FREE PLUMBING WORK ORDER TEMPLATE
Free plumbing work order template — the sheet the tech takes to the job
A plumbing work order in Word and PDF, filled in for a water heater replacement: the service call, parts and labor on their own lines, the shut-offs, the permit, the haul-away and a completion block — every line explained, with the invoice it turns into.
Word and PDF · Free · No email, no sign-up
The short answer
A plumbing work order is the instruction to do one job: who it's for, where, when, exactly what work and what parts, by whom. It needs a work order number and date, the quote number, the customer and the job site with the shut-off locations and access notes, the schedule and the tech, every task and part on its own line, the permit if the job needs one, what's not included, and a completion block: who did it, when, time on site, the old unit's model and serial, photos.
It sits between the quote and the invoice. On a water heater job the three carry the same lines — the service call, the labor, the heater, the fittings, the permit, the haul-away — which is the point: when the work order is the accepted quote written for the tech, the invoice bills exactly what was quoted and done.
Write it for the person who didn't do the site visit. “Main shut-off at the meter, gas valve at the heater, basement stairs right of the kitchen, customer wants the old tank gone today” gets the job done the way it was sold. “Replace water heater” gets a phone call at 8:15.
FREE TEMPLATE · WORD AND PDF
The plumbing work order template, filled in
Below is the template filled in for Blue Valve Plumbing, a fictional plumbing business — the same one whose invoice our plumbing invoice template draws, so you can see the invoice is written from this work order, line for line. The download is the same work order with [bracketed] lines to replace — free, no email address, no sign-up.
Example · fictional business
Blue Valve Plumbing Kansas City, MO (816) 555-0142 · hello@bluevalve.example License # 000000 (example) | WORK ORDER |
Customer Dana Whitfield 2210 Holmes St Kansas City, MO (816) 555-0121 · home all day | Job site Same address · basement utility room, stairs to the right of the kitchen Water shut-off: main valve at the meter, basement wall · gas shut-off: valve at the heater Park on the street. No pets. Customer wants the old heater gone the same day. |
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service call Diagnose leaking tank | 1 | $89.00 | $89.00 |
| Water heater replacement — labor Flat rate: drain, disconnect, install, test | 1 | $450.00 | $450.00 |
| 40-gallon gas water heater Model and serial on the tank label | 1 | $875.00 | $875.00 |
| Expansion tank, valves and fittings | 1 | $96.00 | $96.00 |
| City plumbing permit | 1 | $65.00 | $65.00 |
| Haul away old water heater | 1 | $45.00 | $45.00 |
| Subtotal | $1,620.00 | ||
| Sales tax, 7% on parts (example) | $67.97 | ||
| Total | $1,687.97 | ||
| Balance to collect on completion | $1,687.97 | ||
Work requested
Replace the leaking 40-gallon gas water heater in the basement with a new 40-gallon gas unit; add an expansion tank; new supply valves and flex connectors; test for gas and water leaks; light the pilot and set it to 120°F. The customer chose the standard-vent unit on quote 1044.
Not included — quote separately
Venting changes if the flue is undersized, drywall or flooring repair, a drain pan and drain line if there's no floor drain. If you find any of it, stop and call the office.
Materials to load
40-gal gas heater (model on the quote), expansion tank, two ¾ in. ball valves, flex connectors, gas flex and sediment trap, pipe dope and tape, dolly and straps.
Shut-offs and tests
Shut off water at the main and gas at the heater valve before you start. Check every gas joint with the detector; run the kitchen hot tap until it's clear. Write the readings here: ______
Completion
Completed by ____________ Date ______ · Time on site ______ · Old heater on the truck ☐ · Model and serial of the new unit written down ☐ · Before and after photos ☐
Every figure on the example is an example, not a price guide. The Word file is a standard .docx you can edit in Word, Google Docs or any app that opens Word documents; the PDF prints as-is for a clipboard. Prices are optional on a work order — leave the money columns blank on an internal one.
The quote before, the invoice after
Start your plumbing website — quotes and invoices are built in
Add your business name and your town, and Zarla builds your plumbing website from this one line. The same dashboard sends the quote this work order comes from and the invoice it turns into — Zarla doesn't make work orders, so the template above fills the gap between them.
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.
LINE BY LINE
What goes on a plumbing work order
Every line on the template, in order, and what to write on it.
| The line | What to put there |
|---|---|
| The words Work Order | At the top, so nobody files it as a quote or pays it as an invoice. |
| Your business details and license | Business name, phone, email and your plumbing license number — most states want it on the paperwork, and the customer keeps this sheet. |
| Work order number, date, and the quote it comes from | A number that never repeats, the date you wrote it, and the quote the customer said yes to. Matching numbers on the quote, the work order and the invoice is what makes a job findable a year later. |
| Scheduled, assigned to, and the permit | The date and start time, the tech, and the permit number if the job needs one — a water heater, a repipe or sewer work does in most US cities. |
| Customer, and the job site | Who it's for and how to reach them on the day; where the work is in the house; where the water and gas shut-offs are; parking, access, pets, who'll be home. |
| One line per task or part | The labor and each part on its own line, in the same words as the quote, with quantities. Parts carry make, model and size; the tech writes the serial on the day. Keep the prices if the customer gets a copy; blank them on an internal sheet. |
| Totals, deposit and the balance to collect | Subtotal, tax where it applies, the total, any deposit received, and what's left to collect when the water's back on. In the US, whether sales tax applies to your work — and whether it falls on the materials, the labor, both or neither — depends on your state, so keep materials and labor on separate lines and check your state's revenue department or your accountant. Outside the US: a GST-registered business in Australia or New Zealand and a VAT-registered business in the UK or EU show consumers prices that include the GST or VAT, and show the tax on the invoice the same way. Confirm the details with your accountant. |
| Work requested, and what's not included | The job in the customer's words, and the list of things that aren't part of it — venting changes, drywall, a drain pan — so the tech stops and calls instead of doing a $300 favor. |
| Shut-offs and tests, and completion | What to shut off before starting, what to test before leaving, and the readings; then who completed it, when, the time on site, the old unit off the property, the new unit's model and serial, and the photos. |
STEP BY STEP
How to write a plumbing work order
Five minutes once the quote is accepted, before you book the tech.
Start from the accepted quote
Copy its number, the customer and every line — the service call, the labor, the heater, the fittings, the permit, the haul-away. If there was no quote, write the job in the customer's words first.
Number it, schedule it, pull the permit
The next work order number, today's date, the date and start time, the tech's name. If the job needs a permit, pull it now and write the number on the sheet.
Write the job site like a stranger will read it
Where the work is in the house, where the water and gas shut-offs are, parking, pets, who's home. Everything the person who did the site visit knows and the tech doesn't.
List parts and materials with quantities
The heater by model, the valves by size, the fittings by count. Add the not-included list — the extras to quote separately if the tech finds them behind the wall.
Send the customer the schedule
The date, the start time and who's coming, in one message, with a copy of the work order if they'd like one. Ask them to clear the path to the heater.
Close it out, then invoice from it
The tech marks what was done, writes the new unit's model and serial, notes the time on site and anything added on the day, takes photos. The invoice is written from the completed work order the same day.
What a plumbing work order carries that a generic one doesn't
The shut-offs, before anything else. Where the main water valve is, where the gas valve is, whether the meter is outside. The tech who has to search a basement for the shut-off while a tank drains onto the floor is the tech who writes a longer invoice. Put them on the sheet at the site visit.
Parts and labor on separate lines, always. The flat labor rate stays flat; the heater, the valves and the fittings carry their own prices. It's how the quote was built, it's how the invoice will read, and in most US states it's what decides which lines carry sales tax.
The permit line. In the US, replacing a water heater, repiping or working on a sewer line needs a permit and an inspection in most cities, and most states license plumbers and want the license number on the paperwork. A work order with the permit number on it is the one the inspector, the insurer and the next buyer trust. Check your state licensing board and your city's permit office.
Model and serial, written on the day. The new heater's label is the record the manufacturer asks for in year seven and the customer calls you about in year nine. The completion block has a line for it; the photo of the label is the backup.
The not-included list is where the margin lives. Undersized venting, a missing drain pan, drywall where the old pipe came out. Written down before the job, they're extras the tech quotes on the spot; discovered on the day with nothing written, they're a free afternoon.
One sheet for a service call too. A leak repair's work order is the service call line, the hourly line with the minimum, the parts, and what the tech found — written up on site. It's the same template with fewer rows, and it's what makes the hourly invoice easy to read.
Know your tax rules. In the US, whether sales tax applies to your work — and whether it falls on the materials, the labor, both or neither — depends on your state, so keep materials and labor on separate lines and check your state's revenue department or your accountant. Outside the US: a GST-registered business in Australia or New Zealand and a VAT-registered business in the UK or EU show consumers prices that include the GST or VAT, and show the tax on the invoice the same way. Confirm the details with your accountant.
Quote it and bill it from Zarla; the plumbing work order is the template above
Zarla doesn't make work orders. It makes the two documents either side of one — and if you send those from Zarla, the plumbing work order is a two-minute job.
If your plumbing website is on Zarla, the quoting tool sends the quote as a link: your customer picks an option, ticks any extras and accepts it online by typing their name, and Zarla drafts the invoice for exactly what they chose, with any deposit you asked for. Print or open the accepted quote and you have the work order's scope, line for line — copy it into the template above, add the schedule, the site notes and the crew, and that's the sheet for the day. When the work is done, the invoice is already drafted from the same lines; add anything the customer added on the day, and send it. On a paid plan, with your Stripe account connected, the invoice carries a pay-now button, so the customer can pay by card the day the work is done.
Want to see the website first? Browse plumbing website templates or see how Zarla builds plumbing websites. Still setting up? Read how to start a plumbing business and write your plumbing business plan; for the going rates, see how much a plumber should charge; to fill the calendar, SEO for plumbers.
The whole paper trail for a plumbing job: the plumbing price list template → the plumbing estimate template, then how to write a quote → this work order → the plumbing invoice template → how to write a receipt. For any other trade, the free work order template has the same sheet with a painting job as the example, plus a maintenance work order for property and facilities work.
Plumbing work orders: common questions
A document that describes one plumbing job to be done: who it's for, where, when, exactly what work and what parts, and who's doing it — written the day the customer accepts the quote and taken to the job by the tech. The invoice is written from the completed work order. Plumbers also call it a job sheet, a service order or a service ticket; it's the same sheet.
The words Work Order; your business details and license number; a work order number and date, and the quote number; the schedule, the tech and the permit number if the job needs one; the customer and the job site with the water and gas shut-off locations and access notes; the labor and every part on its own line with quantities (and prices, if the customer gets a copy); what's not included; and a completion block — who did it, when, time on site, the new unit's model and serial, photos.
A work order says what work is to be done and is written before the job; an invoice says what was done and what's owed, and is written after. On a water heater job they carry the same lines — the invoice on our plumbing invoice template is written from the work order on this page, with the dates of the work and anything added on the day.
A quote or estimate is the offer, written to win the customer — the job, the lines, the prices, how long it holds. A work order is the instruction, written once the customer says yes — the same lines plus the schedule, the tech, the shut-offs, the materials to load and what's not included. Our plumbing estimate template covers the first; this page covers the second.
If the job needs a permit, yes — write it on the work order as soon as you pull it. In the US a water heater replacement, a repipe or sewer work needs a permit and an inspection in most cities, and the sheet the tech carries is where the inspector and the customer expect to see it. Check your city's permit office for which jobs qualify.
Yes — job sheet, service order, service ticket and work order are the same document in different shops. The job sheet name is more common for a one-tech business writing it up on site; the work order name for a shop that writes it in the office and hands it to the tech. The template on this page works as either.
If the customer gets a copy, yes — the same lines and prices as the quote, with any deposit taken off and the balance to collect, so everyone is reading the same numbers, and the plumbing invoice is written from it line for line. If it's an internal sheet for the crew and the customer already has the quote, leave the money columns blank: the crew needs the scope, not the margin.
Yes. The plumbing work order template downloads free as a Word document and a PDF — no email address, no sign-up. Edit the Word file in Word, Google Docs or any app that opens Word documents, or print the PDF and fill it in by hand. There's no Excel version; a work order is mostly words, and Word keeps the lines readable on a phone.
No. Zarla sends the quote before the job and the invoice after it, from the same dashboard as your plumbing website: your customer accepts the quote online, Zarla drafts the invoice for exactly what they chose, with any deposit you asked for, and you send it when the work is done. The work order in between is this template — copy the accepted quote's lines into it, add the schedule and the site notes, and it's ready for the crew.
Quote it, do it, bill it — from your own plumbing website
Add your business name and your town, and Zarla builds your plumbing website from that one line — with quotes, invoices and receipts in the same dashboard. The work order in between is the free template above.
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.