What to put in a plumbing contractor business package for a small operation

What to take away

Start from the decision the customer cannot make

Homeowners calling a plumber are rarely choosing between services. They are trying to answer a question they lack the information to answer: is this going to happen again, is the rest of the system in the same state, and how much is this going to cost me in total.

A good package answers one of those questions. A bad one answers none and simply groups tasks that happen to be adjacent on your menu.

Write the question at the top of each package definition. If you cannot write it, you have a discount rather than a package.

The design rules

Rule 1: one visit, one access condition. Everything in a package should be performable in a single trip with the same access. The moment a package requires a second visit, or requires the water to be off at a time the customer cannot accommodate, its value has been eaten by coordination.

Rule 2: cap the variable items. Anything whose scope depends on what you find has to carry a limit inside the package. A package that includes drain clearing must state how many fixtures or lines, what depth of access, and what happens if the line turns out to be broken rather than blocked. Without the cap you have sold an unlimited liability at a fixed price.

Worked example: a capped drain clearing. The package text, with the blanks filled in, reads: we clear one line, up to 60 feet from the cleanout we can reach, in one visit, and we camera that line afterwards.

The cap is the length and the access point. If the line is broken, collapsed, or behind a fixture that cannot be opened, the cap is reached.

Past the cap the technician stops, photographs the condition, quotes the repair as a separate job, gets written approval, and resumes. No work beyond the cap starts without that approval.

Rule 3: every included item must be individually recognizable. The customer should be able to point at each thing they are receiving. Bundled items nobody can name are read as padding.

Rule 4: the discount must correspond to a saved hour. Price the package as the sum of the parts minus the time genuinely saved by doing them together. If nothing is saved, there is no reason to discount, and the package is a convenience rather than a bargain. Say that plainly instead of inventing a reduction.

The arithmetic, with illustrative numbers. Two items sold separately: drain clearing at $300 and a camera inspection of the same line at $150.

Done in one visit they take 45 minutes less in travel and setup. At a recovered hour worth $80, the time saved is about $60.

The package price is $450 minus $60, or $390, a discount of about 13 percent. The numbers are an example, not a market quote. Substitute your own.

Rule 5: exclusions travel with the package. They belong in the same document, in the same size type, next to what is included.

Three named options and what each one contains

Three named options work better than one bundle, because they turn a yes-or-no decision into a which-one decision. The shape that holds up in this trade is:

Two rules make this work. Every option must be complete on its own, so that choosing the smallest is a legitimate choice rather than a punishment. And the difference between adjacent options has to be one idea, not a longer list.

Four questions to test a package on an awkward house

Before publishing a package, run it against the hardest realistic job it would apply to. Pick a house with poor access, older materials, and a system nobody has documented.

Ask four questions.

A package that fails the awkward house test does not need a higher price. It needs a tighter entry condition.

What you may put on the page

Everything published about a package is advertising. The Federal Trade Commission's advertising guidance for small businesses requires claims to be truthful and capable of being supported, and requires the conditions on an offer to appear with the offer.

That has three practical consequences here.

Delivering the package on site

A package fails at delivery more often than at design. Three habits prevent it.

Confirm scope before starting. The technician reads back what is included and what is not, and records that it happened. Thirty seconds here removes most disputes.

Photograph the entry condition. Evidence that the situation matched what was quoted protects both sides, and it is what makes a cap enforceable without an argument.

Have a written path past the cap. When the job turns out to be bigger, the technician needs a defined route: stop, document, quote the extra, get approval, resume. Improvisation at this moment is how a fixed price becomes a loss.

Some packaged work carries a hazard that has to be handled before the truck moves, particularly anything involving excavation, confined spaces, or hot work. Build the control into the package definition using the structure in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's recommended practices for a safety and health program, so the sale cannot happen without it.

Reviewing what you published

Every six months, pull the completed jobs for each package and compare them with the definition. You are looking for three things: how often the cap was reached, how often the technician adjusted the scope verbally, and whether the package's actual hours match the assumption its price was built on.

That review needs job records you can query, which is why the recordkeeping standard the Internal Revenue Service sets out in what records a business should keep matters operationally and not only at tax time.

Rank packages by what they actually contribute, not by gross revenue, using the method in the analysis of which services actually pay.

The package definitions belong in the services and packages structure. Truck stocking that decides if a package can be done in one visit is in the equipment and setup guide. The sequencing for a new firm is in the phased startup plan.

Common questions

How many packages should I offer?

Two or three per problem type. More than that returns the customer to the confusion the package was meant to remove.

Should a package always be cheaper than the parts?

No. It should be cheaper only where combining the work actually saves time. Where it does not, sell it on certainty and convenience and say so.

What if the customer wants to remove one item?

Then it becomes separate services at separate prices. A package with items removed is not a package, and letting it be one teaches every future customer to negotiate the contents.

Do maintenance packages work for residential plumbing?

They can, where the recurring work is genuinely useful rather than invented to justify a visit. Be specific about what is checked and what the customer receives, and be honest that inspection reduces surprise rather than eliminating it.