Tender & Estimating Software for Plumbers

A plumbing takeoff is the measured length and count of every item of plumbing and drainage work shown on the plans, broken down so each can be priced with materials and labour. A complete takeoff typically covers:

• Pipe runs — water supply, sanitary, stormwater and gas pipework, measured in lineal metres by size and material.
• Fixtures — basins, toilets, showers, baths, troughs, hot water units and tapware.
• Fittings — valves, tapware, floor wastes, and the joints and fittings that connect pipe runs together.
• Drainage and stacks — sanitary stacks, downpipes, stormwater drainage and connection points.
• Compliance items — backflow prevention, testing, and the certification needed to sign off the work.

My Trade Hub’s estimation engine reads your plumbing and hydraulic plans and performs the measured takeoff automatically — measuring every pipe run and counting every fixture and fitting — instead of you scaling them off the drawings by hand.

Because the takeoff is automated rather than manual, it is 60-75% faster than estimating the same job by hand, so you can turn a set of plans into priced quantities the same day you receive them rather than setting aside a weekend.

The output is a structured, itemised list of plumbing quantities — not a black-box total — so you can review every line before it goes anywhere near a client.

Once the quantities are measured, pricing a plumbing job means applying a materials rate and a labour rate to every pipe run, fixture and fitting, then adding overheads and margin on top — the takeoff only gets you halfway to a number you can stand behind.

Labour is usually the larger cost on plumbing work, and it varies with access, whether pipework is above or below ground, wall and floor construction, and how much of the job is rough-in versus fit-off, so your rates need to reflect the real conditions on site, not a generic average.

On top of materials and labour, add your overheads and margin, and factor in a reasonable allowance for testing, backflow certification, and any make-good to other trades’ work.

With the plumbing quantities measured and priced, the next step is turning that pricing into a document a client or head contractor can actually act on — a clear, professional quote for direct work, or a complete tender submission for competitive commercial jobs.

My Trade Hub turns the priced takeoff straight into a client-ready quote or tender, with your branding and terms attached, so you are not re-keying the same numbers into a separate Word document or spreadsheet.

Because the slow part — the takeoff — is already done, producing the quote itself takes minutes, which means you can turn quotes around the same day a plan lands in your inbox.

Most plumbing contractors move between two very different pricing situations, and knowing which one you are in changes how you should price the job.

A straightforward quote — a bathroom renovation, a hot water unit replacement, a gas fitting job — is usually priced directly for the homeowner or head contractor as a fixed price with a short list of inclusions and exclusions. A commercial or multi-residential tender is more formal: you are usually pricing against a hydraulic consultant’s drawings and specification, sometimes with a Bill of Quantities, alongside other plumbing subcontractors.

The estimating principle is the same in both cases — measure the scope accurately, then price it — but a tender demands more supporting documentation and a tighter, more competitive rate, since you are one of several contractors bidding the identical scope.

Most plumbing under-quotes come down to a short list of recurring mistakes, all of which are avoidable with a consistent takeoff process.

• Missing pipe runs that are not drawn as a single obvious line — risers, ceiling space runs, and pipework hidden behind fixtures.
• Under-pricing drainage and stack work, which often carries more excavation, bedding and compliance cost than its length on the drawing suggests.
• Forgetting fittings that connect pipe runs together — valves, junctions and floor wastes — which add up quickly across a whole job.
• Not allowing for testing, backflow prevention and certification costs, which are compulsory but easy to leave out of a quick price.
• Pricing from an outdated drawing revision, so the quote no longer matches what is actually being installed.

On most residential and small commercial jobs, the plumber who will do the work also prices it — reading the plans, measuring the scope and building the quote themselves, since a separate estimator is rarely justified for a job of that size.

On larger commercial and multi-residential projects, a dedicated estimator or contracts manager inside the plumbing contracting business usually prepares the tender, often working from a head contractor’s program and a hydraulic consultant’s design rather than site knowledge alone.

Either way, the same bottleneck applies: someone has to manually scale hundreds of metres of pipework and count every fixture off a drawing before a single rate can be applied, which is exactly the step My Trade Hub automates.