Let's Talk about Plumbing Prices

For too long, prices for plumbing services have been obscured, hair-raising, and stress-inducing. You already have to deal with an unexpected emergency expense that eats into your budget. Why should you also stress about whether or not you’re being overcharged? Responses like “ripped off” or “taken advantage of” are far too common.

As a homeowner, I first encountered this during Snowpocalypse here in Central Texas. All hands were on deck to repair the neighborhood plumbing. Though our plumbing survived, I remember hearing about charges at the time of $300 per hour. Naturally curious, I looked up the average pay for a licensed plumber, which was $25 per hour at that time. How in the world was there that big of a difference between a company rate and the plumber’s pay?!

When home services companies offer promotions, I assume they inflate their quote to make up for the discount. How do I know that I’m saving anything or that there prices are competitive in the first place?

If you are asking the same questions about your plumbing service company, let’s get real and transparent about prices today.

Flat Rate vs. Hourly

Gone are the days of billing hourly. If you encounter a plumber still charging by the hour, they need to catch up with the times. Flat rate and upfront prices are the new standard in residential plumbing service. Why?

Not knowing what you are going to pay before the service begins causes tremendous stress for a homeowner, and billing by the hour incentivizes the wrong behaviors. You start to watch your clock throughout the experience and pay attention to every specific thing your plumber does to ensure they are not wasting any time. Meanwhile your hourly plumber wants to take as much time as possible, because the paycheck represents the livelihood of their family. Hourly billing creates a conflict of interest between you and your plumber.

Upfront and flat rate prices ease that stress and align incentives. Whether it takes longer or shorter than expected, you know exactly what you’ll be paying. And your plumber can take the time they need to complete the job well, without the pressure of time creating opportunities for mistakes.

How Rates are Determined

But the truth is that behind the flat rate prices is an hourly rate and some math. After all, plumbing repairs are a service bounded by time. So what do companies do? They build a price book based on a “billable hour” that mathematically covers all their expenses and leaves some for a profit. If you want the detailed math, you’ll have to buy me a cup of coffee, but here are some of the major categories of expenses:

1. Labor

Obvious, yes. But you may not realize that many jobs require two people, AND you need supporting staff required to properly dispatch plumbing technicians and communicate with customers. A competitive wage for a journeyman plumber in Austin on the date of this blog is $35-40. But when you add in helpers and supporting staff, you can easily double that number.

2. Vehicles & Equipment

Plumbers come to you, so reliable transportation is absolutely necessary. The cost to purchase and outfit a vehicle with all the equipment, material, and van wraps can easily exceed $50,000. Most owners will finance or lease most of this investment, so it becomes a significant expense to factor into the billable hour.

3. Rent

At some point a company will transition from operating from home to a central location. It increases the team’s efficiency, and more importantly creates a place for team cohesion. As a homeowner, you may not immediately care about this extra overhead, but you may care that the company you hire is more stable and will be around to stand behind their work.

4. Insurance

Proper insurance is critical for a professional operation. When I took over this business, our insurance increased year-over-year 50%! Our most recent renewal saw a 30% increase. Our team is extremely meticulous and we have very few claims, but the insurance industry is going through some major changes and rising prices.

5. Advertising

Oh, the dreaded Marketing expense. Business owners don’t like paying it, and homeowners don’t want to pay the higher prices of a company that spends it. I recently interacted with a customer who chose us because we are a local, family run operation. He commented how he doesn’t like paying the prices of bigger companies that advertise. Ironically, he found us through a paid advertisement on Google. The reason large companies advertise is because it works, not because they like charging higher prices or spending lots of money on it.

There are other expenses, but these five make up most of it. And yes, there does need to be a profit. If your plumber is not making a profit, they won’t be around in a few years for your next plumbing need or to back up that warranty.

What Kind of Plumber

The main question we are trying to answer is, “Am I paying fair prices for my plumbing repair?” But you also have to consider what kind of plumber you intend to hire.

Consider the difference between a Motel 6, a Hilton, or a Ritz Carlton hotel. They all have beds, showers, and overnight reservations, but they charge wildly different prices. Yet, no one complains about the prices. If the prices of a Ritz Carlton are too high, you simply choose a different hotel.

In residential plumbing service, you have three types of companies:

1. Dan in a Van
2. Locally-Owned
3. Private Equity Owned

“Dan in a Van” is an independent master plumber with a van and a good set of equipment he built over his career. He is a solid craftsman and has a small network of people who trust him, but he may not have great customer service skills. Since he operates from his home, he has very little overhead. He may carry insurance, and hopefully he picks up the phone when you need him. Since his livelihood depends on getting paid, he may be difficult to track down for smaller jobs or warranty calls. Right now, Dan in a Van is probably charging between $175 and $300 per hour. Anything less, and you’re probably talking to someone without a license, or your plumber will soon be working for another company.

With a handful of trucks, your “Locally-Owned” plumbing company has set up some systems and processes to provide a better customer experience. Overhead increases to support the larger operation, but the customer experience also gets better because there are communication channels that don’t depend on a single person. They also have enough field technicians to cover smaller jobs and warranty work, even if the original technician is unavailable. They are probably spending money on Marketing, but not at the same high levels of a private equity company. Homeowners get a better and more reliable experience. These companies have flat rate price books based on a billable hour between $350 and $500.

Private equity companies are buying up plumbing companies with the same fervency as I bought beanie babies in the 90s. (I only wish that investment had paid off!) PEs have raised the bar of professionalism in the industry, but their focus on the bottom line has transformed honest plumbers into pushy salesmen. They are big enough to cover emergency hours, so many homeowners may choose them simply due to their availability. Since revenue growth is top priority, they will outspend all the local companies on marketing. They have also recognized that most homeowners only deal with plumbing issues every few years, so the goal is to extract the maximum value from each household on one trip. PE-owned companies are currently charging $600 to $700 per billable hour.

So what kind of plumber do you intend to hire?

Holy Cow! How Much, and What About my Internet Search?

The first time I got a peak under the hood, those rates are shocking. Most internet sites report prices at the low end of this range. If you search “what does a plumber charge in Austin Texas”, you’ll get an AI-generated response of $45 to $200. So why are these numbers so different?

The short answer frankly is that the Internet is not a reliable source for current prices of any home service. I could write an entire blog about how the Internet ranking algorithms will naturally produce inaccurate information, but let’s hold for now.

The Real Question Worth Asking

As homeowners and consumers, the question we really want answered is whether the price is reflective of the value delivered. If you feel ripped off or taken advantage of, it most likely has more to do with the experience (i.e. what was communicated, how changes were managed, etc.). We all spend money on things we value. Convenience, consultation, communication, cleanliness, and more…all factor into the price we feel good about paying.

Our Pricing Strategy

At Good Clean Plumbing, we aim to provide a high-value, hospitable service at a reasonable rate. Keeping prices low for homeowners while paying good wages for the best plumbers is a tricky business. It forces us to operate more efficiently so that we can pass on savings to you and our employees. And we hire incredible plumbers!

When you hire Good Clean Plumbing, you can trust that you will receive a high quality service at a competitive rate. We're not the cheapest, nor the most expensive, but we are the best plumbers in Central Texas and the only plumbers who care as much about your home and family as you do.