Most solo plumbers in the U.S. charge between $75 and $150 per hour. But the right number for you isn't an average — it's your target pay plus your annual overhead, divided by the hours you can actually bill, plus a profit margin. For most solo shops that math lands well above the rate they're charging today.
Almost every solo plumber sets a rate the same way: ask around, land somewhere near the middle, and never touch it again. It feels safe. It also means your price is built on a competitor's costs instead of your own — and you have no idea whether theirs are working. Here is the arithmetic that replaces the guess.
How do I calculate my true hourly rate?
One formula, three inputs:
(Target pay + Annual overhead) ÷ Billable hours per year
= your break-even rate. Add margin on top.
Say you want to pay yourself $75,000, your overhead runs $24,000 a year, and you can realistically bill 25 hours a week for 48 weeks. That's $99,000 divided by 1,200 hours — about $83/hour to break even, or roughly $95/hour once you add a 10% margin and round up. If you're charging $65 because that's what the guy across town charges, you are working for free about one day in four.
You can run your own numbers in about a minute with our free plumber hourly rate calculator — it shows the math, not just the answer, so you can see which input is dragging your rate down.
What should I include in overhead?
Overhead is every dollar the business spends that isn't materials for a specific job. Total it for a full year — the number is reliably higher than the one in your head:
- Vehicle. Truck payment or depreciation, fuel, maintenance, tires, commercial auto insurance.
- Insurance and licensing. General liability, workers comp if applicable, bonding, license and permit renewals, continuing education.
- Tools and equipment. Replacement, repair, and the camera or machine you'll need to buy next year.
- Office and software. Phone, internet, accounting, scheduling and invoicing software, payment processing fees.
- Marketing. Website, listings, truck wrap, ads, review requests.
- Self-employment tax. Roughly 15% off the top before income tax. If your rate doesn't carry it, April will.
Why billable hours are the number that matters
This is the input that quietly wrecks solo pricing. You might work 50 hours a week, but driving between calls, writing quotes, chasing invoices, running for parts, and handling callbacks generate no revenue. Most solo plumbers bill 20–30 hours out of a 40–50 hour week.
Divide by the hours you bill, not the hours you work. Using 50 instead of 25 cuts your calculated rate in half — and that single mistake explains most of the gap between plumbers who are busy and plumbers who are profitable. The other lever is just as useful: every unbillable hour you remove from your week — a quote you don't retype, an invoice you don't chase — is an hour you can sell.
Which rate-calculation approach should you use?
| Approach | How it works | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Match the competition | Charge roughly what other local plumbers charge. | You inherit someone else’s cost structure — and possibly their slow decline. |
| Mark up your old wage | Take your hourly pay as an employee and add a bit on top. | Ignores overhead and unbillable hours; almost always underprices badly. |
| Cost-plus (recommended) | Target pay + overhead ÷ billable hours, then add a margin. | Requires knowing your real overhead and billable hours — but it is the only method built on your numbers. |
| Flat-rate price book | Fixed price per job type, built from your cost-plus hourly rate. | Good for customers and speed, but the book is only as good as the hourly rate underneath it. |
Cost-plus is the only one of the four that starts with your business. Most established shops then convert it into a flat-rate price book, so customers see one number instead of a meter running. For the flat-rate-versus-hourly decision in detail, see how to price plumbing jobs.
When should you raise your rate?
Once a year, on a date you pick in advance. Fuel, parts, and insurance climb every year, so a flat rate is a scheduled pay cut. Two other signals mean you're already overdue: you're booked solid weeks out, or you're winning close to every quote you send. Both mean the market will pay more than you're asking.
Raise it on new quotes, say nothing, and expect almost no reaction. The customers who do walk over a 10% increase are usually the same ones who pay late and call the most.
How does atPlumb help me bill what I actually calculated?
Knowing your rate is half of it. The other half is making sure every hour you earn actually reaches an invoice. atPlumb keeps the number you calculated attached to the work: estimates built from your rate turn into booked jobs without retyping, invoices go out from the driveway instead of the kitchen table, and card payments get collected on site. That's admin time moved back into billable time — which, per the formula above, lowers the rate you need to charge in the first place. Flat $29/month for up to 5 people.
The bottom line
Your rate is target pay plus overhead, divided by the hours you can genuinely bill, plus a margin you don't apologize for. Run it once, raise it once a year, and stop pricing off a number you overheard at the supply house.
Common questions about plumber hourly rates
How much should a solo plumber charge per hour in 2026?
Most solo plumbers in the U.S. charge somewhere between $75 and $150 per hour, with higher rates in major metros and for emergency or after-hours work. Your own number should come from your target pay plus overhead divided by billable hours, not from the local average.
How do I calculate my break-even hourly rate?
Add the annual pay you want to your annual business overhead, then divide by your real billable hours per year (billable hours per week × working weeks). That is your break-even rate — the point where you cover costs and pay yourself, with no profit left over.
What profit margin should a solo plumber add?
Add at least 10–20% on top of break-even. That margin covers slow months, truck repairs, unpaid callbacks, and equipment you have not budgeted for yet. Without it, one bad month erases a good quarter.
Should I charge hourly or flat rate?
Most plumbers quote flat-rate prices to customers but build those prices from an internal hourly rate. Either way you need your true hourly cost first — the flat price is that number multiplied by the time the job actually takes.
How often should I raise my rate?
Review it once a year. Fuel, parts, and insurance rise every year, so a rate that stays flat is a pay cut on a schedule. Raising rates 5–10% annually rarely draws customer pushback.
Work out your number in 60 seconds
Free hourly rate calculator — no email, no signup. Then let atPlumb quote, book, and bill at that rate for $29/month.