Free Plumbing Invoice Template (PDF Generator)

How to create a plumbing invoice

1. Add your business and the responsible plumber's license

   Company name, address, phone, email and the license number that has to appear on plumbing paperwork in most states, plus your logo. Saved in your browser and reused on every document you make here.

2. Enter the customer and the job address

   Name and contact details, and the service address if the bill goes somewhere else — a landlord's mailing address is not where the water heater is.

3. Set the invoice number, date and terms

   The number is prefilled and increments after each download. Residential service work is usually due on receipt; pick the terms and the due date fills itself. Name the job: 'Water heater replacement — 50-gal gas, garage'.

4. Add the diagnostic fee, the flat-rate labor and each part

   The service call fee gets its own row with the credit policy in the details. Labor goes on as a flat rate or as hours, never a lump. Each part is a row with make, model and serial in the details and the Taxable box ticked where your state taxes parts.

5. Add the permit, haul-away and any surcharge as their own rows

   Permit number and inspection status, disposal of the old unit, and any after-hours surcharge, each labeled so nothing looks padded. Set the tax rate and untick Taxable on the labor lines your state does not tax.

6. Write the warranty split and payment instructions

   Your workmanship warranty term on one line, the manufacturer's tank-and-parts warranty on the next, then how to pay and the late-fee term from your agreement.

7. Download the PDF and send it before you leave the driveway

   Download and text or email it from the truck. The number bumps for the next job; print it if the customer wants paper.

What to include on a plumbing invoice

What should a plumbing invoice include?

Start with what the state can fine you for. In Texas, Occupations Code §1301.302 says a written proposal, invoice or contract for plumbing services must contain the name and license number of the responsible master plumber and the name, mailing address and telephone number of the State Board of Plumbing Examiners — and the customer gets an invoice on completion whether or not you charged a fee. California's Business and Professions Code §7030.5 puts the license number on every construction contract, subcontract, call for bid and form of advertising. Your licensing board's site has your state's version. In the generator, the License field prints under your business name on every document.

Then the lines a plumbing customer actually reads: the trip or diagnostic fee and whether it was credited, the repair as either a flat-rate line or hours times rate, the parts with quantities, and permits, disposal and after-hours charges as their own rows. An invoice that says 'service call — $480' with nothing under it is the one that becomes a chargeback.

How do plumbers price a service call — hourly, flat rate, or both?

Most residential shops run a hybrid: a flat-rate book for the repairs they do every week and hourly billing for diagnostics, commercial work and anything open-ended. Housecall Pro's 2026 plumbing price guide (updated June 2026) puts residential hourly rates at $80–$130, service call fees at $75–$150, and emergency work at $150–$300 per hour or 1.5–3× the standard rate; it also reports that flat-rate billing raises the average ticket 20–30% over hourly. Treat those as one vendor's national ranges. Your rate comes from your overhead, your wage and your real billable hours — run them through the hourly rate calculator before you copy anyone's number.

How each pricing model looks on the invoice

• Flat rate: one row — 'Faucet replacement, flat rate' — qty 1, unit 'ea', and the details line lists what the price covers (remove old, install customer-supplied faucet, new supply lines, test). The customer sees the number they approved on the phone, nothing else.
• Hourly: qty is the hours, unit is 'hr', rate is your hourly. Round to the quarter hour and say so in the details. Two techs on site means two labor rows, not a doubled rate.
• Trip / diagnostic fee: its own row, kind 'Other'. Write 'credited toward approved repair' or 'not credited' — whichever you told them at booking.
• After-hours: a labeled surcharge row ('After-hours dispatch — Sunday 9 pm') rather than a quietly higher rate. People pay the surcharge they were warned about and fight the one they discover on paper.
• Parts: itemize anything meaningful; a single 'fittings and consumables' lot line is fine for the small stuff.

Emergency calls are where plumbing invoices go wrong most often. Text the after-hours rate and the trip fee before you roll and keep the thread. If the customer balks at a plainly stated emergency rate, that is one of the red flags worth reading about before you drive over.

Do plumbers charge sales tax on labor?

It depends on the state and sometimes on how you write the contract. Texas is a clear example: the Comptroller's real property repair and remodeling publication says labor to repair, remodel or restore residential real property is not taxable. Under a separated contract — labor and materials priced separately — you collect sales tax from the customer on the materials only. Under a lump-sum contract you pay tax on the materials when you buy them and charge the customer no tax at all. Nonresidential work is different again: the total charge, labor included, is taxable.

Other states tax the whole ticket on residential work, and a few treat a replacement water heater differently from a repair. Confirm yours with the revenue department, not a forum thread. In the generator every line has a Taxable checkbox and the totals section has a 'Tax labor too?' switch, so a Texas separated-contract invoice is: parts taxable, labor and permit fee not, tax rate set to your local combined rate. The sample plumbing invoice is set up exactly that way.

Why do plumbing invoices get disputed, and how do you write one that doesn't?

In my experience the disputed invoice is rarely about the total. It's about one line the customer didn't expect or can't decode. The usual suspects, and the fix for each:

• 'The diagnostic was supposed to be free.' State the fee and the credit policy at booking, then print exactly what you said.
• 'Parts — $310.' Itemize. A customer who can see the expansion tank, the ball valve and the flex lines stops asking what they paid for.
• No model or serial on the heater. Two years later the tank leaks, the manufacturer asks for the serial and install date, and the homeowner blames you. Rheem's warranty FAQ notes its warranties don't apply to units bought direct online without professional installation, so say who installed it.
• No permit line. The resale inspection finds an unpermitted heater and your name comes up. Put the permit number on the invoice.
• 'One-year warranty' with no subject. Split it: your labor for a year, the tank and parts per the manufacturer.
• Net 30 on a $600 service call. Residential service work is due on receipt; here is why net terms cost you a month of cash.

FAQ

• Texas Occupations Code §1301.302 — Contract information; required documents
• Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners — Consumer information
• California Business and Professions Code §7030.5
• Texas Comptroller — Real property repair and remodeling (94-116)
• City of Morgan Hill, CA — Water heater replacement permits
• Housecall Pro — 2026 plumbing price guide
• Rheem — Performance series electric water heater warranty terms
• Rheem — Warranty FAQs