What is Flat-Rate Pricing?

Flat Rate Pricing is where a plumbing contractor charges one fixed rate for a service instead of charging by the hour and materials used.

While some plumbing contractors stick with an hourly rate pricing model, based on our experience, the most successful businesses use the flat-rate pricing model. 

Charging a flat rate for services means there’s no leeway for customers to get held up on hourly rates. Flat-rate pricing works for customers because they know the cost upfront and pay a fixed flat rate for service, with time and materials already calculated.

What Does Plumbing Flat-Rate Software Do?

Plumbing flat-rate software simplifies pricebook management, saves time, and provides peace of mind to plumbing business owners in the service industry looking to protect their profit margins and get the most out of every job.

It allows residential and commercial companies to set prices in real time based on the true value of services and scope of work. 

A good flat-rate pricing software system lets service businesses arrange their pricebooks by business units and verticals. For example, if they offer HVAC services (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration) or electrical services in addition to plumbing services, they can create separate categories for their electrical flat-rate and HVAC flat-rate pricebooks. Or they can categorize pricebooks by residential, commercial, and construction menu pricing, depending on the customer segments they serve.

What are the Benefits of Plumbing Flat-Rate Software?

A plumbing software solution using a flat rate pricing system offers the following benefits to plumbing businesses:

• Rewards high performance and efficiency, allowing plumbers to book more jobs per week and earn more revenue. 

• Eliminates the problem of unapplied labor (underperforming techs).

• Allows plumbers to sell a service with the new flat rate, with no need to justify their hourly rate.

• Shortens the billing cycle, allowing customers to prepay the fixed cost or pay the tech onsite for completed work.

In addition, flat-rate pricing software provides the following benefits to homeowners and commercial customers:

• Closes the door on price concerns and haggling since they know the fixed cost upfront.

• Eases the pressure of a home service call, removing the need to closely monitor the tech’s progress, and providing a better customer experience.

• Eliminates repair bill surprises or markups, even if a plumber needs more time to complete the work.

What Pricebook Options Does ServiceTitan Offer and Can I Upload My Existing Pricebook?

You can:

• Upload a pricebook that your plumbing business is already using, so you don’t need to start from scratch if you already work with one. 

• Build a pricebook from scratch by adding each item or product individually. This can be a useful route for small businesses offering a limited range of plumbing services to a small number of customers.

• Use ServiceTitan’s Pricebook Pro catalog. This is our add-on pricebook product, which comes with a wide range of pre-built, flat-rate plumbing services to give you a head start on building out your pricebook.

What is ServiceTitan Pricebook Pro?

Service Titan’s Pricebook Pro is a modern solution that gives plumbers access to the catalogs of a range of industry suppliers so the prices reflect the actual materials that will be used for a job (rather than a generic placeholder or standard price, often offered by standard pricebook software). 

Pricing updates are performed regularly and automatically, so there’s no need for manual updates, and adjustments are reflected across the entire pricebook and are accessible to all office staff and techs instantly (via mobile tablet or desktop). 

Pricebook Pro also integrates seamlessly with other areas of your business such as dispatching and invoicing. This streamlines the entire workflow, saves time, and reduces the likelihood of costly mistakes.

How Do I Know That Your Pricing Information is Up-To-Date and Accurate?

With Pricebook Pro, the ServiceTitan team monitors changes in supplier pricing on your behalf and updates prices on a monthly basis.

Pricebook Pro also provides a comprehensive range of pre-designed flat-rate services based on industry best practices and trends, which keep track of updated prices. 

In addition, if you work with a particular supplier that is integrated with ServiceTitan, you can automatically keep your materials and equipment prices updated through Pricebook Connect. Supplier catalogs are linked to your pricebook so you can be notified of any changes to their prices, product description and images, or you can choose to have the changes made to your pricebook automatically. 

Pricebook Connect also notifies you of any upgrades or recommendations that sell well for the specific plumbing services you offer. As well as safeguarding your margins and profitability, you can keep on top of the latest products and opportunities to sell higher-ticket products as they become available. 

As a result, you can feel confident that your plumbing business is always offering the latest prices, along with the best flat-rate services, at the right prices for profitability, without your team having to do any of that ongoing work. This saves you hundreds of hours of pricebook set-up and maintenance time.

Do I Have to Enter Price Updates Item by Item?

No. Price editing is extremely efficient in ServiceTitan because it allows plumbing contractors to:

• Bulk Edit: Apply edits and markups on multiple services, materials, or equipment across your entire pricebook or to select groups or categories.

• Individually Edit: Edit individual services or pricebook items manually, including as many or as few details as you want.

• Dynamic Price Automations: ServiceTitan’s Dynamic Pricing feature lets you set up rules that automatically update your pricing when material costs and labor rates change. You can also set pricing rules based on specific business units.

These features save a significant amount of time that would otherwise be spent manually editing price changes in hundreds or even thousands of jobs so your team can spend more time on other areas of the sales process.

Can Techs Access Pricing Information From The Field?

Yes. Your plumbing techs can access pricing information and other features by using ServiceTitan Mobile. Our mobile app has a highly intuitive interface on both Android and iOS mobile devices, making it straightforward to navigate. 

Plumbers can access estimate templates and create Good-Better-Best proposals while out in the field by selecting pricebook items and attaching them to the relevant photos and visuals to help explain the need for each repair or service to the customer, enhancing customer satisfaction. 

Techs can also view upselling opportunities such as service agreements via the mobile app.

These features (and more) improve pricebook management efficiency and help your techs combine a dynamic, flat-rate pricebook with the seamless execution of estimates to close more sales and increase revenue.

Does Your Plumbing Flat-Rate Software Integrate With Other Business Processes?

Yes. Because ServiceTitan is a field service management solution, it integrates your flat-rate pricebook with the entire plumbing workflow, from estimates and dispatching, to invoices and payments. This saves the time it would take to use different software and processes and reduces the likelihood of input and transfer errors. Once the customer has agreed to the estimate, ServiceTitan lets you:

• Generate electronic purchase orders and order equipment and materials.

• Schedule and dispatch the work order.

• Generate the plumbing invoice, send it via email to the customer, and automatically file it electronically.

• Accept check or credit card payments on the spot via mobile or through the ServiceTitan portal, speeding up cash flow and reducing the need for follow-up calls.

• Integrate directly with accounting tools such as Intacct and QuickBooks (see below) so you don't have to change your current processes.

Can You Connect Business Reporting to Your Flat-Rate Pricebook?

Yes. ServiceTitan directly connects your pricebook to your reporting. The software lets you track the key components of your business, such as every job, technician and CSR, as well as every marketing campaign.

With our technician scorecard, you can stay up-to-date on every tech’s stats, such as: number of calls per day, estimates closed, generated revenue, maintenance agreements sold, and more. Likewise, our CSR scorecard lets you monitor metrics for your customer service team, such as number of calls handled, conversions, etc. 

Setting up your plumbing pricebook so that it directly feeds your reporting means you can dig deep into your metrics to see what’s driving revenue and where there’s room for improvement.

Does your Plumbing Flat-Rate Pricing Software Integrate with QuickBooks?

Yes. ServiceTitan's plumbing software integrates with Intuit QuickBooks Online and with QuickBooks Desktop Premier and Enterprise editions. Field service contractors who serve commercial and residential customers can take advantage of the QuickBooks integration to simplify accounting procedures and ensure a smooth flow of information from invoice on the construction project site to reconciliation in their accounting software, without the hassle of double entry. 

ServiceTitan also integrates with Sage Intacct accounting software.

Do You Offer Pricebooks for Other Trades?

Yes. Pricebook Pro includes content for HVAC, electrical and other field services, as well as for plumbing flat-rate pricing. 

Pricebooks can be organized by verticals and business units so there’s no need to trawl through unwieldy lists of catalogs, products and materials. Simply click through each category to get to the specific part you’re looking for. 

A handy feature for multidisciplinary shops is that ServiceTitan users can set limits on what each technician sees so they can access certain information, for example, the specific trade pricebook that’s relevant to them. 

Will Using ServiceTitan Pricebook Pro Increase My Plumbing Company’s Bottom Line?

We are confident it will. According to a survey of ServiceTitan Pricebook Pro users, they attribute an average year-over-year increase in revenue of 13% to using our flat-rate pricing software.