Plumber Quote: Items to Check and Emergency Repair Template

For a private customer in France, the plumber must state the price before starting work. For an emergency repair at the customer's home, a written document with defined content is required above an amount set by ministerial order (arrêté). For planned work, provide a detailed, dated and signed quote.

A plumbing quote is the written document that describes the service, sets its price and scope, and that the customer accepts by dating and signing it. An estimate given over the phone does not replace it.

Which text sets the written-quote threshold for an emergency repair?

The French Consumer Code (Code de la consommation) requires prior information on prices. An order on price information for emergency repair, repair and maintenance services at the customer's home sets the amount from which a written document is required, as well as its content. This title describes the text; it is not the official citation.

This article does not reproduce the threshold amount, because it may change and we do not publish it without a verified source. On Légifrance, the official French legal database, look up the version in force, then record in your procedure the exact title of the order, its date, its number and the threshold. For planned work, the Service Public Entreprendre page mandatory quote, activities concerned indicates whether your activity requires a quote.

Does a message replace the written quote for an emergency repair?

Plumbing quote by situation Situation | Document to provide before starting work | Basis of the requirement Urgent repair for a private customer (leak, blockage) | Price stated and accepted before starting; above the threshold, a signed document with the content set by the order | French Consumer Code and order on home emergency repairs Business customer (property manager, shop, company) | Quote, often required by the customer before approval | Practices agreed with the customer and general terms of sale; check the applicable framework with your adviser Small job with low stakes | Written confirmation of the price, for example by message | Good practice to keep proof Guidance table. The applicable text is to be checked on Légifrance.

Why provide a written document to a property manager?

A syndic de copropriété (property manager) is the agent who runs the building on behalf of the co-owners. For them, the quote also serves as an internal approval document. Without a written document, the price and the scope of the assignment are harder to establish. To standardize your quotes, see the management solution for plumbing.

Eight points serve as a review checklist for a plumbing quote. This list is an internal control tool, not a regulatory text. Only the text in force says which items are mandatory: this section therefore gives you the method to check them yourself.

How to tell mandatory items from good practice?

1. On Légifrance, open the order on home emergency repairs and the French Consumer Code. 2. For each of the eight points below, note whether one of these texts requires it. 3. Classify the point as "mandatory" or "good practice". 4. Date this check in your procedure and repeat it regularly.

• Company identity: name, address, contact details. • Customer identification: name, billing address, site address if different. • Quote date: starting point of the validity period. • Precise description of the services: nature of the work, supplies, quantities, appliance references. • Price: line-by-line detail, total excluding tax, VAT (value-added tax) and total including tax. For an emergency repair, read in the order what it requires regarding the breakdown of the hourly rate. • Validity period of the offer: a clear deadline. • Payment terms: deposit if any, due dates, payment methods. • Performance terms: date or lead time for the work, access conditions, waste removal if included.

Which other points should you add depending on the situation?

• Whether the quote is free or paid, to be announced before preparing it; check in the order whether your service is concerned. • Travel costs, if charged. • The VAT breakdown when several rates apply. • For a contract concluded away from the business premises, information on the right of withdrawal.

Does the right of withdrawal apply to an emergency repair requested by the customer?

Yes, as a general rule. Whenever the contract is concluded away from your business premises, including at the customer's home and at their request, the customer has a right of withdrawal. You give them the information on withdrawal, together with the withdrawal form.

Under the regulations in force, an exception may exist for urgent repairs. In general, when the customer expressly requests an intervention at their home because of urgency, the right of withdrawal may not apply to the work and parts strictly necessary to deal with that emergency. The rest of the job is in principle subject to the right of withdrawal. Check the exact conditions with the DGCCRF or a legal adviser before applying this exception. Have the customer's express request recorded in writing, with its date and time.

The exact articles of the French Consumer Code can be read on Légifrance; the Service Public page doorstep selling and right of withdrawal details the conditions.

How to review a quote from the customer's point of view?

Each line must answer "what exactly am I paying for?". A vague wording such as "replacement of the taps and fittings" opens the door to disputes: specify the model, the number of items and what remains the customer's responsibility. Check that the site address and the payment terms are identical on the quote, the work order and the invoice.

The SIRET is the identification number of the establishment assigned by Insee (the French national statistics institute). The garantie décennale (ten-year builder's warranty) is the insurance that covers, for ten years after acceptance of the work, serious damage affecting the structural soundness of a structure or making it unfit for its purpose. Consumer mediation is an out-of-court dispute resolution procedure between a business and a consumer, entrusted to an independent mediator.

Is ten-year insurance mandatory on a quote?

For these services, confirm with your insurer what your policy covers and what must be stated. Check the requirement on the Service Public Entreprendre page mandatory quote, activities concerned and have your wording validated by the insurer.

Which company items should the template include?

Craftsman-specific items on a quote Item | Businesses concerned | Content to state Identity | All | Name or company name, legal form, address Registration | Craftsman: RM (trades register). Commercial company: RCS (trade and companies register) | Number and RM or RCS mention; share capital for companies Insurance | Professionals subject to an insurance obligation; ten-year cover for work that creates or modifies a structure | Insurer's name and contact details, policy coverage; wording validated by the insurer Applicable VAT | All | Rate depending on the nature of the work and the dwelling, sometimes with a customer certificate; never quote a rate from memory Consumer mediation | Private customers | Mediator's contact details and how to refer a case Check each item on the Service Public Entreprendre pages cited below.

Where to check that these items are up to date?

Texts and rates change: a template copied from an old quote may contain an outdated mention. Check it on the Service Public Entreprendre pages: mandatory quote, activities concerned, doorstep selling and right of withdrawal and VAT rates for renovation work. Note the date of your last check in your internal procedure.

A plumbing quote template is built in six blocks: company header, customer and work location, description of services, totals and VAT, terms and validity, acceptance and signature. This framework is reused from one job to the next; only the service lines change.

Plumbing quote framework Block | Content to include | Role Company header | Identity, contact details, registration, insurance information | Identify the company and its insurer Customer and work location | Name, billing address, site address, access | Avoid any ambiguity about the recipient and the location Description of services | Labor lines, supplies, travel | Set what is included and excluded Totals and VAT | Total excluding tax, VAT, total including tax | Make the price readable Terms and validity | Validity date, deposit, payment, lead time | Frame the offer in time Acceptance and signature | Date, statement of agreement, customer's signature | Prove agreement on the price and scope Framework to adapt to the company. It deliberately contains no amount.

Which lines to write for an emergency repair?

Example for a leak on a washbasin supply hose. Each line carries an action verb, an object and a quantity, and the amount is entered on the right.

• Travel: application of the company's rule, specified on the line. • Leak detection and making safe: shutting off the water supply, estimated time, hourly rate. • Removal of the faulty hose: one unit. • Supply and installation of a hose with the stated reference: one unit. • Turning the water back on and checking for leaks: estimated time, hourly rate. • Exclusions: restoration of floor or wall coverings, work on concealed pipes that are not accessible.

How to adapt the lines to a blockage, and why list exclusions?

For a blocked drain, keep the same logic: travel, diagnosis, unblocking with the method used, waste removal if included, flow check, exclusions. Always add an exclusions section: what is not written as included will be claimed by the customer, and what is not written as excluded will be hard to invoice as an extra.

Finish with acceptance: date, statement of agreement and customer's signature. Without it, the quote remains a proposal. Above the threshold set by the order, the signature of the written quote is essential; below it, a validation by message that you keep serves as proof of agreement.

Price an emergency repair in four components: travel, labor (estimated time multiplied by the company's hourly rate), supplies and parts, and, if it applies, the emergency surcharge. Each component takes a separate line.

The hourly rate is calculated from your costs, your non-billable time and your margin: it is specific to each company. For the estimated time, rely on your past jobs of the same kind. The emergency surcharge is the supplement charged for a night, weekend or urgent call-out.

Components of an emergency repair Component | Basis of calculation | Point of attention Travel | Flat fee or distance, according to your rule | Apply the same rule to all customers Labor | Estimated time multiplied by the hourly rate | State time and rate, not a lump total; if the duration is uncertain, say what will make it vary Supplies and parts | Parts needed, quantities, purchase price and margin | List the references, or at least the nature and quantity; avoid "small supplies" Emergency surcharge | According to your policy: night, weekend, urgency | Write the reason and announce it before leaving, not when invoicing No amount or percentage: they depend on each company's pricing policy.

After each emergency repair, compare the estimated time with the time actually spent: this shows you which services you are underpricing.

Before starting work, inform the customer of the travel conditions, night or weekend surcharges and the pricing method: a range, or step-by-step pricing after diagnosis. Have their agreement confirmed in a traceable way. If the diagnosis reveals larger work, issue a supplementary quote and wait for its acceptance before continuing.

1. Before leaving, announce travel and surcharges by phone, then confirm them in writing. 2. On site, carry out the diagnosis and explain what you find. 3. Propose a firm price for the identified repair, or a range with the condition that will settle it. 4. Above the threshold set by the order, have the written quote signed; below it, obtain at least a validation by message before starting. 5. If the scale changes, issue a supplementary quote and wait for the customer's agreement.

What is the difference between a fixed-price quote and an estimate?

A fixed-price quote sets a price for a defined service, for example an identified repair. An estimate evaluates a price that may change depending on what the work reveals. State on the document which type it is and, for an estimate, the condition that makes the price vary.

What does a plumber risk with an incomplete quote or a cost overrun?

A final price higher than the accepted price, without the customer's agreement, exposes the company to a challenge to the invoice, a dispute and collection difficulties. A consumer customer can also refer the matter to the consumer mediator; this remedy does not apply to a business customer. The DGCCRF, the French Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, checks compliance with the rules on price information, and the French Consumer Code provides for penalties in case of breach. Their nature and amount are set out in the applicable text, on Légifrance or from the DGCCRF. Therefore never invoice an extra that has not been accepted. To limit the late payments that follow, see the guide to anticipating unpaid invoices in construction.

The document chain of a plumbing job follows five steps: signed quote, work order, deposit if any, change orders if the scope changes, final invoice. The invoice repeats the quote lines and shows any difference on an identifiable line.

The work order is the document handed over or signed at the end of the visit: date, time spent, parts installed, remarks. It allows the quote and the invoice to be reconciled. A change order (avenant) is the signed document that modifies the initial quote, for example to add work. A deposit is a sum paid before the end of the service: its mention, amount and deduction must appear on the final invoice.

1. Have the quote signed before starting, or keep the customer's written validation in an emergency, in compliance with the threshold set by the order. 2. Fill in the work order at the end of the visit. 3. Record the deposit if any, with its date and amount. 4. Draw up a change order as soon as the scope changes and have it accepted before continuing. 5. Issue the final invoice repeating the quote lines, the change orders and the deduction of the deposit.

How to present the final invoice and what to keep?

On the final invoice, repeat each quote line with the same wording, place differences and change orders on separate lines, and state the deposit deducted and the balance due. Keep the signed quote, the work order, the change orders and the invoice together. The retention period depends on your accounting and tax obligations: confirm it with your accountant. A modified wording or a line without a change order prompts questions from the customer, then payment delays.

Whatever tool you use, link each deposit, change order and invoice to the original quote. To place your needs according to your trade, read the guide construction software by trade. A presentation of quote management and invoicing and the page solutions for small construction businesses complete these pointers.

À retenir For a private customer, state the price and obtain the customer's agreement before starting work. For an emergency repair at home, look up the written-quote threshold of the order on Légifrance; above it, always provide a signed document. For planned work, provide a detailed, dated and signed quote, with the company's insurance. Only an urgent repair expressly requested by the customer excludes the right of withdrawal, for the work and parts strictly necessary.