Flat-rate price book builder for plumbing and HVAC

Key facts

• The hourly rate you need is your loaded labor cost plus overhead per billable hour, divided by one minus your target net profit. The builder shows both numbers so you can see the gap.
• Billable hours, not paid hours, decide your overhead per hour. Drive time, shop time and callbacks you do not bill all push that cost up.
• Markup and margin are different. A 25% markup on cost is a 20% margin on price. Mixing them up is one of the most common pricing mistakes in the trades.
• Every wage, overhead figure, task time and parts cost in the builder is an example to replace. None of it is an industry price list.

How to use the Flat-Rate Price Book Builder

1. Enter your real costs. Average tech wage, payroll burden, yearly overhead, number of techs and billable hours per tech.
2. Set your target. Your target net profit and a handling charge on parts for ordering, stocking and returns.
3. Load and edit tasks. Start from the plumbing or HVAC list and change hours and parts to match your invoices. Add your own tasks.
4. Compare with today. Type in what you charge now to see which tasks lose money or fall short of your target.
5. Round and add options. Round up to a clean number and, if you want, add good, better and best prices.
6. Print or export. Print the book for the trucks or download a CSV for your field software.

What is a flat-rate price book?

A flat-rate price book is a list of your common tasks with one upfront price for each. The customer hears the price before the work starts, the tech does not have to watch the clock, and the office stops arguing about hours on invoices.

A good book is not a list of numbers someone else picked. It is built from your own costs, so every price covers the tech's time, your overhead, the parts and the profit you need to keep the doors open.

How to price plumbing jobs

1. Work out your loaded labor. Tech wage plus payroll taxes, workers comp, benefits and paid time off.
2. Spread overhead over billable hours. Rent, trucks, fuel, insurance, office staff, software and marketing, divided by the hours your techs actually bill.
3. Price each task. Task hours times labor plus overhead, plus parts with a handling charge.
4. Add profit the right way. Divide by one minus your target margin. Do not just add a percentage on top.
5. Round and test. Round up to a clean number and check it against what your best techs say the job really takes.

The builder does all five steps as you type.

How to price HVAC jobs

The method is the same, with two differences. HVAC parts like motors, capacitors and coils swing more in price, so update parts costs more often. And HVAC work is seasonal: billable hours drop in mild months, which pushes overhead per hour up. Use a full year of billable hours so the slow months are counted.

HVAC flat rate pricing vs time and materials

Time and materials looks fair on paper, but it punishes your fastest techs and makes customers nervous about the clock. Flat rate shifts the risk to you, so it only works if your task times are honest. If a task regularly runs long, raise the hours in the book rather than letting techs eat the time.

Many shops use both: flat rate for common repairs and installs, time and materials for diagnosis on unusual work or big remodel jobs.

Markup vs margin: the mistake that sinks price books

If a job costs you $400 and you add 20%, you charge $480. Your margin is $80 on $480, which is about 16.7%, not 20%. To keep 20% of the price as profit, divide cost by 0.8 and charge $500.

Small gap per job, big gap over a year. The builder always uses margin on price, and the margin check column shows what each price really keeps.

Good, better, best options at the kitchen table

Offering three prices lets the customer choose, which usually feels better than a single take-it-or-leave-it number. It only works when each option is really different: a better part, a longer warranty, an extra like a surge protector or an expansion tank. Write down what each level includes so every tech presents it the same way.

Plumbing price book or HVAC price book: build your own or buy one?

Field service software and pricing services sell ready-made books with thousands of tasks. They save setup time, but their prices still have to be adjusted to your costs. Building your own core book first, even 30 to 50 tasks, tells you what your numbers need to be, so you can judge any book you buy.

Field notes from our team

• Time a task over ten jobs before you lock the hours. One fast job is not the average.
• Update parts costs from supplier invoices every quarter, more often for HVAC parts.
• Keep diagnostic and trip fees separate and clear, so the task price stays clean.
• Review the whole book once a year when wages, insurance and fuel change.
• Train techs on why the prices are what they are. Confident techs close more.

Building your own book vs buying one vs time and materials

Frequently asked questions

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