Plumbing quoting software for service calls and installs
Service call, labor, parts with your markup, water heaters and fixtures on one quote, with after hours rates built in.
Plumbing is priced on the call, the clock and the parts. ZoloBid puts your service call fee, hourly rates and parts markup on a quote the customer approves before you open the toolbox.
How plumbers price a job
Plumbers price two ways. Time and materials charges an hourly rate plus parts with a markup. Flat rate gives one price for the task, whatever time it takes. Many shops use both: flat prices for common jobs like a water heater swap, and hourly for troubleshooting and anything open ended.
A service call or trip charge covers getting a licensed plumber and a stocked truck to the door. Some shops credit it toward the repair. After hours, weekend and holiday work is priced higher, and the quote should apply that without anyone doing math at midnight.
Parts are a profit line, not a pass through. The markup pays for stocking the truck, the warranty and the trip to the supply house. Larger work, like water heaters, repipes and sewer lines, adds permits, haul away of the old unit and code upgrades that should each be named on the quote.
What belongs on a plumbing quote
A quote the customer can read line by line gets signed faster and argued about less.
- Service call or trip charge
- Labor: hours and number of plumbers
- Parts with your markup
- Flat price tasks like fixture installs
- Water heater, with size and type
- After hours or emergency rate
- Permit
- Haul away of old equipment
Priced the way you already think
Answer a few questions on site and your own pricing rules turn them into lines:
- Service call
- Labor hours and plumbers
- Parts with your markup
- Water heaters
- Fixtures
- After hours
- Permits
Start from our ready made "Plumbing service" setup, then put in your own numbers. Nothing quotes until you confirm each rule.
ZoloBid never sets your prices. The rates, minimums and markups are yours.
A sample plumbing quote
50 gallon water heater replacement. Example numbers only. Your prices are your own.
| Service call Flat | $89 |
| 50 gallon gas water heater Parts with markup | $1,150 |
| Labor 2 plumbers, 3 hours | $660 |
| Permit Flat | $95 |
| Total | $1,994 |
What slows a plumbing quote down
Parts markup done in your head
Marking up parts by hand is slow and never the same twice.
After hours for regular rates
Nights and weekends need their own rate, applied without an argument.
Approval before the work
A signed price up front avoids the fight over the bill afterward.
From first call to paid
How a plumbing job moves through ZoloBid, start to finish.
- 1
Find the problem
Diagnose first, then quote.
- 2
Build the quote
Labor, parts and tasks priced from your own rules.
- 3
Offer choices
Repair or replace, standard or better, as options.
- 4
Approve before work starts
The customer signs on their phone, so the price is agreed.
- 5
Do the work
Time is tracked on the job.
- 6
Invoice at the door
Send the invoice and take a card before you leave.
Plumbing pricing mistakes that cost money
Parts at cost
Markup is what keeps the truck stocked. Set it once in your rule.
Daytime rates at night
Let an after hours answer raise the rate by itself.
Starting before approval
A signed quote before the wrench comes out prevents the bill dispute.
Everything after the price
- Send a quote the customer signs from their phone
- Take a deposit when they sign
- Follow ups and payment reminders that stop on their own
- Customers, projects, jobs, crew and time in one place
- Works in the field, even with no signal
- Your brand on every quote, ZoloBid stays small in the footer
Plumbing quoting terms in plain words
- Flat rate
- One set price for a task, regardless of time.
- Time and materials
- Hourly labor plus parts.
- Service call
- The charge for coming out and diagnosing.
- Rough in
- Installing pipes in the walls before fixtures go on.
- Markup
- The amount added to the cost of a part.
Questions plumbing owners ask
Can I mark up parts automatically?
Yes. Enter your cost and your markup or margin, and the price is worked out for you. The customer never sees your cost.
Can I charge an after hours rate?
Yes. After hours is a question in the ready made plumbing setup, with your own rate.
Can I quote by the hour and by the job?
Yes. Use hourly labor, flat priced items like water heaters, or both on the same quote.
Can I use flat rate and hourly together?
Yes. Put flat price tasks and hourly labor on the same quote.
Can parts carry my markup automatically?
Yes. Your rule adds the markup to the part cost.
Can after hours work price itself?
Yes. One question on the quote applies your after hours rate.
Can the customer approve a repair from their phone?
Yes. They sign before work starts and can pay the same way when it is done.
When can I start using ZoloBid?
ZoloBid is not open to new companies yet. Join the launch list and we will email you the day it opens.