Plumbing Financial Plan

Thinking about starting your own plumbing business? Good call.

Starting a plumbing business can be a rewarding and fulfilling business venture for someone who knows the field inside out.

However, you need a solid business plan backed with realistic financial forecasts to ensure success for your plumbing business. Need help getting your financial plan in order?

Worry not. This plumbing financial plan guide and example will help you get started.

Ready to begin? Let’s dive right in.

Plumbers Financial Outlook

Before diving right into financial planning, let’s take a moment to explore the highlights from the plumbers industry:

• The plumbers’ industry in the United States was valued at approximately $126.4 billion in revenue in 2023.
• The market size of plumbing services declined 0.8% per year with a CAGR from 2018 to 2023. But still, it’s expected to grow at a moderate pace in the coming years.
• There are a total of 113,769 plumbing businesses operating in the United States, and they are expected to pay total wages of $38.1 billion in 2024.

Overall, these statistics show a positive outlook and enough scope for new plumbing businesses to emerge and grow in this sector.

Now, let’s move ahead to learn about how to make a successful financial model.

1. Calculate Business Startup Costs

Once you’ve decided to start your plumbing company, it’s very crucial to have a clear understanding of your finances, right? So, you’ll need to calculate the startup costs very first!

You may start by identifying all the initial expenses associated with your plumbing services. It includes equipment purchases, vehicle, licensing and permit fees, insurance premiums, marketing expenses, and working capital.

You can also research local market conditions and industry benchmarks to evaluate the typical costs of starting a plumbing business. This will help you get accurate estimates.

Try to be clear and comprise every potential cost, no matter how small it is. You can make a specific list of all the expenses, as shown in the below table:

So, having a brief idea of startup costs will help you create a proper budget and determine the necessary capital to launch your business successfully.

2. Determine Financing Requirements & Strategy

Sometimes, people don’t have enough money to start their own business. So, they might need to ask for help from others to get the initial investment.

For a plumbing business, you’ll need to evaluate the current monetary position and determine how much startup capital you’ll require to fund your business. Also, assess various financing options and develop a clear strategy to secure funding.

Here are a few funding options you may consider:

• Bank loans
• Small business loans
• Investors or partners
• Lines of credit
• Crowdfunding

For each option, you have to evaluate the terms, interest rates, and repayment methods. This will let you devise a financing strategy that aligns with your investment goals and risk tolerance.

Then, you can decide which funding option is the most appropriate for your plumbing company.

Furthermore, while seeking credit from banks or investors, you’ll need a professional document that projects how your plumbing financial modeling works. It will assist potential lenders to have a better idea of your business.

3. Understand Your Business Model

Developing a scalable business model is a crucial aspect of a financial plan. This is something you have to decide before you start running your business.

It is a strategic framework that defines how you generate income, manage expenses, and reach your financial objectives.

Here is a list of different types of business models you may consider for your plumbing company:

• Residential plumbing
• Commercial plumbing
• Drain cleaning company
• Emergency plumbing

While deciding on any of the above models, you have to understand their financial considerations, including revenue potential, cost structures, profit margins, and risk factors.

This will help you make well-informed decisions and achieve your financial goals in the long run.

4. Identify Revenue Streams

Identifying your business revenue streams is an essential part of maximizing profitability. So, try to diversify your income sources within the plumbing market and create a robust portfolio.

It will help potential investors or lenders determine how much revenue your business intends to generate over the next few years.

For instance, you may include the following revenue streams in your plumbing financial projections:

• Residential plumbing installations
• Commercial plumbing services
• Repairs & maintenance
• Retail sales (plumbing fixtures, parts, & accessories)

Well, using Upmetrics could be a great help here. It will not just calculate financial projections but also help you identify relevant revenue streams.

For better understanding, you may consider the following example prepared using Upmetrics:

Furthermore, it allows you to make informed decisions about your revenue by using different ways to forecast income streams, such as unit sales, the charge per service, recurring/hourly charges, or fixed amounts.

So, this can be an effective and accurate way of estimating your income potential.

5. Market Analysis and Pre-Assumptions

A successful business requires a comprehensive market analysis to gain valuable insights into the local business landscape.

While drafting a plumbing business plan, you’ve already conducted thorough market research and gained a good idea of the target market, customer needs & preferences, market trends, and competitors.

So, it’s time to use that knowledge to prepare a financial forecast and make realistic assumptions about service fees, customer acquisition & retention rates, labor expenses, and equipment maintenance costs.

Here are a few key components that you should include in your plan:

Pricing Strategy

When it comes to devising a pricing strategy, there’s no bound law. Yet, you’ll need to analyze a few factors, such as your plumbing services, market demand, quality, operating costs, and value-added features, to develop optimal pricing.

You may conduct a competitive market analysis to comprehend the prevailing market prices and set competitive yet profitable service rates.

Remember, your prices should reflect the value of your plumbing services and still help you generate sufficient returns on your investment.

Sales Forecast

A sales forecast is a primary element of any business, serving as the cornerstone for its profitability and growth.

It helps you estimate the future sales number of your plumbing services based on population growth, housing trends, service prices, consumer needs, and seasonal fluctuations.

You can analyze historical sales data and industry trends to predict future demand for your target market. Also, consider your marketing efforts and pricing strategy to forecast the sales volume you expect within a specific timeframe.

Business Expenses

Generally, business expenses are operating costs or day-to-day expenses that will keep your business running smoothly.

For your plumbing company, you may conduct a detailed analysis of the anticipated expenses, such as rent or lease payments, insurance premiums, equipment purchases, marketing, commissions, utilities, taxes, insurance, and overhead costs.

Apart from that, you may consider a few factors, like market trends, material costs, labor rates, and industry standards, while estimating your business expenses.

Here, you should note one thing—you must account for probable cost overruns or unexpected expenses during business operations. So, be conservative in your financial projections.

6. Make Financial Projections

If you want to attract investors, let the numbers do the talking. This is so because potential investors or stakeholders will look at the financial reports once and decide whether or not to invest in your business.

So, ensure that the key financial reports provide an exact view of your plumbing business’s financial health and viability.

Here’s a list of several financial statements and analyzes you should incorporate into your projections:

Cash flow statement

A cash flow statement offers a detailed explanation of how much cash your business brings in, pays out, and ends with the cash balance. Typically, it’s an illustration of how well your business is generating cash.

It helps you track the cash flow in and out of your plumbing business over a specific timeframe, generally monthly, quarterly, or annually.

You may take into account the cash flows related to sales revenue, payments to suppliers, payroll expenses, operating expenses, loan repayments, borrowing, or equity investments.

Be realistic about your financial assumptions and measure your business’s liquidity, capability to meet financial obligations, and sufficiency of cash flow to fund future investments and expense outlays.

Balance sheet

A balance sheet provides a quick overview of your business’s financial position at a specific time.

It clearly demonstrates what you own, what you owe to vendors or other debtors, and what’s left over for you. After all, it has three main elements:

• Assets: Cash, inventory, equipment, and accounts receivable
• Liabilities: Debts, loan repayments, and accounts payable
• Equity: Owners’ equity & other investments, stock proceeds, and retained earnings

Ideally, it is formulated as, assets = liabilities + equity

By looking at your balance sheet, anyone can get the exact idea of how financially stable your business is, how much cash you hold, and where your money is tied up.

Income statement

The income statement is also known as a profit and loss statement(P&L), explaining how your business made a profit or incurred a loss over a specific period, typically monthly, quarterly, or annually.

Depending on the structure and type of your business, consider adding these factors—revenue or sales, operating expenses, and gross margin to your profit and loss statement.

You may calculate the gross margin by subtracting the cost of sales or COGS from revenue. It enables you to determine your business’s efficiency in utilizing resources.

Further, the P&L statement should also include operating income, which is equivalent to EBITDA. And the net income is the ultimate goal of any business, found at the end by deducting the operational expenses from EBITDA.

Overall, the income statement helps you gauge your business’s profitability, financial performance, and feasibility in the long run.

Break-even Analysis

The break-even analysis allows you to determine the point at which your plumbing business’s total revenue matches its total expenses, causing no profit or loss.

It helps you evaluate the minimum level of sales or revenue needed to cover your plumbing company’s fixed and variable costs.

This analysis provides valuable insights into your financial sustainability and helps you set sales targets, pricing strategies, and cost-control criteria.

7. Test Assumptions and Scenario Analysis

As your entire plan is prepared based on assumptions, you’ll need to regularly review and stress-test your financial projections to check their relevance with market realities and business performance.

In this stage, you may consider various “what-if” situations and think about scenarios where things go well or don’t.

For instance, you’ll need to consider the changes in material costs, labor rates, business operations, and market demand to measure the stability of your plumbing financial plan.

By performing test assumptions and sensitivity analysis, you can adjust your strategies accordingly to mitigate risks, optimize returns, and make well-informed business decisions.

8. Monitor and Update Your Plan

Once your plan is ready, continuously evaluate and monitor your plumbing business’s financial performance closely against the financial projections and key performance indicators(KPIs).

You can compare the actual financial results with the projected income streams, expenses, and ROI to take note of any variances or deviations from the plan.

If some factors are remarkably different from projections, recognize the causes behind them. This will help you understand which areas need improvement and which works as anticipated.

Also, review and update your strategies accordingly to optimize financial results and achieve long-term success.

Now that you know how to create a solid plumbing financial plan, it’s time to explore an example for easy understanding.

Plumbing Financial Plan Example

Drafting a plumbing financial plan from scratch can be overwhelming, right? But not to worry; we’re here to help you with a realistic financial plan example prepared using Upmetrics.

It includes all the key elements of a plumbing business’s financial projection, including the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and break-even point. This will streamline the entire planning process and help you get started.

Start Preparing Your Plumbing Financial Plan

And that’s a wrap—we’ve discussed all the fundamental aspects of financial planning. So, it’s time to use that knowledge.

But if you still feel that writing a financial plan for your startup is a tough job, don’t worry; we’ve got an easy way out for you.

Upmetrics’ AI-based financial forecasting tool will help you get started and create comprehensive yet successful plans that perfectly align with your goals.

So, without any delay; start planning now!