PLUMBING PRICING GUIDE
How much should a plumber charge?
The 2026 US hourly rates, service call fees, flat prices for the jobs you do every week and what to charge after hours — and a free calculator that turns them into a price you can put on your website.
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The short answer
Most residential plumbers charge $80 to $130 an hour for standard work, plus a service call fee of $75 to $150 (Housecall Pro, September 2026).
Common jobs are usually priced flat: $125 to $300 to clear a drain, $100 to $250 for a toilet repair, $150 to $400 for a minor leak and $200 to $450 to install a garbage disposal.
After-hours, weekend and emergency work runs 1.5 to 3 times the standard rate — $150 to $300 an hour — and parts are usually marked up 40% to 60% (Housecall Pro).
Charge a flat price for the jobs you do every week and hourly plus a service call for the ones you can't see yet: customers want a number up front, and a flat price rewards you for getting faster.
FREE PRICE CALCULATOR
What should I charge for this job?
Pick a common repair or project for a flat price, or hourly work with the time it takes and whether it's after hours. The range uses the published 2026 US rates in the table below.
Suggested price
$125–$300
common repair (flat price), drain clearing
A starting range from published US rates, before parts — not a quote for a customer. Check it against your own costs (the formula below) and your local market before you put it on your price list.
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Put your plumbing prices where customers look
Add your town, and Zarla builds your plumbing website from this one line. Then tell the editor “add a pricing section” with your prices, and change them any time.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
RATES · SEPTEMBER 2026
Plumber rates and job prices (2026)
Typical US residential rates and flat prices. Water heaters vary most: Jobber puts a tank water heater install at $800–$2,000 and a tankless one at $1,400–$3,900 (April 2026), against Housecall Pro's $1,600–$7,000 for a replacement.
| The job | Typical US price · source |
|---|---|
| Common repair (flat price) | Drain clearing: $125–$300 · Toilet repair: $100–$250 · Minor leak repair: $150–$400 · Faucet or fixture install: $150–$535 · Garbage disposal install: $200–$450 · Housecall Pro |
| Replacement project (flat price) | Water heater replacement: $1,600–$7,000 · Sewer line replacement: $3,000–$10,000 · Whole-home repipe: $4,000–$15,000 · Housecall Pro |
| Hourly work (residential) | $80–$130 per hour · about $160–$260 for 2 hours · Housecall Pro |
| Hourly, full range by job, timing and certification | $45–$200 an hour · Jobber |
Rates read off each publisher's page in September 2026. The calculator above uses exactly these numbers. Full source list below.
ADD-ONS AND ADJUSTMENTS
What to charge for service calls and after-hours work
The trip and the timing are part of the job — charge for both.
| What | Typical US price · source |
|---|---|
| When: after hours, weekend or emergency | 50%–200% more · Housecall Pro |
| Service call fee | +$75–$150 · Housecall Pro |
Where a row shows a sum (a rate × a quantity, or a percentage worked out from published dollar ranges), the arithmetic is ours and the inputs are the publisher's.
THE PRICING FORMULA
How to price a plumbing job
Six steps from your costs to the number on your price list.
Know your true cost per hour
Burdened labor (wages, taxes, benefits and non-billable time) plus overhead. Housecall Pro's example: $43.75 labor + $60 overhead = $103.75 an hour.
Add your margin
Housecall Pro's example adds 20% to the $103.75, for $124.50 an hour.
Build flat prices from cost
Labor + materials + overhead for the job, then price = cost ÷ (1 − target margin) (Jobber).
Mark up parts
Housecall Pro puts the usual markup on parts and materials at 40%–60%.
Set a service call fee
$75–$150 to cover the trip and the diagnosis (Housecall Pro); Jobber puts a standard service call at $75–$125.
Price after-hours work
1.5–3× the standard rate for nights, weekends and emergencies (Housecall Pro and Jobber).
The formula, worked through
Say it's a clogged drain. Housecall Pro's market range for drain clearing is $125–$300.
Jobber's worked example: two hours of labor at $28.80 an hour is $57.60, materials are $50 and overhead is two hours at $8 ($16) — $123.60 in cost. For a 25% margin, divide by 0.75: $123.60 ÷ 0.75 = $164.80.
About $165 sits inside the market range, so “drain clearing from $165” is a fair line for your price list. After hours, Housecall Pro and Jobber put the rate at 1.5–3× standard — price those calls hourly.
The figures are Jobber's example; your wages, overhead and parts are what make it yours.
What to charge in your area
The ranges on this page are US national figures. Prices follow local costs: the Bureau of Economic Analysis puts overall prices in California at 110.7 against a US average of 100, and Arkansas at 86.9 (2024 regional price parities, released February 2026). So a $200 drain job in an average market is about $220 in California and about $175 in Arkansas.
Service call fees follow the same pattern: Jobber puts a standard service call at $75–$125 and suggests staying at the lower end in rural or low-cost markets and going higher in urban or high-overhead areas (April 2026).
Outside the US, treat the ranges as a shape, not a price — a service call for the trip, flat prices for routine jobs and more for after-hours work hold everywhere — and check what local plumbers list on their own websites.
Put your prices on your website
A price list — even “from” prices — answers a customer's first question before they pick up the phone, and it's the line an AI assistant can quote when someone asks what plumbing costs near them.
If you build your site with Zarla, tell the editor “add a pricing section: drain clearing from $165, service calls from $75” and your prices go on the site, in a section you can edit any time. Want to see a finished site first? Browse plumbing website templates or see how Zarla builds plumbing websites.
Still setting up? Write your plumbing business plan, and when the prices are set, read SEO for plumbers.
Plumber rates: common questions
$80–$130 an hour for standard residential work (Housecall Pro, September 2026). Jobber puts the full range at $45–$200 an hour, depending on the job, the timing and the plumber's certification level. The calculator above works out any number of hours, with the service call.
$75–$150 (Housecall Pro), or $75–$125 (Jobber). It covers the trip and the diagnosis; an emergency dispatch runs $150–$350 or more (Housecall Pro).
1.5–3 times your standard rate (Housecall Pro and Jobber) — $150–$300 an hour at Housecall Pro's figures, or $150–$250 for an emergency call in Jobber's.
$125–$300 for drain clearing (Housecall Pro), or $150–$400 for drain cleaning (Jobber). Jobber's worked example comes to about $165.
Housecall Pro puts a water heater replacement at $1,600–$7,000. Jobber puts a tank install at $800–$2,000 and a tankless install at $1,400–$3,900. Price parts and haul-away as their own lines.
40%–60% on parts and materials (Housecall Pro). The markup covers sourcing, the trip to the supplier and the parts you warranty.
Flat rate for the jobs you do every week — drains, toilets, faucets, disposals — so the customer knows the price up front. Hourly plus a service call for diagnosis and work you can't size until you see it.
Yes — your service call fee and “from” prices for common jobs. It answers the first question before the call and gives an AI assistant a real number to quote. On a Zarla site, tell the editor “add a pricing section” with your prices, and change them any time.
Where these numbers come from
Every range on this page is read off a published source, dated below. They're US figures for residential work — typical, not a rule; your costs and your market come first.
- Housecall Pro — 2026 Plumbing Price Guide: Average Rates & How to Estimate — dated September 2026, read September 2026
- Jobber — How to Price a Plumbing Job: Plumbers Pricing Guide for Higher Profits — dated April 2026, read September 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — regional price parities by state, 2024 — dated February 2026, read September 2026
Put your plumbing prices on your website
Add your town and your business name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line. Your prices go in a pricing section you edit by chat.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.