Plumbing

Your 811 Locate Records Are on Paper. That Is a Liability Problem.

Every dig starts with an 811 ticket. But between the ticket and the field, the digital thread breaks — locate verifications, bore logs, and as-builts end up on paper, in camera rolls, or in filing cabinets.

Uncle Steve on locate documentation in plumbing

The Plumbing Industry at a Glance

Residential and commercial plumbing — service, repair, remodel, and new construction.

130,000+

US Companies

$800K–$4M

Avg. Revenue

4–20 technicians

Field Crew Size

5% annually

Growth Rate

Plumbing shops juggle emergency calls, multi-day remodel projects, and recurring backflow testing — often on paper tickets that get wet, torn, or lost in the truck. When a permit inspector asks for the installation record, it is a scramble.

Plumbing Industry Data & Research

Key statistics shaping the plumbing market today.

130,000+ plumbing businesses operate in the U.S. with 8% projected job growth through 2032
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024
The U.S. plumbing industry generates $130 billion in annual revenue
ServiceTitan Industry Report, 2025
Digital FSM tools cut administrative time by up to 40%, letting crews focus on billable work
Jobber Field Service Report, 2024
88% of spreadsheets used for data transfer contain errors due to multi-step manual re-entry
Dartmouth/Hawaii Business Research, 2023
Emergency calls disrupt 35% of scheduled plumbing work, compounding dispatch chaos for paper-based shops
ServiceTitan Benchmark Report, 2025

Does This Sound Like Your Plumbing Operation?

  • !Locate tickets printed and sorted by hand each morning
  • !Locate verification photos stored in personal phone camera rolls
  • !No system tracks ticket expiration — missed update/remark windows
  • !Damage claims require weeks of paper reconstruction

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Underground utility damage costs $30 billion/year nationally. Digging on an expired locate ticket means full repair liability ($10K–$200K+), statutory fines, and voided insurance.

What Plumbing Companies Typically Use

ServiceTitanJobberHousecall ProQuickBooks

These tools are great at what they do — but they don't eliminate the locate documentation gap. That's what we build.

Plumbing Operational Challenges

  • 1Emergency calls disrupt scheduled work and strain dispatch
  • 2Backflow testing and cross-connection compliance documentation
  • 3Multi-day jobs with partial invoicing and change orders
  • 4Apprentice-to-journeyman ratio requirements vary by state

Compliance & Regulations

  • AState plumbing license and journeyman/master certification
  • BBackflow prevention device testing and annual reporting
  • COSHA trench safety and excavation standards
  • DLocal building code inspection and permit documentation
Common roles:Owner/OperatorService ManagerDispatcherMaster Plumber

How We Fix Locate Documentation for Plumbing — No ReKeying

1

Map Your Workflow

We study exactly where locate documentation happens in your plumbing operation — the forms, the handoffs, the re-entry points.

2

Build a Working Prototype

Not a demo. Not a slide deck. A real, functional prototype that eliminates the pain point and works with your existing tools.

3

Prove It Before You Pay

You test the prototype on a real job. If it doesn't eliminate the locate documentation problem, you don't pay.

Get No ReKeying for Your Plumbing Operation — Free Prototype

Tell us about your operation and we'll build you a working solution — no commitment, no credit card.

No spam. No credit card. Just a prototype that works.

Locate Documentation Problems for Plumbing Companies | Simply Connected Systems