write both into the estimate. The fixture allowance states an amount for the toilet, faucets, shower trim and tub filler, and the terms say it adjusts at cost to what the owner picks. Get those selections before rough-in, because valve bodies are brand-specific. For the old piping, say what you replace and what you tie into, and exclude the rest. If opening the floor turns up a cracked cast-iron hub or rotted galvanized, write it up as a change order and get it signed before the work. For small unknowns billed by the hour, a signed T&M ticket works. When the job passes final inspection, bill the balance on an invoice that references the estimate number and any approved changes.

Estimate, quote or proposal?

For most residential remodels and replacements, this estimate is the whole sale: a price, the terms and a signature. On new construction or a tenant improvement bid to a GC from drawings, build your cost on the construction estimate worksheet and send a bid proposal with inclusions, exclusions and alternates. Then bill against a schedule of values for underground, rough-in, top-out and trim. Our page for plumbing contractors covers how that work runs in BuildWorkPro, from the bid through pay applications.

Common mistakes on plumbing estimates

• One price for the whole bathroom. Per-fixture lines show the customer what they are paying for, and make changes easy to price.
• Rough-in and trim priced as one trip. On a remodel they are weeks apart, and each visit costs a truck and travel time.
• No fixture allowance, and no word on who supplies the fixtures. Say which, in writing.
• Leaving out tests and inspection trips. They are real hours, and a failed inspection is another trip.
• No exclusion for drywall, tile and patching. Plumbers open walls; say who closes them.