- The BLS May 2025 national median for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters was $30.67 an hour. A billable rate has to be several times that.
- Supply-house runs, callbacks and drain jobs that run long are paid hours nobody bills. Count them, or the rate comes up short.
- The rate is your yearly costs divided by billable hours, then divided by one minus your profit.
How to calculate a plumbing labor rate
A plumber's hourly rate pays for the plumber's time, the payroll costs on top of it, the van and the stock on it, the office, insurance, and a profit. The rate only works if all of that is divided by the hours a customer actually pays for.
The calculator starts with one plumber at the Bureau of Labor Statistics national median wage for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters (SOC 47-2152): $30.67 an hour in the May 2025 data. The rest are example inputs to replace: 40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes with no benefits, $90,000 of overhead and 15% profit.
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $30.67 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $68,674 |
| Break-even rate | ($68,674 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $105.78 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $105.78 ÷ 0.85 | $124.45 |
A plumber paid $30.67 needs to bill $124.45 for each billable hour on these numbers, before workers' comp and benefits are added. Of that, $30.67 is the wage for the hour on the job, $11.86 is paid time nobody bills, $3.25 is payroll taxes, $60.00 is overhead and $18.67 is profit.
Plumber wages and the rate they lead to
The BLS May 2025 national figures for SOC 47-2152 put the 10th percentile at $21.22 an hour, the median at $30.67 and the 90th percentile at $52.13. An apprentice, a licensed journeyman and a master plumber running service are spread across that range.
| Wage level (BLS May 2025) | Hourly wage | Break-even rate | Rate at 15% profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $21.22 | $91.68 | $107.85 |
| Median | $30.67 | $105.78 | $124.45 |
| 90th percentile | $52.13 | $137.82 | $162.14 |
The rows use the same hours, burden and overhead, so the only change is the wage. From the 10th to the 90th percentile, the wage rises about $31 and the rate rises about $54.
These are national figures. Union scale and large-metro pay can sit well above them. If an apprentice rides with a journeyman, both wages go in: set people in the field to 2 and use the average of the two wages, or work out a crew rate.
Licence level matters in plumbing. Your state's licensing rules decide who can pull permits, who can work alone and who must work under a licensed plumber. That shapes who you can send where, and so how many billable hours each person can carry on their own. If an apprentice can only bill alongside a journeyman, their hours are crew hours, and the crew rate is what matters.
The unbilled hours in a plumber's day
Plumbing has more than its share of hours on the clock that no one pays for:
- Supply-house runs for the fitting the van did not have, or the water heater that has to be picked up
- Driving between calls, and finding parking in older neighborhoods
- Callbacks on a drip at a joint or a drain that slows again
- Estimates for repipes, sewer lines and remodels that do not close
- Camera inspections and locates that are not billed on their own
- Restocking the van and cleaning the drain machine
Averaged across a year, here is what the unbilled hours do to the median-wage plumber's rate:
| Unbilled hours a day | Billable hours a year | Rate per billable hour |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,750 | $106.67 |
| 1.5 | 1,625 | $114.88 |
| 2 | 1,500 | $124.45 |
| 3 | 1,250 | $149.34 |
A well-stocked van and tighter routing cut supply runs and drive time. Each hour saved a day is worth more than a small price rise, because it adds billable hours without adding cost.
Emergency calls change the day too. A burst pipe at 7 a.m. pushes the rest of the schedule, and the jobs that get bumped may not fill the gap later. If your shop runs a lot of emergency work, track the unbilled hours on those days separately. They are often higher than on a planned day.
Warranty and callback time is worth tracking on its own. A drip at a fitting found a week later is a second trip, a second drive and an hour or more of a plumber's time, all unbilled. Fewer callbacks lower the rate you need without changing the price.
Payroll taxes, comp and benefits for plumbers
Every dollar of wages costs you more than a dollar. The calculator splits the extra into two lines so you can match them to your own books.
| Cost on top of wages | What is in it | Starting value |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll taxes, unemployment and workers' comp | Employer Social Security 6.2% and Medicare 1.45%, federal unemployment (0.6% on the first $7,000 of each person's wages after the usual credit), your state unemployment rate, your workers' comp rate | 7.65% of wages, then add yours |
| Health insurance and retirement | What you pay toward health, dental and life cover, and any 401(k) match or pension | 0%, put in yours |
The 7.65% is the part every employer pays at the same rate: Social Security at 6.2% (on wages up to $184,500 a person in 2026) and Medicare at 1.45%, from the IRS. Federal unemployment is 6.0% of the first $7,000 of each person's wages, or 0.6% after the full 5.4% credit for paying state unemployment on time. That is $42 a person a year at most.
The rest depends on you. State unemployment rates differ by state and by your claims history; your state sends you a rate notice each year. Workers' comp depends on your state, the class code for the work and your claims. Benefits depend on the plan you offer. Add each as a share of wages: yearly cost ÷ yearly wages.
Paid days off are not a percentage here on purpose. The calculator counts them as hours that are paid but not worked, which spreads their cost over the billable hours instead.
Plumbing licences, continuing education, backflow tester certification and the drain and jetting equipment belong in overhead. Put them in the overhead line so every billed hour pays its share.
Checking your plumbing rate against the market
The calculator gives the rate your numbers need. What customers in your area will pay is the other half. When they disagree, check the inputs first.
- Needed rate well above the market. Look for overhead spread over too few billable hours, or a day full of supply runs and drive time. A second plumber on the same overhead or a better-stocked van can close the gap.
- Needed rate well below the market. Check for missing costs: the van, insurance, licences, the office, and your own pay if you run the office instead of working calls.
When you compare, compare what a whole service call brings in. A trip charge plus a lower hourly rate can add up to the same as a higher rate with no trip charge.
Keep an eye on what each service call brings in over a month. If it drifts down while the rate stays the same, the hours per call are rising: more callbacks, longer drives or more small jobs. That is a signal to check the unbilled hours in the calculator.
Service calls, drain work and new construction
Plumbing work splits into kinds that run very differently. Run the calculator once for each with its own unbilled hours:
| Kind of work | What changes in the inputs |
|---|---|
| Service and repair | Several calls a day, more drive and supply time, so more unbilled hours and a higher rate |
| Drain and sewer | Machine and camera time, cleanup; add the equipment to overhead |
| Remodel and repipe | Longer days on one site, fewer unbilled hours, so a lower hourly rate |
| New construction | Bid by the fixture or the job; check the bid against the hours it will take at your rate |
Keep total overhead the same across the runs, and split the plumbers and hours between them, so the shop's overhead is covered once.
From hourly rate to flat-rate plumbing prices
Many plumbers quote by the job. A flat price still needs the hourly rate underneath it:
- Labor = honest task time, including setup, shut-off, testing and cleanup, × your rate per billable hour.
- Parts = cost × your parts multiplier. The markup calculator builds a sliding-scale parts table so a $3 fitting and a $1,200 water heater each carry the right markup.
- Price = labor + parts, rounded.
At the $124.45 starting rate, a toilet rebuild that takes 1.25 hours carries $155.56 of labor before parts. A water heater swap that takes 3 hours carries $373.35 of labor before the heater, fittings, permit and haul-away.
Emergency and after-hours work costs more to deliver: overtime pay, an on-call tech, the lost next morning. Run the calculator again with the overtime wage and fewer billable hours to see what an after-hours hour has to bring in.
Then send the price as an estimate the customer can approve from their phone. See how Koira works for plumbers.
Last checked October 8, 2026. More for your trade: how plumbers run on Koira.