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PR-05Pricing

Flat-rate task price calculator

Turn one task’s standard time, your billable rate and its parts into an up-front price — built the same way every time, with the floor it must never go under drawn in red.

Your task price

How to build the price

Example task: 1.5 standard hours at the example shop’s $125.20 rate, $85 of parts. Your parts markup finishes the price — the tool has no default.

Last step · Your parts markup

Labor and parts at cost come to $272.80; your markup finishes the price.

Round numbers, not a recommendation: no source gives a typical parts markup. Set yours from what buying, handling, stocking and warrantying parts costs you.

Last step: your parts markup. Labor and parts at cost come to $272.80; your markup finishes the price.

Price and cost, side by sideDrawn to scale: every dollar the same height
Flat-rate price for the example task, drawn to scaleTwo columns on one dollar scale. Price: labor $187.80, parts $85.00 at cost, with your parts markup still to add on top, allowance $0.00, after-hours $0.00, rounding $0.20, to $273.00. Cost: $254.02 including the allowance — the red margin floor.123456$0Margin floor$254.02Subtotal$272.80PriceCost

Price

  1. Labor at your rate1.5 h × $125.20$187.80
  2. Parts at cost$85.00
  3. Parts markup — enter yours

Cost

  1. Labor cost1.5 h × $66.07$99.11
  2. Overhead + truck1.5 h × $46.61$69.92
  3. Parts$85.00
Margin floor
$254.02full cost
Labor part
$187.801.5 h × $125.20
Parts
$85.00at cost, before markup

(1.5 h × $125.20) + $85.00 × (1 + your markup)

Already showing the example.

If you also charge a trip or service-call fee, don’t build the drive into the standard hours as well.

Change the numbers

The task

Your own average time for this task, from your tickets. The 1.5 h is an example.

Already carries overhead, truck and profit — so no overhead line is added. Example shop: $125.20 from the labor rate calculator.

What the parts cost you, including any sales tax you paid. The $85 is an example.

Yours to set — the tool has no default, and no source gives a typical one.

For return trips under warranty: about your callback rate × (callback cost ÷ average ticket). Default 0.

When and how it’s priced×1 · up to $1
After-hours multiplier

A pricing choice: multiplies the whole price.

Round the price up to
Your costs per billable hour$66.07 + $46.61

Per billable hour. Example shop: $66.07.

Per billable hour. Example shop: $32.87 + $13.74.

Margin floor$254.02full cost of the task + allowance

Used only for the margin floor and the net margin the price earns.

Labor and parts at cost: $272.80. Your parts markup finishes the price. Back to the result

How the math works

The rate method builds the price from your billable rate, which already carries overhead, the truck and profit — so no overhead line is added on top. The margin method starts from full cost instead. Both use your own standard hours: the site publishes no task times and no task prices.

  1. Labor partstandard hours × your billable rateExample: 1.5 h × $125.20 = $187.80.
  2. Parts partparts cost × (1 + your markup)Example only: $85 at 50% = $127.50. The tool has no default markup.
  3. Callback allowance(labor part + parts part) × allowance %Default 0%. Roughly your callback rate × (average callback cost ÷ average ticket). Example: 2%.
  4. After hours× the multiplierA pricing choice. Example: $321.61 × 1.5 = $482.41 (full precision is kept inside), rounded up to $485.
  5. Round upto the next $1 (or $5, $10)Example: $321.61 → $322. Full precision inside; only shown figures are rounded.
  6. Margin floor(hours × (loaded labor + overhead + truck) + parts) × (1 + allowance)Example: ($254.02) × 1.02 = $259.10 (full precision is kept inside). Below it the task loses money.
  7. Net margin earned(price − margin floor) ÷ priceExample: ($322 − $259.10) ÷ $322 = 19.53%.
  8. Margin methodmargin floor ÷ (1 − target net margin)Example at 10%: $287.89. Lower than the rate method’s $322, because it puts one margin on everything instead of profit on labor plus a markup on parts.

Where the example numbers come from

Billable rate
$125.20 an hourLabor rate calculator, example shop (BLS, IRS, DOL and AAA defaults; $120,000 overhead is an editorial example)
Loaded labor cost
$66.07 per billable hourLabor rate calculator, example shop
Overhead + truck
$46.61 per billable hourLabor rate calculator: $32.87 overhead + $13.74 truck
Standard hours, parts
1.5 h · $85Editorial example — not a task time or a parts price from any price book
Parts markup
NoneRequired: no source gives a typical markup, so the tool supplies none
Callback allowance
0%Editorial choice (no source for a typical callback rate), 2026-10-04
After-hours multiplier
×1Editorial choice (1 = normal hours), 2026-10-04
Rounding
Up to the next $1Editorial choice, 2026-10-04
Target net margin
10% of the priceServiceTitan blog (software vendor), low end of "10–20% healthy", July 2026

Before you use the number

  • Standard hours must come from your own job history. The tool has no task times, and the site publishes none.
  • With flat rate, the shop carries the time risk: a job that runs long costs you, not the customer (Workiz, a software vendor). Track actual against standard hours and update the book.
  • The rate already contains overhead and profit. Adding an overhead allocation on top of a fully loaded rate, as some published formulas do, counts it twice.
  • The two methods give different prices because the rate method earns profit on labor and a markup on parts, while the margin method applies one target margin to everything.
  • After-hours multipliers are a pricing choice. Federal law requires overtime pay only for hours over 40 in a workweek — not for weekends or holidays as such — and does not require extra pay for night work. Consumer guides describe emergency pricing at about 1.5 to 3 times normal; that is a rule of thumb, not a standard.
  • Parts prices change. Re-price tasks when supplier costs move.

Sources

Opened and checked October 4, 2026. Software vendors are labelled as such; the worked examples are the site’s own arithmetic.

  1. Plumbing Price Book: What It Is & How to Build OneSimpro (software vendor)
  2. How to Build a Plumbing Flat Rate Price BookWorkiz (software vendor)
  3. Plumbing Flat Rate Pricing TemplateHousecall Pro (software vendor)
  4. How to Price a Plumbing Job (Formula + Example)ShiftFlow (software vendor)
  5. What Flat Rate Plumbing Pricing Covers (and Why It Beats Hourly)Roto-Rooter (plumbing company)
  6. How Much Does Plumbing Repair Cost? (updated March 17, 2026)Angi (consumer cost guide)
  7. Understanding HVAC Profit MarginsServiceTitan (software vendor)
  8. Overtime PayU.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division
  9. Night Work and Shift WorkU.S. Department of Labor
  10. Worksheet – Pricing Models for Successful BusinessU.S. Small Business Administration (SBA Ascent)

  • 1.01In-depth guide

    Flat Rate vs Time and Materials: The Break-Even Math

    How flat-rate and time-and-materials prices are built, one job priced both ways, where a flat price stops paying, and how to switch one task over.

    (322 − 85) ÷ 112.68 = 2.1033 h

    Length
    11 min
    Updated

  • 1.08Guide

    How to Build a Flat-Rate Price Book, Step by Step

    Build a flat-rate price book from your own numbers: task list, standard hours, billable rate, parts markup, callback allowance, price tiers and upkeep.

    (1.5 × $112.68 + $85) × 1.02 = $259.10

    Length
    6 min
    Updated

Tools for the job

Tool listPlumbing4 itemsSpecs read

As an Amazon Associate, Trade Price Book earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are marked “(paid link)”; prices aren’t shown here.

  1. Drain machinesMilwaukee 2871-22

    M18 FUEL Sewer Sectional Machine w/ CABLE DRIVE Kit

    • Cordless sectional machine for 2 in. to 8 in. sewer laterals, rated to clear roots up to 200 ft out.

    Specs: Milwaukee product page, read

    Search on Amazon for Milwaukee 2871-22(paid link)

  2. Drain machinesRIDGID K-400

    K-400 Drum Machine

    • 3/8 in. cable for 1-1/2 to 3 in. lines and 1/2 in. cable for 3 to 4 in. lines; RIDGID notes it is not designed for root removal.

    Specs: RIDGID product page, read

    View on Amazon for RIDGID K-400(paid link)

  3. Inspection cameras and locatorsRIDGID micro CA-350

    micro CA-350 Inspection Camera

    • 3.5 in. color display with a 17 mm camera head lit by 4 adjustable LEDs.

    Specs: RIDGID product page, read

    View on Amazon for RIDGID micro CA-350(paid link)

  4. Inspection cameras and locatorsRIDGID NaviTrack Scout

    NaviTrack Scout Locator

    • Sonde frequencies 512 Hz, 640 Hz, 874 Hz and 33 kHz; line-trace 128 Hz, 8 kHz and 33 kHz; passive 50/60 Hz.

    Specs: RIDGID product page, read

    View on Amazon for RIDGID NaviTrack Scout(paid link)

How tools are chosen for gear listsAll 16 plumbing tools