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Email template to ask a plumber or electrician for their rate and availability

You have a small, well-defined job: a running toilet, a water heater that needs replacing, a new outlet in the garage, a ceiling fan to install. It's too small for a formal quote process, but you still want to know what it will cost before someone shows up. Plumbers and electricians usually charge either an hourly rate or a flat rate per job, and most add a trip fee or service call fee, a fixed charge just for coming out, which sometimes gets credited against the work if you go ahead. Asking by email lets you send the same question to three companies in five minutes and get their numbers and their first available date in writing, rather than sitting on hold to hear "we'd have to see it."

Before you send

  • A one-sentence description of the job and a photo or two. For a water heater, include the type (gas or electric) and the capacity printed on its label; for electrical, the panel brand and whether there's an open slot.
  • Whether it's urgent. A leak that's actively dripping into the ceiling is an emergency and priced differently from a job that can wait a week.
  • Your availability, as specific as you can make it. "Any weekday after 3" is easier to book than "flexible."
  • Whether you'll supply the fixture or appliance yourself. Some tradespeople charge more for labor when they don't sell you the part, and some won't warranty parts they didn't supply.
  • Your state's licensing rule. Electrical and plumbing work almost always requires a license, and the company name on the email should match a license you can look up.
Subject Rate and availability for [job, e.g. replacing a 40-gallon gas water heater] in [city or neighborhood] 
Hi [company name],

I have a small job at my home in [city or neighborhood] and I'd like to know your rate and when you could come out.

The job: [one or two sentences, e.g. replacing a 40-gallon gas water heater in the garage. The current one is a Rheem, about 14 years old, and it's started leaking from the bottom]. I've attached a photo. [It's not urgent / it's fairly urgent because of the leak.]

A few questions:

- Do you charge hourly or a flat rate for a job like this, and what would you expect it to come to?
- Is there a trip or service call fee, and does it count toward the work?
- Would you supply the [part or fixture], or should I? If you supply it, what would you recommend and roughly what does it cost?
- What's your earliest availability? I'm free [days and times].

If it's easier to give a firm price after seeing it, that's fine, but a range now would help me plan.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your phone number]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • Small shops often reply the same day with a range and a date. A flat-rate answer ("that's usually $X including the unit") is the most useful; an hourly rate with no estimate of hours tells you less.
  • Ask what happens if the job turns out bigger than expected, like corroded shutoff valves on a water heater. The good answer is that they'll stop and tell you before adding cost.
  • If nobody can come for two weeks and the job can't wait, say so when you reply. Cancellations happen and you may get bumped up the list.
  • Before they arrive, confirm the price range and the trip fee in one short email so the invoice matches the conversation.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Find me a plumber or electrician for a small job 
Hi StandIn,

I'd like you to find a [plumber / electrician] for a small job and get their rate and availability.

The job: [one or two sentences describing it, with any model or capacity details].
My address: [street address].
How urgent: [not urgent, this week, or an emergency].
My availability: [days and times].
Parts: [I'll supply them, or I'd like the company to supply them].
Companies I already have in mind: [names and contact details, or none].

Please write to three licensed companies in my area, ask each about their rate, trip fee, and earliest date, follow up with anyone who doesn't reply, and bring me the options so I can pick one. If I choose one, please confirm the price and the appointment with them in writing.

Thanks,
[Your name]

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