Plumbing Software for Australian Plumbers
The plumbing software that quotes at your real Reece trade prices, invoices from the van and gets you paid on site, compared with the job-management and estimating platforms plumbers also ask about.
Plumbing software has one job that decides whether it pays for itself: pricing materials at what you actually pay for them. A hot water swap quoted off last month's price list, or off a generic supplier average instead of your trade rate, loses the job to the plumber who quoted 20% lower or loses the margin when the unit costs more than you allowed. Everything else the software does, invoicing, scheduling, job costing, matters after that. This guide compares the six plumbing software options Australian plumbers actually use, from a quoting app that prices every line at your real Reece maX trade rate to the job-costing platforms built for a crew with an office, with the real monthly cost for a sole trader and where each one stops being the right tool.
What plumbing software has to do before anything else
Three things, in order. Quote at your real material cost, so a bathroom rough-in or a 250L gas unit replacement carries the price you will pay at the counter, not a guess. Turn the accepted quote into a tax invoice without retyping it, and take payment on the driveway. Track the job from callout to paid so a blocked drain done on Tuesday is not still unbilled on Friday.
Software that does those three well earns its subscription on the first job of the month. Software that does dispatch, timesheets and inventory as well is built for a different business. If you are the plumber and the office, you want the first kind, and you want it to work from a phone.
Typical plumbing quotes run from $200 for a tap change to $20,000 for a full re-pipe. After-hours callouts in metro areas run $180 to $350 before the first hour. Getting those numbers right on the quote is worth more than any feature list.
At a glance
| # | App | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QuoteMate ★ Top pick | Plumbers and gasfitters: quotes at your real Reece maX trade prices, order from the quote | Free plan; Pro $49/mo or $490/yr |
| 2 | Fergus | Plumbing & electrical job costing | From $53/mo |
| 3 | ServiceM8 | iPhone teams wanting job cards & forms | Free then from $29/mo |
| 4 | AroFlo | Deep supplier & compliance tools | From ~$45/user/mo + setup |
| 5 | Tradify | Small crews needing timesheets & dispatch | From $48/user/mo |
| 6 | Buildxact | Builders estimating off plans | From $169/mo |
Supplier pricing is the whole game for plumbing quotes
Generic supplier pricing is never your trade rate. Manually looking prices up in Reece maX before every quote is half a day a week you are not earning. That gap is the reason plumbing software exists as a category rather than a generic quoting tool with a plumbing template.
QuoteMate is the only Australian quoting app with a live Reece maX integration. Connect your maX account once via OAuth, and every plumbing line item prices at your real Reece trade-discounted rate. Your full purchasable catalogue syncs from Reece and refreshes every night, so the AI matches the right SKU for pipework, fittings, hot water units, gas gear, drainage and brassware. When the customer accepts, you place the order to Reece from inside the quote: pick a branch, pickup or delivery, required-by date, done. Reece is on by default for plumbers and gasfitters, and the integration is included on every paid plan and the 14-day trial.
The most common question we get from plumbers about QuoteMate is whether the Reece prices are really live or a cached price list. They are live. The catalogue refreshes from Reece nightly, and you can force a refresh from Settings if a price moved this morning.
None of the other five options on this page pull live supplier pricing. Fergus, ServiceM8, AroFlo and Tradify quote against price lists you maintain. Buildxact estimates from plans. That is not a criticism of them; it is the difference between plumbing software and job management software with a plumbing customer base.
Plumbing invoice apps: getting paid on the driveway
A plumbing invoice app is worth having if it removes two things: retyping the quote into an invoice, and chasing. In QuoteMate the accepted quote becomes the tax invoice in one tap, GST and ABN already on it, and it goes out by email, SMS or WhatsApp. For a callout, tap-to-pay on your phone takes the card on site through Square at roughly 3.1% all in (1.6% Square plus 1.5% QuoteMate), out of your payout, with no surcharge to the customer. Card surcharges are banned in Australia from 1 October 2026, so the fee has to be priced into the job rather than added on.
Getting paid on the driveway rather than in 30 days changes the cash flow of a one-person plumbing business more than any other single feature. It also removes the follow-up call nobody enjoys making. For invoices that do go out unpaid, automatic chasing follows up without you remembering to.
The six options for plumbers, honestly
QuoteMate. Quoting-first, with the Reece maX integration above. AI-assisted line items, branded PDF quotes and invoices, GST sorted, on-site payment, a nine-stage job pipeline with calendar sync. Free plan with unlimited quotes and invoices; Pro is a flat $49 a month or $490 a year. Not for dispatching a crew or holding stock.
Fergus. Job costing for plumbing and electrical businesses with office staff, tracking cost against margin on bigger jobs. From $53 a month. Quoting is manual against your own list, with no live supplier prices. Right for an established firm with someone in the office.
ServiceM8. Job cards, forms and scheduling for iPhone-based teams. Free tier for very low volume, then from $29 a month by job volume. Strong field documentation, manual quoting.
AroFlo. Inventory, compliance paperwork and deep supplier integrations for larger operations. From around $45 per user per month plus setup. Built for a business with a dedicated admin.
Tradify. Timesheets and dispatch for small crews, quoting attached. From $48 per user per month, which is the catch at three users.
Buildxact. Estimating from architectural plans with digital takeoffs, desktop-first, from $169 a month. For builders and large renovation work, not service plumbing.
What a one-person plumbing business actually pays
QuoteMate: free, or $49 a month for Pro, which is $490 a year (about $41 a month) paid annually. Reece integration included. ServiceM8 from $29 a month. Fergus from $53. Tradify from $48 per user. AroFlo from around $45 per user plus setup. Buildxact from $169.
Add a second plumber and the per-user options double while QuoteMate stays at $49 for the business. Add an office and the picture changes: at that point Fergus or AroFlo may be worth the money for the job costing and paperwork, and QuoteMate becomes the wrong tool. Know which business you are before you compare prices.
Frequently Asked Questions
For a plumber who is also the office, a quoting-first app that prices at your real trade rate and invoices from the van. QuoteMate does that with a live Reece maX integration, a free plan for unlimited quotes and invoices, and Pro at a flat $49 a month. Once you have staff to dispatch, Fergus or ServiceM8 become the better fit.
QuoteMate does, through a live Reece maX integration. Connect your maX account once and every line item prices at your Reece trade-discounted rate, with the catalogue refreshing nightly and ordering from inside the quote. The other options on this page quote against price lists you maintain yourself.
Turn the accepted quote into a tax invoice without retyping, carry your ABN and GST correctly, send by email or SMS, take a card on site, and chase unpaid invoices automatically. If it does not do the first one, you are entering every job twice.
Fergus if you have office staff and want job costing against margin on bigger jobs. ServiceM8 if your crew runs on iPhones and you want strong job cards and forms. Neither pulls live supplier prices, so both are job management tools rather than quoting tools. For a sole trader whose problem is quoting, neither is the first place to look.
Yes, they do different jobs. Xero is bank reconciliation, BAS and payroll. Plumbing software is the front end: quote at trade prices, invoice from the van, get paid on site. QuoteMate sends each invoice into Xero in one tap, so you keep Xero and stop quoting in it.
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