Top 10 Plumbing Contractor Revenue KPIs

Direct Answer

Why Plumbing Contractors Measure Differently

Plumbing is a capital-intensive, high-urgency service business. Unlike SaaS, where MRR is king, or retail, where foot traffic rules, plumbing revenue depends on:

• Ticket size variability: A drain cleaning ($150–$400) vs. A water heater replacement ($1,200–$3,500) vs. A repipe ($8,000–$20,000). You can’t average your way to insight.
• Seasonality: Frozen pipes in winter, AC drain line clogs in summer, slow shoulder months. Revenue can swing 40% month-over-month.
• Labor leverage: Revenue is capped by technician hours. Adding a truck costs $80k–$120k/year in overhead (wages, insurance, fuel, vehicle). Revenue per tech hour is the true efficiency metric.
• Call-to-close friction: A missed call or a 30-minute delay on a quote can lose a $2,000 job to a competitor. Lead-to-close rate is a revenue KPI, not just a sales KPI.
• Repeat vs. New: A healthy book of maintenance agreements (annual inspections, water heater flushes) provides predictable recurring revenue. Without it, you’re always hunting.

Standard SaaS KPIs (LTV/CAC, churn rate, NPS) don’t apply cleanly. Plumbing needs its own set.

The Most Important KPIs to Track

1. Revenue per Tech per Day (RPTD)

Formula: Total daily revenue / number of billable techs on the road.

Why it matters: This is the plumbing equivalent of ARPU. A top-quartile residential service company hits $1,200–$1,800 per tech per day. Commercial plumbing can exceed $2,500. If you’re below $800, your pricing, dispatch efficiency, or upsell process is broken.

Benchmark: ServiceTitan’s 2023 benchmark report (based on 100k+ contractors) shows the median RPTD is $1,050. The top 10% exceed $1,650.

What to do: Use Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan to pull daily revenue by tech. Flag any tech below $800 for three consecutive days—review their call mix (too many small jobs?), drive time, or quoting skill.

2. Average Ticket (Invoice) Value

Formula: Total revenue / number of closed invoices.

Why it matters: A low average ticket means you’re doing too many $99 drain specials without selling the $300 camera inspection or the $150 hydro-jet. A high ticket without volume means you’re losing price-sensitive leads.

Benchmark: Residential plumbing average ticket is $350–$550. Commercial is $700–$1,500. If you’re below $300, you’re likely leaving money on the table.

Real vendor: Jobber’s pricing starts at $49/month and includes average ticket reporting. Their 2024 data shows contractors who track this KPI improve ticket size by 22% in 6 months.

3. Conversion Rate (Call-to-Quote, Quote-to-Job)

Formula: (Jobs completed / quotes given) × 100.

Why it matters: A 60% conversion rate means you’re losing 4 of every 10 quotes. Common causes: slow response time (>2 hours), high price vs. Competitors, or poor sales technique (not using MEDDIC-lite: pain, urgency, decision-maker).

Benchmark: Top performers convert 70–80% of quotes to jobs. Industry average is 55–65%.

Tool: Salesforce Field Service (starting at $95/user/month) can track quote-to-job conversion. Gong (for phone calls) can analyze why techs lose deals—e.g., failing to mention financing options.

4. Revenue per Lead (RPL)

Formula: Total revenue / number of leads (calls, web forms, chat).

Why it matters: If you spend $500 on Google Ads and get 10 leads, but only 2 convert at $200 each, your RPL is $40. That’s a loss. You need RPL to exceed cost-per-lead (CPL) by at least 3x.

Benchmark: Residential plumbing RPL is typically $80–$150. Commercial can be $300+.

Real vendor: CallRail ($45/month) tracks lead source and call outcomes. Integrate with ServiceTitan to see which marketing channel (Google Local Services, Yelp, Facebook) yields the highest RPL.

5. Gross Margin per Job

Formula: (Job revenue – direct costs) / job revenue × 100. Direct costs = materials, permits, subcontractor fees, truck fuel, disposal fees.

Why it matters: Net profit is too lagging. Gross margin per job tells you if you’re pricing correctly. A job with 30% gross margin is losing money after overhead (office, insurance, vehicles). Target: 45–55% gross margin for residential, 40–50% for commercial.

Benchmark: Winning by Design research on service businesses shows that plumbing contractors with <40% gross margin have a 70%+ chance of going under within 3 years.

6. Service Agreement Revenue (SAR)

Formula: Total annual revenue from maintenance agreements / total revenue.

Why it matters: Predictable recurring revenue smooths cash flow. A plumber with 20% SAR can survive a slow month; one with 5% can’t.

Benchmark: Top contractors hit 25–35% SAR. ServiceTitan’s “Membership” module (included in their $398/month plan) automates renewal reminders and tracks SAR.

7. Labor Efficiency Ratio (LER)

Formula: Total billable hours / total paid hours.

Why it matters: A tech paid for 8 hours but only billing 5.5 (drive time, breaks, waiting for parts) has a 69% LER. Target is 80–85%. Below 75% means you’re overstaffed or dispatch is inefficient.

Tool: Housecall Pro’s dispatch board (starting at $79/month) shows real-time LER. Clari (for larger ops) can forecast labor utilization across crews.

8. Repeat Customer Rate

Formula: (Customers with 2+ jobs in 12 months / total customers) × 100.

Why it matters: Acquiring a new customer costs 5–7x more than retaining one. A low repeat rate means you’re not building loyalty—or your work quality is poor.

Benchmark: 30–40% is good; 50%+ is excellent.

Real vendor: Pipedrive ($14.90/user/month) can tag repeat customers and trigger follow-up emails for annual maintenance.

9. Cash Cycle (Days from Job to Payment)

Formula: Average days between job completion and payment received.

Why it matters: Plumbing has high material costs (e.g., a $2,000 water heater paid upfront). If you wait 45 days for payment, you’re financing the job. Target: 0–7 days (credit card at time of service). Commercial net-30 terms are common but should be negotiated.

Tool: QuickBooks Online ($30/month) + ServiceTitan integration tracks cash cycle. Bill.com ($45/month) automates invoice follow-ups.

10. Net Profit Margin

Formula: (Total revenue – all expenses) / total revenue × 100.

Why it matters: The ultimate scorecard. Many plumbers mistake high revenue for success, but 10% net profit is actually strong.

Benchmark: Industry average is 5–8%. Top 20% hit 12–15%. If you’re below 5%, you’re either under-pricing, over-spending on marketing, or have high overhead.

Real Operators

1. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing (franchise)

• Uses ServiceTitan across 200+ locations.
• Tracks RPTD daily. Their top franchisees hit $2,100 per tech per day.
• SAR is 28% (industry-leading). They offer a $149/year maintenance plan with two inspections.

2. Roto-Rooter (national chain)

• Uses Salesforce Field Service and Gong for call analysis.
• Average ticket: $450 (residential drain cleaning is their core).
• Conversion rate: 68% (they train techs on Challenger Sale techniques to upsell camera inspections).

3. Small Shop Example: “Fix It Fast Plumbing” (Austin, TX)

• 3 trucks, uses Housecall Pro ($79/month).
• RPTD: $950 (below benchmark, but improving).
• They added a $199/year maintenance plan and SAR went from 5% to 18% in 6 months.

Failure Modes

• Chasing revenue over margin: A $10k job with 25% margin is worse than a $3k job with 55% margin. Many contractors take every job, then wonder why profit is flat.
• Ignoring repeat rate: You land a $2,000 water heater replacement but never follow up for the annual flush. That customer is gone to a competitor.
• Over-reliance on one marketing channel: If 80% of leads come from Google Ads and Google changes its algorithm, you’re dead. Diversify with local SEO, referral programs, and service agreements.
• Not tracking LER: Paying a tech for 8 hours but only billing 5.5 is a 31% waste. That’s $15k/year per tech in lost revenue.
• Pricing off competitors, not costs: Using a flat-rate book without updating material costs quarterly. If copper pipe prices spike 20%, your gross margin collapses.

Reporting Cadence

Recommended cadence: Daily standup (5 min) reviewing RPTD. Weekly ops review (30 min) on conversion, ticket size, LER. Monthly financial review (1 hour) on gross margin, SAR, net profit.

30-60-90

Days 1–30 (Foundation)

• Set up ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro to track RPTD, average ticket, and conversion rate.
• Run a 30-day historical report on all 10 KPIs. Identify your biggest gap (e.g., conversion rate at 50% vs. 70% target).
• Train all techs on basic MEDDIC-lite qualification: What’s the pain? What’s the budget? Who decides?

Days 31–60 (Optimization)

• Implement a service agreement program (e.g., $199/year for two inspections). Target 15% SAR by day 60.
• Use Gong or CallRail to analyze 5 lost calls per week. Fix the top 3 reasons (e.g., slow response, no financing offer).
• Adjust pricing: If gross margin per job is below 45%, raise prices 10% on non-urgent work (e.g., water heater replacement, not drain cleaning).

Days 61–90 (Scale)

• Set a weekly LER target of 80%. If below, review dispatch routing (use ServiceTitan’s route optimization).
• Launch a referral program: $50 credit for both parties. Track repeat customer rate monthly.
• Review net profit margin. If below 8%, cut one overhead line (e.g., reduce Google Ads spend by 20% and reallocate to SEO).

FAQ

What is the most important KPI for a plumbing contractor? Revenue per Tech per Day (RPTD). It’s the single best indicator of operational efficiency. If RPTD is below $800, you have a pricing, dispatch, or sales problem.

How do I calculate average ticket value for plumbing? Total revenue from closed invoices divided by the number of invoices. Exclude parts-only sales (e.g., a $10 gasket) to avoid skewing the number.

What’s a good conversion rate for plumbing quotes? 70–80% is excellent. If you’re below 55%, focus on response time (under 2 hours), pricing transparency, and offering financing options.

How do I improve my service agreement revenue (SAR)? Start with a low-cost plan ($149–$199/year) that includes two inspections and a 10% discount on repairs. Use ServiceTitan Memberships to automate renewals. Target 20% SAR in 6 months.

What tools do I need to track these KPIs? Minimum: ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro (dispatch + invoicing) + QuickBooks (accounting). Advanced: Salesforce Field Service (CRM), Gong (call analysis), CallRail (lead tracking).

Sources

• ServiceTitan 2023 Benchmarks Report (plumbing data)
• Housecall Pro Pricing &amp; Features
• Jobber 2024 Service Business Benchmarks
• Salesforce Field Service Pricing
• Gong Revenue Intelligence for Service Businesses
• Winning by Design: Service Business Metrics
• CallRail Lead Tracking for Contractors
• QuickBooks Online Pricing