Year one

What a small plumbing shop pays in year one

By Michael Proctor · October 19, 2026 · 6 min read

The monthly price is not the bill. Add the setup. Then add twelve months.

I co-own a plumbing business with my brother. We are building ServicePlumber. The prices below for Good, Better, and Best are our published prices. The other numbers are examples, so you can see the size of the bill before you sign.

The same four jobs

Compare the bill against the work, not the brochure.

Answer the call. Price the job. Ask for the review. Show up on Google.

If the tool does not do those four things, you are still doing them yourself at 7 in the morning.

The big desk

The setup number owners keep repeating is about $45,000, before the first job. That is the number on our compare page.

One owner told us his all-in bill was about $17,000 a month. That is one shop’s story. It is not a price list. Ads, extra users, and other fees can hide inside a number like that. Ask for the quote in writing.

Do the year anyway. $45,000 up front, plus $17,000 a month for twelve months, is about $249,000.

A big desk can be the right tool if you have many trucks, many locations, inventory, and a dispatch board you will actually use. A one-truck shop should not start there.

A sales coach

A coach is a different bill. A common range is about $1,000 to $3,000 a month. Use $2,000 as a round example. That is $24,000 in year one.

The coach can tell you what to say. You still answer the call, price the job, ask for the review, and get the shop on Google. You paid for advice. You did not get the desk.

ServicePlumber

Ads, domains, taxes, and other companies’ fees are extra. These three numbers are setup plus twelve months of the plan.

Good — $4,574 in year one

$998 to start. $298 a month. Twelve months of the plan is $3,576. Together that is $4,574.

The first bill, setup plus month one, is $1,296. Up to 3 people. You connect the accounts you already own. You get the desk, customers, jobs, the calendar, lead follow-up, sales reports, Google reporting, and 25 article drafts a month.

Better — $11,374 in year one

$2,998 to start. $698 a month. Twelve months is $8,376. Together that is $11,374.

The first bill is $3,696. Everything in Good, plus we connect your existing website and lead forms. Up to 5 people. 50 article drafts a month.

Best — $22,974 in year one

$4,998 to start. $1,498 a month. Twelve months is $17,976. Together that is $22,974.

The first bill is $6,496. Everything in Better, plus a branded service website of up to 12 pages and up to 8 reviewed articles a month. You own the accounts. Up to 10 people.

Put the three bills next to each other

Big desk, using that one owner’s numbers: about $249,000.

Sales coach, using the $2,000 example: $24,000, and you still do the four jobs.

ServicePlumber: $4,574, $11,374, or $22,974. The desk, the follow-up, and the pages are in the same bill.

None of these replace a good technician. They only change what you pay, and what you still have to remember.

Pick a plan. Or look first.

The demo uses sample data. No card. The price page is the same numbers as this article.

Good$4,574 year one Better$11,374 year one Best$22,974 year one

Run the 3-minute demo See the plans