A plumbing service agreement is a written contract in which a plumber inspects a customer's water supply and waste removal system on a set schedule — usually once a year — for a recurring monthly or annual fee, with the customer getting priority service and a standing discount on repairs. Most run twelve months and renew automatically unless cancelled. The New Flat Rate built this page to give you the full agreement text, a filled-in sample, real plan pricing, and a free PDF and Word version with no form to fill in.
The short answer
A plumbing service agreement is one page: who, what equipment, what the inspection covers, member benefits, price, seven plain terms, two signatures. Ours runs $14.95 a month per home or $229 a year, with one inspection and $25 off every repair invoice. The full text is below.
Key takeaways
This template is written for general use and is not legal advice. Auto-renewal and cancellation rules vary by state. Have a local attorney review it before you use it with customers.
A plumbing service agreement is a recurring contract between a plumbing contractor and a property owner that sets out what gets inspected, how often, what it costs, and what benefits membership carries. It is not a warranty, which covers failure, and not a one-off service call, which covers a single visit. The agreement is what turns unpredictable repair work into predictable monthly revenue.
"Plumbing service contract," "plumbing maintenance contract" and "service agreement" all describe this document, and we use service agreement throughout. "Plumber contract" often means something different — a one-off job contract — which is covered further down.
Decide four things, then put them on one page: what fixtures and equipment you cover, what the inspection actually includes, what membership gets the customer, and what it costs. A complete contract answers every question a customer might ask without a phone call — in plain language, not clauses nobody reads.
What most people get wrong: they write a longer contract thinking it protects them. A two-page agreement full of clauses the customer skims is weaker than a one-page agreement they actually read, because the arguments you lose are about things that were never explained.
This is the complete Legacy Club Service Agreement, the same text as the PDF and Word versions. Read it here, then use the free Service Agreement Builder to generate it with your company name, licence number and pricing already filled in.
Many contractors run two or three tiers. The middle column is the Legacy Club exactly as written above; treat the outer columns as illustrative.
However, The New Flat Rate has found that offering multiple tiers often creates confusion for contractors and their teams. Each additional tier adds details for technicians to explain, choices for customers to compare, and plans for office staff to track. For most contractors, a single maintenance agreement tier is the simplest and most effective option for technicians, customers, and the office.
The agreement
Legacy Club Service Agreement
[Your Company Name] · Licence # [Licence Number] · [Street Address, City, State ZIP] · [Phone] · [Email]
Plan # ____________ Date ___ / ___ / _____
| Customer | Phone | ||
| Service address | |||
| City / State / ZIP | |||
As a Legacy Club member, you receive a once-per-year maintenance and safety inspection on your complete water supply and waste removal system. The goal is simple: consistent preventive maintenance that helps you avoid inconvenient and costly breakdowns. Each inspection covers three areas:
|
Mechanical system A complete inspection of all fixtures, such as toilets, faucets, and water heaters. |
Safety system A complete inspection of all accessible supply lines and shut-off valves, the leading cause of flood and leak damage. |
Performance system A test of your waste and drain lines, along with total water supply pressure, for performance and longevity. |
Member benefits
Club investment per home: ☐ $14.95 per month ☐ $229 per year
Water heaters & plumbing equipment covered
| # | Equipment | Model | Serial |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||
| 2 | |||
| 3 | |||
| 4 |
Add-ons: ☐ Additional water heater — $59/yr or $4/mo Qty ______
Payment
☐ Visa ☐ Mastercard ☐ AmEx ☐ Discover ☐ ACH / bank draft ☐ Check
Card / account # ____________________ Exp. ________ Number of homes ______ Total due today $__________
Terms
| Customer signature | Technician | Date |
|---|---|---|
Thank you for your business. Questions? Call [Phone]. Template by The New Flat Rate · Not legal advice; have a local attorney review before use.
Nine things, and the agreement above has all of them. Leave any out and you will settle the question by phone later, usually in the customer's favour. State licensing boards publish their own contract requirements — California's Contractors State License Board, which licenses plumbing contractors under the C-36 classification, sets out what a home improvement contract must contain in its Home Improvement Contracts consumer guide — so check the board in every state you work in.
1. Parties and date
Your legal business name, plumbing licence number and contact details; the customer's name, service address and contact details; the date.
2. What the inspection covers
Fixtures, accessible supply lines and shut-off valves, waste and drain lines, water pressure. Say what each area means — vagueness here is what customers argue about.
3. Covered equipment
Water heaters and other plumbing equipment listed by model and serial number.
4. Member benefits
The repair discount as a dollar amount, the waived service charge, and priority service.
5. Price and billing
The monthly and annual figures, any add-ons, the payment method, and explicit authorisation to charge it, including renewals.
6. Term and renewal
Monthly runs month to month; annual runs twelve months and renews. Say how to cancel and how much notice is needed.
7. What is billed separately
Parts, repairs and replacements, at standard pricing less member benefits.
8. Discount limits
Once per invoice, no cash value, not combinable. Without this the discount gets stacked.
9. Governing law and signatures
The state whose law applies, then both signatures and the date.
Here is the same agreement completed for a fictional contractor, so you can see the finished document before you build your own. Keystone Plumbing is not a real company.
Many contractors run two or three tiers. The middle column is the Legacy Club exactly as written above; treat the outer columns as illustrative.
| Basic (illustrative) | Legacy Club (actual) | Premium (illustrative) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inspections per year | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Areas checked | Fixtures only | Mechanical, safety, performance | Mechanical, safety, performance |
| Repair discount | $15 per invoice | $25 per invoice | $50 per invoice |
| Priority service | No | Yes | Yes |
| Price per home | $9.95/mo | $14.95/mo | $24.95/mo |
| Annual | $169/yr | $229/yr | $349/yr |
Check the annual column again: $14.95 × 12 is $179.40, and the annual price is $229 — about $50 more, not less. Monthly members renew at a much higher rate year over year, so the pricing should steer customers to monthly rather than reward them for paying up front.
Note also what is priced per unit. The HVAC version of this plan is priced per system; the plumbing version is priced per home, with additional water heaters as a $4-a-month add-on. A house has one plumbing system and may have several pieces of equipment on it, which is a different shape from two or three separate HVAC systems.
Price the plan from what the inspection costs you to deliver plus the margin you need, then check it against what membership is worth in repair pull-through. A plan priced off a competitor's number tells you nothing about whether yours makes money. The full method is in How to Price an HVAC Maintenance Plan for Profit — the arithmetic is identical for plumbing.
|
$14.95 per month, per home |
$1,495 monthly recurring revenue at 100 members |
$17,940 annual recurring revenue |
That is 100 inspections to deliver. The revenue line is only half the picture — subtract your delivered cost per visit to get margin, and remember the agreement's real return is the repair work that stays with you instead of going to whoever answers the phone first.
If you are searching for how to get plumbing contracts, you are probably after project or commercial work rather than a residential membership — and that is a different document from the one above. A residential service agreement is a consumer contract: one home, a recurring fee, consumer auto-renewal rules apply, and the customer signs at the kitchen table. A project or property-manager contract covers defined work or multiple sites, is usually bid, and turns on things a service agreement never mentions.
| Residential service agreement | Project / commercial contract | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | A renewal term | A scope of work and a completion date |
| Price | Monthly or annual fee | Total contract price with progress payments |
| Insurance | Not usually named | Certificates of liability and workers' comp required |
| Performance risk | "Priority service," no promises on timing | Response-time guarantees with penalties |
| Who signs | A homeowner, at the kitchen table | A property manager or GC, after a bid |
The practical difference is who carries the risk. In a residential agreement your exposure is capped by what the plan covers and parts are billed separately. In a property-manager contract the other side pushes guarantees and penalty clauses onto you, and the margin has to be priced for that before you sign. Use the template on this page for homeowners, and have an attorney draft the commercial version from scratch — it is not a variation on this document.
The agreement is the contract, the membership is the relationship, and the price book is what makes both profitable. They are three different things and contractors lose money by treating them as one. The agreement says what you owe the customer; the membership is why they stay; the price book decides what every repair they call you for is worth.
A membership program built without a price book turns into a discount scheme, because there is no governing price for the discount to come off. The clearest example is what happens at the kitchen table when the customer asks for a break on today's bill:
|
Do this Price today's work at your standard price, and let membership start today so the savings begin on the next visit. The customer joins for what the plan does, and you keep today's margin. |
Not this Discount today's repair to get the signature. You have taught the customer the plan is a coupon, given away the margin you were protecting, and set up the same conversation next visit. |
These are the six rules we give our own members for selling the club:
Offer it after the customer approves today's work, as the way to keep it from happening again. The four objections you will hear:
| Customer says | You say |
|---|---|
| "Can I just pay once a year?" | "You can. It's $229 a year. Most of our members choose $14.95 a month because it's easier on the budget." |
| "Can you take something off today's repair?" | "Today's work is at our standard price. Your member benefits start as soon as you join, so you save on every visit after today." |
| "What does priority service mean?" | "Members go to the front of our schedule ahead of non-members." |
| "I'll think about it." | "That's fine. What would you want to know to feel good about it?" |
See also The Service Agreement That Keeps Your Customer Isn't the Same One That Makes You Money and the Plumbing Maintenance Checklist, which is what your technician works through on the visit this agreement pays for.
Where can I find sample plumbing contracts and terms?
The sample section above shows a complete plumbing service agreement filled in for a fictional contractor, with equipment detail, member benefits, pricing and terms in place. The full text is printed further up this page, so you can read every term before downloading anything. Both the PDF and the Word file carry the same language.
Where can I get a free plumbing contract agreement PDF?
You can download one here with no form and no email required. The Service Agreement Builder generates the agreement with your company details filled in and gives you both a PDF and a Word (.docx) file. Most template sites put the file behind a form; this one does not.
What should a plumbing service contract template include?
Nine things: parties and date, what the inspection covers, covered equipment by model and serial, member benefits, price and billing authorisation, term and renewal, what is billed separately, the limits on the discount, and governing law with signatures. List equipment by model and serial rather than describing it generally — ambiguity about what is covered is where disputes start.
What plumbing contract terms and conditions matter most?
The two that stop arguments are what is billed separately and what the discount does not do. Parts, repairs and replacements sit outside the plan and are billed at standard pricing less member benefits. The $25 discount applies once per repair invoice, has no cash value, and cannot be combined with other offers. Without that second sentence, customers stack it.
How long do plumbing maintenance contracts usually run?
It depends which option the customer picks. A monthly membership is month to month and continues until cancelled in writing. An annual membership runs twelve months from enrollment and renews automatically unless cancelled in writing at least 30 days beforehand. Say both plainly in the contract, because auto-renewal disclosure requirements differ from state to state.
How much should I charge for a plumbing service agreement?
The Legacy Club price is $14.95 a month per home, or $229 a year, with additional water heaters at $4 a month. Note the annual figure is roughly fifty dollars more than twelve monthly payments, not less — monthly members renew at a much higher rate, so the pricing deliberately steers toward monthly. Set your own number from your delivered cost per inspection.
Is a plumber contract the same as a service agreement?
Not always. "Plumber contract" is often used for a one-off job contract covering a single installation or repair, with a scope of work, a completion date and a fixed price. A service agreement is recurring: it covers inspection on a schedule for a monthly or annual fee. This page is the recurring kind — see the section above if you are bidding project work.
Can I change the template for my state?
Yes, and you should. The builder has a field for the governing state law, so the generated agreement names where you work. Auto-renewal, cancellation notice and consumer-protection requirements differ from state to state, so have a local attorney review the finished document before using it with customers.
Free template builder
Everything on this page, generated with your company name, licence number, equipment list and pricing already in it. Pick your trade, fill in six fields, and download. No form, no email, no waiting.
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PDF and Word, both ungated |
Four trades, including electrical |
A team talk track your techs can use |
Last updated: [SET ON PUBLISH] · Written by: Melody Chaney ·
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