Can I split labor between rough-in and trim?

Yes. Two cost codes, two labor lines; the job's page shows each phase against its budget. Most plumbing contractors find the trim phase is where the margin goes.

How do I handle a fixture allowance?

Budget the allowance line, log the actual fixture invoice against it, and record the overage as a change order that adjusts the contract. The budget-vs-actual view shows the gap.

Does Obra do service calls and dispatch?

No. Obra is for contract work with a budget: remodel plumbing, repipes, new construction, commercial fit-outs. Service businesses need a field-service tool with a price book.

Can my helper send receipts from the supply house?

Yes, as a submitter, by WhatsApp, email or the app, in English or Spanish, without seeing the job's finances. A reviewer confirms the draft to the job and phase.

Obra for Plumbing contractors

Job costing for plumbing contractors: rough-in, trim, fixtures and what each job really returned

Expense tracking for plumbing contractors on project work: rough and trim as separate costs, fixture allowances, sewer surprises as change orders, and a margin per job.

Start free See the sample budget

A plumbing contract on a remodel is two jobs with one price: rough-in, when the walls are open and the surprises are found, and trim, weeks later, when the fixtures the client chose finally arrive. The margin is decided in the gap. Rough-in overruns because of what was under the slab; trim overruns because the allowance didn't survive the showroom; and by the time both invoices are in, the job is closed and the number is whatever it is.

Obra keeps the two phases as separate costs on one job, with the allowance budgeted per line and the overage recorded as a change order. The cast iron under the slab goes into the forecast and becomes a change order the afternoon it's found. Receipts from the supply house arrive by WhatsApp or email and are confirmed to the job and phase.

Rough and trim, apart

Give each phase its own labor code and its own material codes. The job's page then answers the question that matters to a plumbing contractor: was the rough-in bid right, or did the trim eat the margin? Most find the second. The cost code guide has the short list; the sample above is the two-bath version.

The allowance and the showroom

The fixture allowance is $3,400. The client comes back from the showroom with $5,900 of tub and faucet. The sequence that keeps the margin: log the selection against the allowance, write the $2,500 change order with markup the same day, get it signed, order. The change order guide is the five-minute version. The sequence that loses the margin is ordering first and discussing later.

What's under the slab

The cracked drain is the plumber's version of the wall that wasn't in the drawings. Quote it, put the quote into the forecast's remaining to spend so the job's expected final cost moves that day, write the change order, then cut. The committed costs guide explains why the forecast has to count the quote before the invoice.

What Obra isn't for a plumber

Not a dispatch board, not a flat-rate price book, not invoicing at the customer's door. Obra is the money on contract jobs, in English and Spanish, from the receipts your crew already sends, exported cleanly to the accountant.

Sample budget

Two-bath remodel plumbing, rough and trim, Riverside

Line item	Budget
Rough-in pipe, fittings, valves	$3,100
Water heater and venting	$2,200
Fixtures (allowance)	$3,400
Drain, waste, vent	$1,700
Permit and inspections	$400
Crew labor, rough and trim	$5,600
Direct cost budget	$16,400
Contract value	$23,400
Gross margin budgeted	$7,000

Illustrative figures in US dollars for a fictional project; use them to see the shape of the budget, not to price a job.

The cost codes this trade actually uses

01 Rough-in materials
02 Drain, waste, vent
03 Water heaters and equipment
04 Fixtures and trim
05 Permits and inspections
06 Crew labor, rough
07 Crew labor, trim
08 Equipment and rentals
09 Vehicle and transport

The change orders that eat the margin

The cast iron under the slab: The drain the drawings assumed is cracked, corroded or four feet from where it should be. Quoted and signed before the concrete saw starts, it's a change order; found and fixed, it's your weekend.
Fixtures over the allowance: A $3,400 fixture allowance meets a $5,900 freestanding tub and wall-mount faucet. The overage is billable only if it's written against the allowance before the order ships.
The second trip for the tile setter's schedule: Trim-out that slips because the tile isn't done is a day of labor nobody scheduled. Recorded as it happens, it's a conversation about the schedule; recalled later, it's absorbed.

Questions people ask

Can I split labor between rough-in and trim?: Yes. Two cost codes, two labor lines; the job's page shows each phase against its budget. Most plumbing contractors find the trim phase is where the margin goes.
How do I handle a fixture allowance?: Budget the allowance line, log the actual fixture invoice against it, and record the overage as a change order that adjusts the contract. The budget-vs-actual view shows the gap.
Does Obra do service calls and dispatch?: No. Obra is for contract work with a budget: remodel plumbing, repipes, new construction, commercial fit-outs. Service businesses need a field-service tool with a price book.
Can my helper send receipts from the supply house?: Yes, as a submitter, by WhatsApp, email or the app, in English or Spanish, without seeing the job's finances. A reviewer confirms the draft to the job and phase.

Free download

Not ready for an app? Start with our free Excel template.

A ready-made spreadsheet to track costs and income per project — with categories and the totals already set up.