Trades and field services
Your pricebook has the numbers. It still leaves you writing the proposal.
A repipe quote is not a line-item total. It is the paragraph explaining that the walls are opening in four places, that the homeowner is responsible for drywall finish, and that the price holds for thirty days unless the copper market moves. That paragraph is why you are still at the kitchen table at nine o'clock. The Proposal Maker learns how you write it from the repipes you have already quoted, and drafts the next one.
Where this fits
You already run ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber. This is not that.
The gap
Those platforms are built around the pricebook and the dispatch board, and they are good at both. Where they stop is the prose. Their proposal output is a canned template with your line items dropped into it, so the scope paragraph, the exclusions and the warranty language are either boilerplate every customer recognises as boilerplate, or something you retype at the kitchen table.
What this does not do
This does not hold your flat-rate pricebook, dispatch technicians, or handle invoicing and payments. Keep ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro for all of that. This writes the document that goes to the homeowner, and you paste in the number your pricebook gave you.
Scope
What a plumbing contractor's proposal actually has to itemise
- Whole-house repipe: fixture count, PEX or copper, wall access points, and who patches
- Sewer lateral replacement: open-cut versus trenchless, depth, and spoil removal
- Water heater or tankless conversion: venting changes, gas line resize, expansion tank
- Drain cleaning and hydro jetting, with camera inspection findings written up
- Backflow preventer installation and annual certification testing
- Fixture set counts for rough-in and trim-out on new construction
- Slab leak location and repair, including reroute-versus-spot-repair options
Pricing
How plumbing contractors price the work
Flat rate by job
Priced from your pricebook, presented as a single number with the scope spelled out so the homeowner is not comparing your total against a competitor's different assumptions.
Per fixture
Rough-in and trim priced per fixture on new construction and remodels, with the fixture schedule reproduced in the proposal.
Time and materials
Service and diagnostic work at an hourly rate with a not-to-exceed, plus the materials markup stated rather than buried.
Good, better, best
Three options on one page — standard tank, high-efficiency, tankless — so the homeowner chooses between your options instead of between you and the next bid.
The document
What comes out the other end
- 01Findings from the site visit, in plain language a homeowner will actually read
- 02Scope of work, broken out by area or by fixture
- 03What is expressly excluded: drywall patching, paint, landscaping restoration, permit fees
- 04Access and working-hours assumptions, including water shutoff duration
- 05Materials and fixture schedule, with manufacturer and model where it matters
- 06Warranty terms split between parts and your workmanship
- 07Payment schedule, deposit, and how change orders get approved
Compliance
The details that belong on the document, not in a follow-up email
- State contractor licence number and classification on the face of the document, which most states require on any written proposal
- Permit responsibility stated explicitly — who pulls it, who pays for it, and whether the price includes inspection callbacks
- Backflow assembly test reports filed with the water purveyor, and the certification number of the tester
- Code basis named where it drives cost, such as UPC or IPC adoption and local amendments on sizing or venting
- Certificate of insurance and workers' compensation coverage referenced for commercial and property-manager clients
General guidance, not legal advice. Requirements vary by state and jurisdiction — confirm yours with counsel or your licensing board.
Straight answers
The three things you are probably thinking
“My pricing is in my pricebook. Why would I want AI touching it?”
It does not touch your pricing. You set the number. What it writes is the wording around it: the scope, the exclusions, the access assumptions, the warranty. That is the part you retype from the last similar job.
“Every job is different. A generic template will read wrong.”
That is why it does not use a generic template. It reads the proposals you have already sent and matches the new job against the closest ones, so a slab leak reroute reads like your slab leak reroutes, not like a marketing sample.
“My techs quote from a tablet in the driveway. Where does this fit?”
Behind the quick quotes. Same-day flat-rate service does not need this. The $18,000 repipe that a homeowner will sit on for a week and compare against two other bids does.
FAQ
Plumbing proposals: common questions
Does it integrate with ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro?
Not today. You paste in the job details or upload the customer's email and photos, set your price, and send. There is no data sync, and the pages here will say so plainly rather than implying otherwise.
Can it price a repipe for me?
No, and it should not. Copper and PEX move, your labour rate is yours, and local permit fees vary by jurisdiction. You set the fee. It writes everything around the fee.
What do I need to upload to get started?
Three or four of your own past proposals — the ones you were happy to send. It reads how you structure scope, what you routinely exclude, and how your warranty is worded, then drafts in that voice.
Will it include my licence number and insurance details?
Yes. Those go into your firm profile once during setup and appear on every proposal after that, along with your logo and letterhead.
Can I send it as a PDF the homeowner can sign?
You can send a live share link, a PDF, or a Word file. The share link tracks when it is opened. Signature capture is not built in yet.
Related
Other trades we have written this up for
See what it writes from your last plumbing proposal.
Upload three or four you were happy to send. The next one drafts in the same voice.