BuildScope for plumbers

Turn today's site notes into the scope before tonight.

Talk through what you found while the job is still fresh. BuildScope turns your rough notes into a structured scope you review, price and send.

Try it on your next job See a scope

7 days free · Up to 10 scopes · No credit card

Download on the App StoreNow on iPhone and iPad
A finished plumbing Scope of Works in BuildScope
Voice note captured1:40 site walk, transcribednow
Scope ready to review5 line items, bathroom rough-innow
Missing detail flaggedAccess down the side to confirm1m
Client email draftedReady to send2m

Sound familiar?

Three inspections today. Three scopes waiting tonight.

On site

  • Photos
  • Quick notes
  • A couple of measurements
  • The rest said out loud to the client

Later

  • Open the laptop
  • Find the photos
  • Read the notes back
  • Try to remember the job
  • Write the whole thing up properly

You know how to scope a plumbing job. The problem is that everything you found on site has to be rebuilt later, from photos, half a note and memory. BuildScope shortens that gap to the time it takes to talk it through.

Rough in, clean out

Seven words on site. A scope the client can sign.

What you actually write on site

Bathroom leak, 12 Mill StThurs
  • bathroom leak
  • remove vanity
  • open wall
  • replace pipe
  • patch wall
  • plumber + painter
  • check moisture

What the client should receive

The same page exported scope only: the line item wording with no quantities or prices
Page 2 of a BuildScope Scope of Works PDF for a bathroom leak repair, costed: Preliminaries, Plumbing and Make good sections with quantities, rates and totals, then Exclusions and Clarifications

Example only. Your scope carries your wording, your rates and your exclusions, and you read every line before it goes out.

Nothing slips through

What BuildScope checks on every plumber job.

Industry-specific inclusions, prompted before you send the scope, not discovered after you win it.

Services
  • Hot water
  • Stormwater
  • Drainage
Finish
  • Fixtures
  • Testing
  • Certification

The scope itself

What goes into a plumber scope of works.

Plumbing scopes get argued over where the work is invisible: drainage runs, what is behind the wall, and which certificates are included.

Line items that belong on it

  • Hot water service supply, install or relocation
  • Stormwater and drainage works including connections
  • Rough-in to wet areas for fixtures and tapware
  • Fixture and tapware install and fit-off
  • Testing, compliance certificates and handover

What gets left off

  • Compliance certificates. Required, chargeable, and routinely left off the quote.
  • Excavation and reinstatement for drainage. Digging is one job, putting the surface back is another.
  • Fixtures the client has not chosen yet. Without a PC allowance you are carrying their showroom taste.

Worth excluding in writing

  • Supply of client-selected fixtures and tapware
  • Rectification of existing pipework beyond the works area
  • Making good to finished surfaces after access

Where BuildScope fits

You run the job. BuildScope does the paperwork in the middle.

Plumbers know how to walk a job and price it. BuildScope takes the paperwork between the site meeting and the quote going out.

BuildScope does this You do this
  1. 01 Enquiry lands Client rings or emails. You book a time to look at the job.
  2. 02 Site meeting You walk the job, measure up and take your photos.
  3. 03 Brain dump Talk or type the job into BuildScope, on site or in the ute.
  4. 04 The questions BuildScope asks what a tired estimator forgets: access, protection, rubbish, patching.
  5. 05 Scope of Works A full scope, trade by trade, preliminaries first, PC and PS kept separate.
  6. 06 Price and export Check quantities and pricing, apply your margin and GST, export the client-ready PDF.
  7. 07 Send and sign You send the PDF. The acceptance page is already in there for the client to sign.
  8. 08 Job runs Book the trades and get moving. The scope is your checklist and your variation defence.

BuildScope covers steps 03 to 06. You do the trade work, it does the paperwork.

Plumbers already running accounting software? No worries.

Build the scope in BuildScope the way you always do, then move the job into your accounting or job management software as a draft, with the PDF attached. Nothing reaches your client until you send it.

How it works

Three steps from site visit to client-ready scope.

01

Describe the job

Walk the services on site and note what is being replaced, what is being relocated, and what you cannot see yet.

02

Answer the questions that matter

BuildScope asks the plumbing questions: fixture counts, drainage runs and falls, hot water type and location, and which certificates apply.

03

Review and send

Check the rough-in and fit-off split, keep fixtures as PC allowances where the client is choosing, and export.

Pricing

Get those hours back for $99 a month.

Per user, everything included. Try it free for 7 days, your first 10 scopes are on us. No credit card.

Everything included

BuildScope

Everything included, priced per user.

$99per user / month

Or pay $990 a year and get 2 months free.

Start free

7 daysFree trial
10 scopesOn us
No cardRequired
Start free, build your first scope

No credit card required.

Prices in AUD, excluding GST. Unlimited scopes after trial. No feature gates. Cancel anytime.

Everything included

  • Unlimited scopes after your trial
  • Voice notes and photo capture
  • Professional scopes and quotes
  • Branded PDF exports
  • Shared job history across your team
  • iPhone, iPad, Android and desktop
  • No feature gates
  • Export and hand off to the software you already use

FAQ

Questions plumbers ask before signing up.

Does BuildScope decide what plumbing work I need to quote?
No. You inspect the job and you decide what needs doing. BuildScope structures what you tell it into a scope: sections, line items, allowances and exclusions. The assessment is yours, and so is the scope.
What if BuildScope gets something wrong?
Read every scope before it goes out, the same as you would read one an estimator wrote for you. Every line, quantity, rate and section is editable, and nothing is sent to a client until you send it. BuildScope assists the estimator. It does not replace them.
I already use job management software. Why would I need BuildScope?
Keep it. BuildScope is not a CRM and does not schedule, invoice or chase payments. It covers the bit your job system does not: getting what you found on site into a written scope. Export the PDF and attach it to the job. Connectors for the common job management and accounting tools are built and going through each vendor's approval process now.
Can't I just use ChatGPT?
You can, and it will help you write a scope. What BuildScope gives you is the workflow around it, already built: the job with its number, address and client, a scope that comes out in the same structure every time with PC and PS allowances kept separate and exclusions written down, the plumbing questions asked for you, your rates on the lines, and a branded PDF at the end. With ChatGPT you build and maintain that workflow yourself.
Do I have to type everything?
No. Tap the mic in the app and talk through the job. Your phone's speech recognition turns it into text as you go, and BuildScope structures it from there. You can also type, paste notes, and attach photos and PDFs to the job. If a browser does not support voice typing, the dictation mic on your keyboard does the same thing.
Can I edit the scope?
Yes. Every line item, quantity, unit, rate and section heading is editable in the app. Add lines, remove them, reorder them, reword them. You can also switch the layout between grouped by trade and grouped by room.
Can I add my pricing?
Yes. Every line has a rate box, and BuildScope totals the scope for you. Set a markup percentage and GST in your scope defaults and they apply across the job. Show or hide pricing per scope, so the same document works as a scope for a builder or a priced quote for a client.
Can I export it as a PDF?
Yes. The PDF carries your logo, business details, ABN and licence, a cover letter, the scope by section, totals if pricing is on, your payment terms, and an acceptance page for the client to sign. You can also export the lines to CSV for Excel or your quoting tool.
Is there a contract?
No. BuildScope is $99 AUD per user a month, excluding GST, billed monthly. Cancel any time from your account. There is a yearly option at $990 per user, which is two months free.
What does the free trial include?
Seven days, or ten scopes, whichever runs out first. No credit card. Everything in the paid plan is on during the trial, and everything you build stays in your account after it ends. Subscribe when you want to keep going.
Is there an app?
Yes. BuildScope is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, and it runs in the browser on any phone, tablet or desktop. Same account, same jobs, everywhere.
What should a plumbing scope of works include?
Services, fixtures and compliance as separate sections. Hot water, stormwater and drainage with the runs and connections described, rough-in and fit-off split out, then fixture install with the fixtures themselves listed as PC items where the client is selecting. Testing and compliance certificates go on their own lines because they are required work with real time attached.
How should plumbers scope drainage work?
Describe the run, the falls and the connection point, and say what happens to the surface afterwards. Most drainage disputes are not about the pipe, they are about the trench: who excavates, who backfills, and whether the concrete, paving or lawn gets reinstated. Writing reinstatement in or out of the scope settles it before the machine turns up.
Does BuildScope work with the software I already use?
Yes. Connect it once from your account settings and any saved scope can be pushed across as a draft, carrying your line items, section headings and exclusions, with the BuildScope PDF attached. BuildScope never sends it to your client and never raises an invoice: that stays your call.

Also built for the trades you work with.

ElectriciansBathroom RenovatorsDrainage ContractorsTilers
See all trades

Try BuildScope on the next plumbing job you inspect.

Don't change how you inspect the job. Just change what happens to the information afterwards.

Try it on your next job

7 days free · Up to 10 scopes · No credit card