A private AI that holds how your plumbing company prices jobs and pulls permits
Whether a 5:45pm booking gets the after-hours rate, what goes on a water-heater quote in a given city, which supply house stocks the cartridge for a shower valve, what the inspector red-tags most — your dispatchers, techs, and apprentices ask you constantly. Xandite holds those answers so they can look them up instead, and none of your pricing or customer data leaves your workspace.
What only you know about running a plumbing business
Flat-rate book versus time and materials
Most calls price from your flat-rate book, built as labor plus materials plus your margin. Time-and-materials applies when the job is open-ended — main-line stoppages, hidden leaks, anything behind a wall. The dispatch or diagnostic fee is credited toward the repair when the customer proceeds. Members get a standing discount, and there is a minimum charge. When the flat-rate book has no matching task, the rule for building a custom price on the spot is your own formula, not a guess — and that is exactly the moment a newer tech calls you. Xandite can hold the fee rules, the membership discount, and how flat-rate tasks are constructed.
After-hours and emergency pricing
Nights, weekends, and holidays run at a flat premium or a multiplier, with a cutoff time in the early evening. What actually qualifies as an emergency — no water, an active leak, a sewage backup, no heat — versus what can wait until morning is a judgment call the dispatcher makes at 9pm. Note the on-call tech's pay implication so dispatch understands the cost of the roll. Xandite can hold the rate table and the emergency-versus-morning criteria.
Which supply house for which fixture
First call by category: one supplier for water heaters and tankless, another for PEX and rough-in, another for high-end and specialty fixtures, another for drain and sewer parts. Track will-call versus delivery, which counters you hold an account at, and the brand you standardize on for valves, cartridges, and closet parts. Xandite can hold the first-call list so a tech is not driving to three counters.
Permits and inspection by municipality
Permits are typically required for water heater replacement, repipes, sewer work, and any gas work, and the company pulls them under the master's license. Each jurisdiction has its own portal or counter, its own fee, and its own inspection lead time — same-day in some, a couple of days in others — and scheduling the inspection is a step techs forget until the customer asks why someone has to come back. Local red-tag items include T&P discharge routing, the expansion tank, the sediment trap, seismic strapping, and the pan and drain. Xandite can hold the permit requirement, the fee, the portal, and the inspection process per jurisdiction you work in, plus the local punch-list of what fails.
Warranty terms
Your labor warranty runs a set period; the fixture or water heater carries the manufacturer's warranty, commonly several years on a tank. It is voided by things like customer-supplied fixtures, a missing expansion tank where one is required, or missed maintenance. Re-visits inside the warranty window are no charge for the labor portion. Xandite can hold what you cover, for how long, and what voids it.
Water heater sizing and quoting
You size a tank by first-hour rating and household size, and tankless by peak gpm and the temperature rise for your climate. Price changes when the job needs a gas-line upsize, new venting, an electrical circuit, or a pan and drain, and on an attic or closet install the code-required changes can cost more than the heater. The quote should always line-item the permit, haul-away, expansion tank, drip pan, and code upgrades separately so the customer sees what is the appliance and what is code. You quote tankless when the customer plans to stay, gas and venting support it, or space is tight, and you steer away from it when gas supply is marginal or the water is hard and untreated. Xandite can hold the sizing method, the climate assumptions, and the quote checklist.
Questions your team would type instead of calling you
- “Booked at 5:45pm for a leaking water heater — does the after-hours rate apply, and what is the dispatch fee?”
- “Customer wants a 50-gallon gas water heater swap — what goes on the quote, and do we pull the permit?”
- “Which supply house stocks the cartridge for this shower valve?”
- “Is this repipe flat-rate or T&M, and does the membership discount come off?”
- “What does the local inspector red-tag most on a water heater install?”
- “Customer supplied their own faucet — how does that change our labor warranty?”
Put the flat-rate book and the permit rules where the crew can reach them
Upload your flat-rate book, your after-hours rate card, your supply-house list, and your permit procedures once. Techs and dispatchers ask the questions above from the portal and get your answer with citations — every document staying inside your private workspace, never a public AI service.