Pricing, estimates and getting paid

Because paid hours aren't billable hours: our plumbing price book guide cites ServiceTitan putting billable time at only 40% to 50% of a plumber's workday. Divide by one minus the margin, not by a markup: a 50% markup is only a 33% margin, as flat rate vs time and materials and job costing for contractors both show. How to price electrical work explains why a published $90 hour can lose money, and HVAC flat rate pricing works the formula from a $29.33 median wage to a $239 billable rate and a $900 blower motor job. Work your own numbers with the labor rate calculator, markup vs margin calculator, flat-rate price calculator and job profit calculator.

The service call fee is the first price a caller hears. Per our service call guide, HVAC diagnostics run about $70 to $200 ($89 is common) and plumbing trip charges about $75 to $100, with after-hours calls at 1.5× to 2×. Once you're on site, good, better, best options turn yes-or-no into which-one. And prices have to move with costs: in how to raise prices, a 6% increase lifts net margin from 6.4% to 11.7%.

Installs add a sales commission to the divisor: price = total cost ÷ (1 − net margin − commission). The worked examples cover AC installation, furnace installation and heat pump installation; none of them promises the 25C credit, which ended with 2025 installs. Size first with the BTU calculator. Duct cleaning is priced per system, not per vent. For recurring revenue, price maintenance plans from the cost of one visit (typical plans sell for $150 to $250 a year per system), sell them on every eligible call and put the terms in an HVAC service agreement. The maintenance agreement price calculator runs the visit math.

Drain work carries a per-use charge for the jetter or camera, and access changes the time; see drain cleaning pricing. Bigger jobs use a project crew rate ($177.13 per crew hour for a plumber and helper in our examples): a repipe is priced per fixture connection, and sewer line replacement is quoted from the camera footage, per foot. Size water heaters with the water heater size calculator.

Our electrical examples use $115.27 per billable hour and a 20% margin. Panel upgrades start with a load calculation and add the 2023 NEC's outdoor emergency disconnect and surge protection; EV chargers are sized at 125% of the charger's continuous current and priced by run length; standby generators add the plumber's gas line and permits. The wire size and voltage drop calculators help on long runs. Roofers price by the square: estimating a roofing job multiplies plan area by the pitch factor (1.118 for a 6/12 roof) and adds 10% to 15% waste; the roofing calculator does the measuring.

A contractor proposal restates the problem, gives two or three priced options and ends with one way to approve. Copy the plumbing estimate template or electrical estimate template, or build one with the estimate generator. Roofers need the clauses in a roofing contract template, including per-sheet decking prices. Promise only what you'll fix in a workmanship warranty. If you offer customer financing, the dealer fee comes off what the lender pays you; CrewRobin doesn't offer financing.

Set the deposit by job and state (California caps home improvement deposits at 10% or $1,000, whichever is less) and write payment terms on the quote and the invoice. What to include on a contractor invoice and the HVAC invoice template cover the lines; the invoice generator fills them in. When a bill goes unpaid, collecting unpaid invoices runs from a due-date reminder to a demand at day 30, and a mechanics lien clock that runs from completion, not the invoice date: 90 days for a California direct contractor.