Last updated October 28, 2026

How to bid plumbing jobs

What a plumbing bid has to answer, how to price one with a worked water heater example, the lines that keep you out of arguments, and the deposit terms plumbers use.

A homeowner with a dead water heater is not shopping for the lowest number. They are shopping for the first plumber who gives them a clear written price they can say yes to. Most of the time that is the plumber who texts a bid from the driveway, not the one who promises to email something tonight. This guide is how to write that bid so it gets signed and does not come back to bite you.

What a plumbing bid has to answer

A plumbing customer has four questions, and if the bid does not answer them they will call someone else to ask. Put each one in writing.

What exactly is being replaced or repaired, by size and type. A 50-gallon gas water heater, standard vent. Not "water heater."
What is included around it: haul-off of the old unit, the expansion tank, new flex lines, the gas valve, the permit and who pulls it.
How long the water or gas will be off, and when you can start.
What happens if you open a wall or a slab and find more. Say that work outside the scope gets a written change order before it is done.

How to price it

Price plumbing by the job, not by the hour, but build the number from hours. Example numbers for a 50-gallon gas water heater swap in a typical market. Yours will differ.

Labor: 4 hours at your shop rate. At $150 an hour, that is $600. Your rate has to carry the truck, insurance, and the hours you do not bill. The <a href="/tools/contractor-hourly-rate-calculator">hourly rate calculator</a> works it out from your real costs.
Materials: the heater, expansion tank, flex lines, gas valve, fittings. Say $1,100 at your cost.
Markup on materials: 25 to 40 percent is common on stocked parts. At 30 percent, $330.
Permit: $150 if you pull it. Put it on its own line so the customer sees it is a fee, not your margin.
Disposal: $75 for the old unit.
Total: about $2,255. Round to $2,400 if that is where your market sits. The <a href="/tools/job-price-calculator">job price calculator</a> does this arithmetic for any job.

Repipes, sewer lines, and slab leaks price differently: footage and access drive the number, and the unknowns are bigger. On those, bid what you can see, state the per-foot or per-day rate for what you cannot, and say so plainly.

Where plumbing bids go wrong

The haul-off was assumed and never written. The customer expected it, you did not price it, and now one of you eats it.
The permit was mentioned on the phone and left off the bid. Three weeks later the inspector asks for it.
A 40-gallon power-vent price got compared to your 50-gallon standard-vent price because neither bid said which.
The bid went out two days after the visit. By then the customer had two other numbers and one of them was in writing first.

A finished plumbing bid, line by line

Four sample plumbing estimates, written the way the bid should read: water heater replacement, tankless install, sewer line replacement, and whole-house repipe. Each one shows the scope lines, the price, the terms, and what to spell out on that job. The plumbing proposal template is the same layout as a blank PDF.

Deposit and payment terms

When you are buying the unit before the visit, half at signing and half on completion is the norm, and the deposit covers the heater. If you stock heaters, some plumbers take nothing down on a same-day swap and collect in full when the water is back on. On a repipe or sewer line, half down is standard because the materials and the dig are real money before the customer sees anything finished. Whatever you choose, put it on the bid and collect the deposit when they sign, not the day you show up. More on this in how much deposit to ask for.

Getting more plumbing jobs from the bids you already write

The plumber who sends a written bid before leaving the driveway wins more than the one with the lowest price. Send it as a text with a link, not an email they have to find. If they have not signed in three days, follow up once with a short message, and once more at a week. Ask every finished customer for a review while you are still standing in their kitchen. Those four habits are worth more than any marketing you can buy.

If you want the typing done for you, BidWriter Pro turns "repl 50 gal gas water heater, haul off, expansion tank" into a clean bid your customer signs on their phone, with the deposit paid by card. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Questions contractors ask

How much should I charge for a water heater replacement?

Build it from your numbers: labor hours at your shop rate, materials at cost plus markup, the permit on its own line, and disposal. In many markets a standard 50-gallon gas swap lands between $1,800 and $3,000 installed. Your costs decide where in that range you are.

Should I bid plumbing by the hour or by the job?

By the job, for anything you can see. Customers want one number. Hourly, or per foot, is for the parts you cannot see yet, and the bid should say that out loud.

Do I put the permit on the bid?

Yes, on its own line, with who pulls it. A permit left off the bid is the most common plumbing dispute there is.

Write a plumbing bid from your notes

Type the job the way you would text it. It comes back as a finished estimate in about five seconds, in your words. No account.

Type a job the way you would text it

Only what you type goes on the estimate. Nothing gets added.

No account needed to try it.

30 days free, then $29 a month. No card to start.

Free, no account: estimate checker, job price calculator, markup vs margin, hourly rate, and 84 sample estimates.