Free Plumbing Estimate Template (PDF Generator)

How to write a plumbing estimate

1. Add your business and license number

   Name, contact details, license number and logo, saved in your browser for every estimate, invoice and receipt you make here.

2. Enter the customer and the property

   The job address matters more than the billing address on a repipe: the permit, the inspections and any lien attach to the property.

3. Number and date it, and set how long the price holds

   The number is prefilled. Set the valid-until date, and say in the notes how long the water will be off.

4. Build the scope in the units you will bill

   Fixture openings, feet of pipe, hours — one row per unit type with the material spec (PEX-A, manifold, quarter-turn stops) in the details and the Taxable flag on parts.

5. Add optional add-ons and a hidden-conditions clause

   Tick Optional on the frost-free sillcocks or the water heater priced while the walls are open; it prints outside the total. In the notes, say hidden conditions are priced by written change order before work continues.

6. Set the deposit, the permit line and the exclusions

   Deposit as a percent or flat amount with what it covers; the permit as its own row and who pulls it; drywall patching, paint and fixtures excluded in plain words.

7. Download, send, and convert when it is signed

   Text or email the PDF while the walkthrough is fresh. When the customer signs, untick Optional on any add-on they accepted and press Convert to invoice.

What to include on a plumbing estimate

What goes on a plumbing estimate the customer will actually sign?

Scope, exclusions, price, deposit, expiry, signature — in that order of importance. A plumbing estimate fails when the scope is one line ('repipe house') and the exclusions live in your head. Write the scope the way you'll bill it: fixture openings for a repipe, the fixture list for a rough-in, model and capacity for a water heater. Then write what is not included, because in plumbing the not-included list is where the money leaks: drywall patching and paint, drain-waste-vent lines on a supply-only job, fixtures the customer is supplying, slab or foundation work, and anything found once the wall is open.

The license-number rules that apply to invoices apply here too. Texas §1301.302 names written proposals explicitly; California's §7030.5 covers calls for bid. California's CSLB also tells homeowners a home-improvement contract should identify the contractor's license number, give written direction on permit responsibility, and tie the payment schedule to work completed. That's good practice in every state, so add a permit row and say who's pulling it.

• Optional add-ons print in their own table under the main scope and are excluded from the total, so the customer can say yes to the hose bibs without re-quoting.
• Deposit prints as 'Deposit due to schedule' with the amount, as a percent or a flat figure.
• Valid until defaults to 30 days; shorten it when material prices are moving.
• Acceptance block — Accepted by, Signature, Date — is on every estimate PDF.

How do you price a repipe, a water heater swap or a bathroom rough-in?

Three jobs, three pricing units. Get the unit right and the estimate almost writes itself.

• Repipe: labor per fixture opening (qty = openings, rate = your per-opening labor), pipe and fittings as one material lot, the manifold and any PRV or main valve as their own rows, then permit and pressure test. Long yard-line runs go by the linear foot.
• Water heater swap: the heater as a material line with model and warranty in the details, one flat-rate labor line that lists what the install includes, then separate rows for expansion tank, valves, permit and haul-away. Strapping, drip pan or venting changes go in as optional add-ons unless code makes them mandatory where you work.
• Bathroom rough-in: a rough-in price per fixture times the count, with trim-out per fixture as a second phase. Drain-waste-vent is its own scope; say whether it's in.

For a sanity check on ranges, Housecall Pro's 2026 plumbing guide lists faucet and fixture installs at $150–$535, drain clearing at $125–$300 and residential hourly rates at $80–$130, and notes flat-rate pricing lifts the average ticket 20–30% over hourly. Those are national survey ranges from one vendor, not your price. Build yours from cost plus a real margin — the markup and margin calculator shows why a 30% markup is not a 30% margin — and read our seven-step estimating guide if you're pricing anything bigger than a service call.

One plumbing-specific habit: put the after-hours surcharge on the estimate even for scheduled work. A repipe that runs late on a Friday is a lot easier to bill when the customer already saw the rate.

How much deposit can a plumber ask for?

Enough to cover the material you're buying and the calendar slot you're holding — and no more than your state allows. California caps the down payment on home-improvement contracts at $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less, unless the contractor carries a specific bond. Most states set no cap, and a handful set others. Our deposit guide walks through amounts by job type and the state rules; read it before you print a 50% deposit on a repipe in a state that forbids it.

Write what the deposit does: 'Deposit due to schedule; balance due on final inspection.' The generator prints the deposit amount on the estimate and, when you convert to an invoice, carries it over as a payment received so the balance due is right without retyping. Before you take any deposit on a four-figure job, spend ten minutes on the customer-vetting checklist — the deposit test in there catches most of the people who were never going to pay the balance.

How do you get from the signed estimate to the paid invoice?

Signed estimate, then 'Convert to invoice'. Optional add-ons the customer declined stay off; the ones they accepted you flip on before converting. The deposit becomes 'Payments received', terms default to due on receipt, and the customer, job address and line items carry across. Anything that changed mid-job — the slab leak, the extra hose bib — should already be on a signed change order, which you add as its own line so the invoice matches the paper trail.

FAQ

• Texas Occupations Code §1301.302 — Contract information; required documents
• California Business and Professions Code §7030.5
• CSLB — What a home improvement contract must include (down payment cap)
• Housecall Pro — 2026 plumbing price guide