Plumbing contract template
Most plumbing disputes are not about the plumbing. They are about what was included, what happens when the wall opens up, and when the money is due. This plumbing service agreement settles all three before the first fitting is cut — editable in the browser, printable as a clean two-signature document, and nothing you type leaves your screen.
Pre-filled with a water heater replacement. Click any field or clause to edit it; Print gives you the contract alone, with every button and this line hidden.
Residential plumbing contract
1.Scope of work
One line per task. Name the equipment, the size and who supplies it.
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2.Exclusions
The following are not part of this contract unless added by a signed change order:
3.Hidden conditions
The price is based on what is visible and accessible on the walk-through. If concealed conditions are found once work starts (corroded or undersized piping, prior unpermitted work, damage behind finishes), the contractor will stop that part of the work, show the condition to the owner, and price the correction as a written change order before proceeding.
4.Price and payment schedule
| Payment | When due | Amount | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|
5.Change orders
Any change to the scope, materials or price is made by a written change order signed by both parties before the changed work starts. Each change order states the work added or removed, its price, and any change to the schedule. No verbal change binds either party.
6.Permits and inspections
The contractor applies for and obtains every permit this work requires from City of ______ Building Department, the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), and schedules the inspections it calls for. Permit and inspection fees are included in the contract price. Work is not covered before it is inspected. Final payment is due on the passed final inspection.
7.Materials and warranty
The contractor warrants its workmanship for 1 year from the date of the passed final inspection. Equipment and materials carry the manufacturer's own warranty, which passes through to the owner; the contractor will register equipment where the manufacturer allows it. The workmanship warranty does not cover damage from misuse, freezing, water quality, or work by others.
8.Access and cleanup
The owner provides clear access to the work area, water, electricity and a parking space for the work vehicle. The contractor protects floors on the access route, removes its debris and old equipment daily, and leaves the work area broom clean on completion.
9.Cancellation
Either party may end this contract in writing if the other materially fails to perform and does not cure within 5 working days of written notice. If the owner cancels after materials are special-ordered, the owner pays for work performed and any non-returnable materials, less amounts already paid.
10.Lien notice
Anyone who supplies labour or materials to this job and is not paid may have a right to file a lien against the property under state law. Notice and deadline requirements vary by state; the owner may ask for lien waivers from the contractor and each supplier as payments are made.
11.Signatures
By signing, both parties accept the scope, price and terms above.
You, the buyer, may cancel this transaction at any time prior to midnight of the third business day after the date of this transaction. See the attached notice of cancellation form for an explanation of this right.
This template is not legal advice. Contract, licensing, cancellation and lien rules are set state by state — have it reviewed for your state before you use it.
What a plumbing contract has to do
A plumbing contract is the written promise between the shop and the owner: what gets done, for how much, paid when, and what happens when the wall comes open and the job is not what it looked like. The invoice records what happened. The contract decides, in advance, who carries the risk when something changes — and on a plumbing job something usually does.
Each clause in the template exists because of a specific argument it ends. Read the table as a list of disputes you will not be having.
| Clause | Protects | Without it |
|---|---|---|
| Scope of work | Both sides — a shared list of tasks | “I thought that was included” |
| Exclusions | The shop, on drywall, tile, paint, abatement | Finish repair absorbed into your price |
| Hidden conditions | The shop, on what the walk-through could not see | A corroded line or old unpermitted work at your cost |
| Payment schedule | Cash flow, tied to milestones | Materials bought on your credit card |
| Change orders | Both sides — price agreed before work | A final bill the owner never approved |
| Permits and inspections | The owner, and the shop’s licence | Nobody pulled it; the sale of the house finds it |
| Warranty | The owner, with a stated limit for the shop | An open-ended callback promise |
| Cancellation | Both sides, on an orderly exit | A deposit fight over special-order parts |
| Lien notice | The owner’s title, the supplier’s claim | A surprise lien after the owner paid you |
How to use this template
- 1
Price the job first
The contract price comes from your own numbers. Run it through the job price calculator so the figure on the contract already carries overhead and margin, not just parts and hours.
- 2
Write the scope one task per line
Name equipment by size and who supplies it. "Install water heater" invites questions; "supply and install a 50 gal gas heater, haul away the old one" answers them. For a heater swap, the water heater replacement cost guide lists the parts that usually ride along.
- 3
Set the payments against milestones
Tie each payment to something the owner can see happen: materials on site, rough inspection passed, final passed. The template warns you on screen if the schedule does not add up to the contract price.
- 4
Name the permit holder and the AHJ
Pick who pulls the permit and type the office that issues it. The permit checklist builder lists the drawings and inspections that office will expect.
- 5
Print two copies, sign both
One for the owner, one for the job file. Copy all pastes the same text into an email or your own document.
Not legal advice
Cancellation, permits and liens: the lines the law reaches
The FTC Cooling-Off Rule
The Federal Trade Commission's Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429) covers a consumer sale the seller solicits and closes away from its place of business: a purchase price of $25 or more at the buyer's home, or $130 or more at another temporary location. The buyer can cancel until midnight of the third business day after the sale; a business day is any day except Sunday and federal holidays. The seller has to say so orally, put the cancellation statement in bold type of at least 10 points next to the buyer's signature, and hand over two copies of a completed notice-of-cancellation form.
Two exclusions matter to a plumber. A visit the owner asked for, to repair or maintain their own property, is excluded — but anything sold on that visit beyond the parts the repair needs is not. And a genuine emergency is excluded only when the owner initiated the contact and gives you a separate, dated and signed statement in their own handwriting describing the emergency and waiving the three days.
The template adds the statement, not the form
Who pulls the permit
IPC 2021 § 106.1 puts the duty to apply for the permit on the owner, the owner's authorized agent or the contractor, which is exactly why the contract has to name one of them. The adopted edition and the permit rules themselves are set by the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ), and the AHJ also decides who may hold a plumbing permit there. The plumbing permit cost guide covers how those fees are usually built, and IPC basics covers how the code gets adopted.
Lien notices vary by state
Pre-lien and notice requirements are state law, and they differ in who sends what, to whom, and by when. California is a clear example: the Contractors State License Board says subcontractors and suppliers who may need to file a lien must send a Preliminary Notice, before work begins or materials are delivered and up to 20 days after, while the direct contractor and laborers are not required to. The same board caps a home improvement down payment at $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less, and requires a signed written change order before any change. Check your own state's licensing board before you fill the lien line in.
Worked example: a water heater swap
The template opens on a 50 gal gas heater replacement with a new expansion tank — sized with the expansion tank calculator — priced by the shop at $4,850. The schedule is built so the owner never pays far ahead of what they can see:
| Payment | When due | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deposit | On signing | $485.00 | 10% |
| Progress | Heater delivered to site | $2,365.00 | 48.8% |
| Final | Passed final inspection | $2,000.00 | 41.2% |
| Contract price | $4,850.00 | 100% |
Tying the final payment to the passed inspection does two jobs: the owner has a reason to let the inspector in, and you have a reason the owner cannot argue with for asking to be paid that day. In California the $485 deposit sits under the lesser-of cap above; in another state, check before copying it.
How it pairs with the invoice and the price calculator
Three documents, one number. The job price calculator produces the price, this contract commits both sides to it, and the plumbing invoice template bills it — the deposit, each progress payment, and the final, each against the line in section 4. Every signed change order adds its own line to the invoice, so the final bill reconciles to the contract plus the change orders and nothing else.