How to price a plumbing job in the UK

I'd guess most plumbers set their rate by looking at what other plumbers charge. That tells you what the market will pay. It doesn't tell you whether you'll make any money at that price.

So work it out in this order: what you need, then what the market pays, then how you'll charge.

What UK plumbers charge

Here's what the published guides say. I've kept them side by side, because they don't agree.

Two warnings. Checkatrade and MyJobQuote both sell leads to tradespeople, and none of these guides shows its method or sample. Checkatrade also gives different day rates in different guides. Use these numbers to sense-check your price. Don't use them to set it.

Location matters too. MyJobQuote's city table puts London at £75 to £95 an hour, against £55 to £70 in Leeds, Birmingham and Liverpool. It sits on an emergency plumbing page, so it may run high.

Work out your real hourly rate

You need three numbers: what you want to earn, what the business costs to run, and how many hours you can bill.

That sits inside the published range, which is a good sign. It also shows why a plumber on £45 an hour can be busy and still short of money. At £45 an hour, those same 1,104 hours bring in £49,680. That's £11,920 less than the example needs.

Billable hours do most of the work

Most of the week isn't billable. Driving, buying parts, pricing, chasing and invoicing all take time, and nobody pays you for them directly. The 60% above is my working assumption, not a published figure. Track two normal weeks and use your own.

Moving from 50% to 70% takes £19 an hour off the rate you need. That's why admin isn't a side issue. Every hour you stop spending on calls and chasing either becomes a billable hour or an hour back with your family.

Choose how you'll charge

For regular jobs, I'd move towards a fixed price list. Customers like knowing the number. It also rewards you for being quick, where hourly pay punishes it.

Here's a tap, using the example rate. Allow 1.5 hours on site: £84 at £56 an hour. Add a £60 tap with a 20% mark-up: £72. That's £156 before VAT. Checkatrade's tap guide shows £140 to £260 for most tap replacements, but it also gives £140 as labour only, and its dates conflict, so check it against your own area.

Quote or estimate?

These words mean different things to a customer, so use the right one.

• A quote is a fixed price. Citizens Advice tells customers to ask for one.
• An estimate is a rough guess. If the final bill is much higher, the customer can dispute it, and the price should be reasonable.
• If no price was agreed, the law says the customer pays a reasonable price, and no more.

Citizens Advice says a contractor can't charge more than a quote unless the customer asks for extra work, agrees to pay for extra work they were told about, or the contractor made a genuine calculation mistake. That's from Citizens Advice's Scotland page. We couldn't open the England version, so check it if you're in England or Wales. So put in writing what's included, what isn't, and how you'll handle surprises.

Hidden pipework is the classic one. A simple line works: "If we find further faults behind the wall, we'll stop, show you and agree the price before we carry on."

The 14-day rule that catches plumbers out

If you agree a job in a customer's home, that's usually an off-premises contract under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. If they accept later by phone, email or text, different rules may apply, so don't assume you're in the clear. Ask your trade association.

There are two exceptions that matter to plumbers. There's no right to cancel where the customer specifically asked you to visit for urgent repairs or maintenance, though anything extra you sell on that visit isn't covered by the exception. And off-premises contracts of £42 or less fall outside these rules.

Your quote template should include the cancellation notice and a line the customer signs if they want you to start straight away. A burst pipe isn't the problem here. A £3,000 boiler swap agreed at the kitchen table is. If a customer cancels on day 10 and you never gave them the notice, you could be out of pocket.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your trade association may have a compliant form.

Don't forget VAT

You must register for VAT if your taxable turnover passes £90,000 in any 12 months, or you expect it to in the next 30 days. Once you're registered, domestic customers usually pay 20% on top, or you absorb it. Some work can be taxed differently, so ask your accountant.

At the example rate, £56 becomes £67.20 with VAT. If you're close to the threshold, price for it before you cross it. Putting prices up the month you register is a hard conversation. Get your accountant to run the numbers first.

Raise your prices without losing the good customers

• Put your rates up once a year, on a set date.
• Tell your regular customers first, in a short and plain message.
• Drop the jobs you hate pricing for, or price them so you're happy either way.
• Follow up every quote. A quote nobody chases is often lost on silence, not on price.

Our text templates for plumbers include a quote follow-up you can copy.

David Bell, founder of Real Business Systems

David helps small UK businesses get found, answer every enquiry and keep customers coming back. We sell some of the services mentioned here, and we say so where they come up.