Plumber Job Description: Template, Duties, Requirements & Pay (2026)
A plumber installs, repairs and maintains the piping systems that carry water, gas and waste in homes and buildings — from rough-in on new construction to service calls for a failed water heater. This page has a copy-paste plumber job description template (with service plumber and plumbing installer variants), the duties and requirements that matter, and what plumbing applicants cost on social media in Boostpoint's trades campaigns.
What a plumber does
Plumbing splits into two jobs that share a license. Service plumbers run calls: water heaters, drain cleaning, leaks, fixture replacement, repipes, gas lines, sewer camera inspections — usually alone in a van, quoting the work on site. Plumbing installers (new construction and remodel) rough-in supply and drain-waste-vent systems from prints, set fixtures at trim-out, and work to a superintendent's schedule on a crew. Commercial and industrial plumbers and pipefitters handle larger diameter pipe, medical gas, process piping and steam. The pay, the pace and the people are different for each, and a posting that just says "plumber" draws all three and satisfies none.
Typical plumber duties and responsibilities:
- Install, repair and replace water supply lines, drain-waste-vent systems, fixtures, water heaters, gas lines and backflow devices
- Read blueprints, isometrics and specifications; lay out and rough-in piping to code
- Cut, thread, solder, braze, press, glue and fuse pipe in copper, PEX, PVC, ABS, cast iron and steel
- Diagnose leaks, clogs, pressure and drainage problems; clear drains with augers and jetters; run camera inspections
- Test systems for leaks and pressure; coordinate inspections with local authorities
- Quote repairs and explain options to customers; complete work orders and invoices in the field app
- Maintain truck stock, tools and equipment; follow safety and code requirements
- [Supervise apprentices and helpers]
The BLS counts about 510,600 plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, with roughly 42,000 openings a year and growth of 7% through 2035. Licensing is state or local nearly everywhere, and the standard path is a four- to five-year apprenticeship (about 2,000 hours a year on the job plus classroom hours) to journeyman, then master. That pipeline is the constraint: the pool of licensed plumbers is small, mostly employed, and not on job boards. Because most licensed plumbers are already employed, social media job advertising reaches them where job boards don't.
Plumber job description template
Copy this into your ATS or job board, replace the bracketed fields, and cut anything that doesn't apply. It's written the way applicants read — pay, schedule and location first — because those are the three things people screen on before they read a duty list.
Job title
[Service Plumber / Plumbing Installer / Journeyman Plumber] — [Residential / Commercial], [City, State]
Summary
[Company] is hiring a licensed [journeyman] plumber for [residential service / new-construction rough-in and trim / commercial] work across [service area]. Pay is $[XX]–$[XX]/hour based on license level and experience [plus performance pay on service revenue], with [sign-on bonus]. [Take-home van, stocked truck, tablet dispatch.] [Year-round work; no layoffs in X years.] [State] [journeyman / master] license required; apprentices with [X] years welcome for the [helper] role.
Responsibilities
- Install, repair and replace [supply, drain-waste-vent, gas] piping, fixtures and water heaters [in occupied homes / on new construction]
- Diagnose and clear drain and sewer problems; run camera inspections
- Rough-in and trim-out to prints and local code; coordinate inspections
- Quote work on site, explain options to customers, and complete orders in [ServiceTitan / Housecall Pro]
- Keep truck stocked and organized; maintain tools and equipment
- Follow safety procedures, code and company standards
- [Mentor apprentices and helpers]
Requirements
- [State] [journeyman / master] plumbing license in good standing [or ability to obtain within X days]
- [3+] years of [residential service / new-construction] plumbing experience
- Valid driver's license with an insurable record
- Able to lift [75] lbs, work in crawlspaces and trenches, and stand or kneel for long periods
- Able to pass a background check [and drug screen]
- Own hand tools [company provides power tools and specialty equipment]
Preferred
- [Gas / backflow / medical gas] certification
- Experience with [tankless water heaters / repipes / sewer replacement / hydro-jetting]
- Experience with [ServiceTitan / Housecall Pro / FieldEdge]
- Sales or customer-facing service experience
- Bilingual [Spanish/English]
Schedule and pay
- $[XX]–$[XX]/hour by license level; [performance pay: X% of service revenue]
- [Sign-on bonus $X,XXX]; [tool allowance]
- Schedule: [Mon–Fri, 7:00–4:00]; [on-call rotation X weekends per quarter]; overtime available
Benefits
- Medical, dental and vision after [30/60] days
- [401(k) with X% match]
- Paid time off and [X] paid holidays
- Take-home van, fuel card, phone and tablet
- Paid continuing education and license renewal
- [Uniforms and boot allowance]
Requirements: what's required, what's preferred, and what kills applications
The license is the requirement that matters in plumbing. Most of the rest of a typical requirements list is either inherited from another trade's template or stricter than the company's own hiring practice.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| State or local license | Required in nearly every jurisdiction to work unsupervised. Name the license level (apprentice, journeyman, master) and the state. If you'll accept a journeyman from a reciprocal state, say so — it widens the pool. |
| Experience | Specify service vs. new construction vs. commercial. Years of experience matter less than the license level and the kind of work; a residential service plumber with three years is usually a better service hire than a ten-year pipefitter. |
| Driver's license | Required for any role with a company vehicle. State the actual insurer standard so people with one ticket don't self-reject. |
| Own tools | Say what's required and what the company provides. A defined list beats “must have own tools,” which reads as a cost the applicant can't estimate. |
| Physical requirements | Include them plainly: crawlspaces, trenches, 75-lb lifts. They're legally useful and don't deter working plumbers. |
| Background check and drug screen | Reasonable for work in occupied homes; say which applies and whether the screen is pre-employment only. |
| Degree | Not needed. High school or equivalent plus apprenticeship is the standard path; listing a degree filters out the trade. |
| “Excellent communication skills” | Replace with what you mean: explain repairs to homeowners, quote on site, close maintenance agreements. Then decide whether it's a requirement or training you provide. |
How to customize it for your setting
Residential service plumber
Call volume, truck, dispatch software and performance pay structure are what experienced service plumbers screen on. Our guide to recruiting workers who already have a job covers the reach side.
New-construction plumbing installer
Lead with the builder relationships, the pace (units per week), the start time and whether work is year-round. Installers are a larger pool than service plumbers and are often recruited in crews.
Commercial and industrial
Name the project types (hospitals, schools, plants), the pipe sizes and systems (med gas, steam, process), and whether travel or per diem is involved.
Apprentice / helper
A separate posting with the wage progression and the path to a license. Apprentice postings draw the youngest applicant profile in the trades and are the cheapest to fill; they also cannibalize your journeyman ad if you combine them.
What it costs to reach plumbers on social
Skilled trades applicants cost a median of $14.14 across 35 trades campaign-months in our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, with the middle half of campaigns between $7.58 and $21.49 and 15% of clickers completing the application. Across 45 field and trades campaigns in 2025–2026, the blended figure was $9.28 with most campaigns between $6 and $17; the 2026 benchmark figures are higher because they're campaign medians rather than volume-weighted averages, and they're the ones to budget against.
Set that against the alternative: a staffing agency placing one journeyman plumber typically charges 15–25% of first-year salary, roughly $9,500 to $16,000 for a single hire. The math is worked through in what it costs to recruit skilled trades workers, and the skilled trades recruiting page has the full trades data set, including the finding that customer-facing roles at contractors fill for about two-thirds the cost of field roles.
If you are hiring plumbers rather than describing the job, the recruiting side — where they are, what the ad has to say, and what an applicant costs to reach — is on our plumber recruiting page.
Writing the ad version
The social ad answers pay, truck, schedule and license level in the first two lines: “Licensed plumbers — $34–$44/hr + performance pay, take-home van, no Sunday on-call. [Company], [City]. Journeyman or master. Apply in 60 seconds.” Knockout questions: license level and state, years in residential service, driver's license, on-call availability. No résumé, no document upload.
Show the shop and the trucks. Plumbers change companies for a better truck, better dispatch and a better on-call rotation far more often than for a title, and a short video of all three does the recruiting. See what the data shows for contractor recruiting on social.
Plumber job responsibilities, split the way the trade actually splits
Listing every plumber job responsibility in one block describes a person who does not exist. The license is shared; the jobs are not. Split the responsibilities the way the work does and the posting reaches the right half of the trade.
Service plumber responsibilities run to the call: diagnose and repair water heaters, clear drains, trace and fix leaks, replace fixtures, run gas lines, camera and locate sewers, and quote the work on site to the customer. The person is alone in a van and is as much a salesperson as a tradesman, which is why the ability to price and explain work belongs in the responsibilities rather than in a nice-to-have list.
Installer responsibilities run to the print: rough in supply and drain, waste and vent systems, set and connect fixtures at trim out, test and inspect, and work to a superintendent schedule alongside other trades. Almost none of it involves a customer. A candidate who is good at one of these is frequently indifferent to the other, so a responsibilities list that blends them reads as though the employer has not decided what the job is.
Plumbing job titles, and which one to put on the posting
Plumbing is a licensed trade with a formal ladder, and the title you post decides which rung answers. Getting it wrong is expensive in both directions: advertise for a journeyman and you interview apprentices, advertise for a plumber and you may never reach the service tech who would have taken it.
| Job title | Who it reaches | Post under it when |
|---|---|---|
| Apprentice plumber | People entering the trade, often through a program or a union hall | You will train, and you can offer supervised hours toward licensure |
| Plumber's helper / laborer | No-experience candidates willing to start on a truck | The role is fetch, dig, carry and learn, with no licensing path promised |
| Journeyman plumber | Licensed tradespeople with their hours completed | The work is unsupervised and the license is a genuine requirement |
| Master plumber | The smallest pool, and usually the person who pulls permits | You need permit authority or a qualifying license holder for the business |
| Service plumber / service technician | Residential service candidates, who are a different population from new construction | Calls, diagnosis, customer contact and often commission or spiff pay |
| Pipefitter, steamfitter, sprinkler fitter | Industrial and commercial candidates — a related but distinct trade | Process piping, steam, or fire suppression rather than domestic water and drainage |
| Drain technician | Drain cleaning and camera work specialists | The role is jetting, cabling and inspection, not full plumbing |
| Plumbing foreman / lead | People who run a crew and a job | The role owns the schedule, the crew and the inspection |
Two decisions follow from that table. First, say the license requirement plainly and say whose license it is. “Journeyman license required” is a hard filter; “working under our master's license” opens the role to people who cannot pull their own permits, and a large share of good candidates fall in that gap. Second, separate service from new construction in the title. They are different jobs, different hours, different pay structures and largely different people — a service plumber reading a construction posting, or the reverse, is a wasted impression.
One thing worth stating in any plumbing posting, whatever the title: who supplies the van, the tools and the stock, and whether the technician takes the van home. In a trade where candidates compare employers on the truck as much as on the rate, leaving it out is a real cost.
Journeyman plumber job description
A journeyman plumber is a licensed plumber who has completed an apprenticeship and passed the journeyman exam set by their state or local licensing authority, and can work without direct supervision. The job description is the standard plumber description with three things made explicit: the license, the independence, and responsibility for apprentices.
Journeyman plumber responsibilities
- Install, repair and maintain water supply, drain, waste and vent, and gas piping to code, without direct supervision
- Lay out work from blueprints, isometrics and specifications; size and route pipe
- Rough in and trim out fixtures, water heaters and appliances; test systems and correct leaks
- Diagnose and repair service problems: leaks, clogs, low pressure, water heater and fixture failures
- Direct and check the work of apprentices and helpers on the job
- Meet inspectors and correct anything an inspection calls out
- Keep material lists, time and job documentation accurate
Journeyman plumber requirements
- [State] journeyman plumbing license in good standing; name the licensing authority and say whether you accept a license from another state or county
- Completed apprenticeship or the documented hours your licensing authority requires
- Valid driver's license if the role uses a company vehicle
- Able to work in crawlspaces, trenches and attics and on ladders
Put the license level in the title, for example "Journeyman Plumber, Residential Service, [City]", because it is the first thing a plumber screens on. A journeyman works under the company's master or contractor license; the master plumber is usually the license holder who pulls permits for the business. If you would take a senior apprentice close to their exam, run that as a separate posting rather than loosening the journeyman ad.
Frequently asked questions
What are the duties and responsibilities of a plumber?
Installing, repairing and maintaining water supply, drainage and gas piping, fixtures and water heaters; reading blueprints and laying out systems to code; diagnosing leaks and clogs; testing systems and coordinating inspections; and, in service roles, quoting and explaining work to customers.
What qualifications does a plumber need?
A state or local plumbing license (journeyman or master) in nearly every jurisdiction, earned through a four- to five-year apprenticeship and an exam. Employers also typically require a driver's license for a company vehicle and the physical ability to work in crawlspaces and trenches. A degree is not required.
How much do plumbers make?
The 2025 national median for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters was $30.67 an hour, or $63,800 a year, per O*NET/BLS. Master plumbers, service plumbers on performance pay and union commercial plumbers commonly earn $80,000–$100,000+.
What's the difference between a service plumber and a plumbing installer?
A service plumber runs repair and replacement calls on existing systems in occupied homes and businesses, usually alone, and often quotes and sells the work. An installer works on new construction or remodels, roughing in and trimming out piping from prints on a crew schedule. Both need the same license; the daily work, pay structure and applicant pool are different.
What should a plumbing job description template include?
The role type (service, installer, commercial), license level required and state, pay range and any performance pay, schedule and on-call expectations, the truck and tools provided, physical requirements, and benefits. Put pay and schedule in the first two lines; that's what applicants screen on.
What are the main plumber job responsibilities?
They split by the job rather than by the license. A service plumber diagnoses and repairs water heaters, clears drains, traces leaks, replaces fixtures, runs gas lines, inspects sewers by camera, and quotes the work on site, usually alone in a van. An installer roughs in supply and drain, waste and vent systems from prints, sets and connects fixtures at trim out, tests and inspects, and works to a superintendent schedule alongside other trades. Listing both sets together describes a person who does not exist, and it reads to a candidate as though the employer has not decided what the job is.
What are the job titles in plumbing?
The ladder runs apprentice, journeyman and master, with plumber's helper or laborer below the apprenticeship. Alongside it sit service plumber or service technician for residential service work, drain technician for cabling and camera work, plumbing foreman or lead for the person running a crew, and the related industrial trades — pipefitter, steamfitter and sprinkler fitter — which are distinct from plumbing rather than a grade of it.
What plumber job title should I post under?
The one that matches the license requirement and the kind of work. If the license is genuinely required, say journeyman or master and say so in the title. If the person will work under your master's license, say that instead — it opens the role to a much larger pool. And separate service from new construction in the title, because they are different jobs with different hours and pay structures and largely different candidates.
What does a journeyman plumber do?
A journeyman plumber installs, repairs and maintains water, drain, waste, vent and gas piping without direct supervision, working from drawings and to code. They rough in and trim out fixtures, diagnose service problems, and usually direct apprentices and helpers on the job. The difference from an apprentice is the license: a journeyman has finished the apprenticeship and passed the licensing exam, so the work no longer has to be supervised.
Other job description templates
See all job description templates — free, editable templates for frontline, trades, healthcare and warehouse roles.
Hiring plumbers?
The job description is the document; the ad is the thing that gets read. We write it, run it where working plumbers are scrolling, and report what each applicant cost — cost per applicant, not cost per hire.
Written the job description and ready to interview? The questions that separate a plumber who installs from one who can diagnose are in plumber interview questions.
Pay, employment and outlook figures: O*NET OnLine (Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters, 47-2152), 2025 wage data, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. Cost-per-applicant figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark (skilled trades segment, 35 campaign-months) and 45 Boostpoint-managed field and trades campaigns 2025–2026. Last updated August 2026.