The Best Plumbing Apps for Plumbers in the UK

Whether you manage a couple of Plumbing apps or a large workforce, digital service tools are ideal for boosting the efficiency of your field engineers. Below, we take a look at some of the best apps for plumbers to use.

The Best Business Apps for Plumbers

1. Route4Me Route Planner

(iOS – Free; Android – Free)

Plumbers completing multiple jobs on a daily basis will need to do a lot of travelling. Efficient travel is essential for these plumbers and any measures that can save time are valuable. Route4Me Route Planner is a great time-saver.

This plumbing app allows engineers to load all service locations and then arranges your stops to maximise the efficiency of your journey. This is the app’s standout feature and makes it a must-have among the many apps for plumbers. This app is even more efficient if you have multiple plumbers in the field at the same time. You’ll be able to fit more stops into your day by making the most of this efficiency builder.

3. QuickBooks for Plumbers

(iOS – Free; Android – Free) – Requires Subscription

Among the apps for plumbers that supports the business side, QuickBooks is an important workflow management tool that takes care of your accounting, reporting and bookkeeping needs. It can be used to manage your invoices, reports, income and payroll information from any device.

However, QuickBooks doesn’t do everything for plumbing businesses, but we’re here to help. QuickBooks integrates with Joblogic, so you can boost the productivity of your back office, and provide accurate customer and billing information to colleagues when required.

4. Slack for Plumbers

(iOS – Free; Android – Free) – Requires Subscription

The more your plumbing business grows, the more the need to centralise team communication grows with it. Slack is the perfect solution, offering a chatroom-style platform that allows your colleagues to communicate in different ‘channels’. You can also upload files, send direct messages, create polls and more.

The Best Calculator Plumbing Apps

5. Plumbing Formulator

(iOS – Free) 

Plumbers must use multiple equations daily to identify the correct pipe size, water flow and more. Plumbing Formulator can simplify this process with over 120 standard formulas that can be checked right in the app. This way you can be sure you’re getting the exact measurement you need.

This plumbing app allows engineers to email and print specific formulas for future reference. Your most frequently used formulas will also be prominently displayed in the app for quick access. In addition, the app includes many plumbing charts you can use to clearly illustrate concepts.

Thanks to Plumbing Formulator, your field staff will no longer waste valuable time searching online for individual formulas while out on jobs.

6. Pipe Trades Pro

(iOS – £23.99; Android – £24.49)

Although one of the more expensive apps for plumbers, this is ideal for pipe calculations. Pipe Trades Pro features built-in pipe-related data. This can save plumbing contractors time when cutting, welding and placing pipe. These time-saving capabilities can even offset the cost of the app in the long-term.

This plumbing app enables engineers to choose pipe material and type, calculate diameters and wall thickness as well as various other measurements. The app offers calculations for pipe layouts and design issues, including flow rates, pressures, weight/volume conversions and more.

7. Electrical Wiring Lite/Electrical Wiring Pro

(iOS Pro – Free; Android Lite – Free)

Plumbers will likely have to deal with basic electrical wiring or central heating tasks while out on jobs. This work can be made simple with Electrical Wiring Lite. This plumbing app supplies engineers with frequently used electrical calculations such as Ohm’s Law, burial depth, voltage drop and more. This is one of many free apps for plumbers, providing them with just the essential tools.

Some plumbers may require more complex calculations, which is where the Pro version of the app may come in useful. With over 40 electrical calculators and tools, they are all preconfigured to adhere to the National Electrical Code standards. The tools are also regularly updated so you can always follow the latest regulations.

8. BTU Calculator

(iOS – Free)

If your plumbers ever struggle with choosing the right sized radiator for a room, this is one of the more useful plumbing apps for you.  In the app, you simply need to enter the room dimensions and fill in the ‘Assumptions’ category. This lets you specify criteria such as wall and flooring type, and which direction the room faces. This will let your plumbers know how many BTU’s and watts are needed to heat the room.

The Best Utility Apps for Plumbers

9. White Light Flashlight

(Android – Free)

Trying to work in cramped, dark spaces is always difficult, especially while holding a heavy torch. White Light Flashlight enables engineers to light up tricky areas behind pipes as they’re working. This convenient plumbing app also includes an adjustable brightness setting so you can choose how much light you need for the given situation.

10. EasyMeasure

(iOS – Free; Android – Free)

Plumbers are often tasked with fitting an appliance through confined spaces, such as moving a large water heater or a boiler through a narrow door. EasyMeasure is one of the more useful apps for plumbers. Engineers simply need to take a photo of the space using the app it can calculate the dimensions, angles, area, and distance to the object.

Using basic trigonometric principles, EasyMeasure uses the camera lens height and its tilt angle to determine the correct distance to the object. Using this information, this plumbing app can then calculate an object’s height, width and its area. The app can even estimate the accuracy it expects each measurement to be, so plumbers will know when its best to use a tape measure.

A key feature of this app is its ‘dynamic photos’, allowing plumbers to store photos within the app and analyse measurements at the current time or in the future.

11. Bubble Level / Bubble Level for iPhone

(iOS – Free; Android – Free)

Although these two plumbing apps are different, they perform the same function and are both useful levels for your mobile device. With a practical calibration capability, plumbing contractors can work unimpeded around sharp angles and slopes all on their mobile device. Don’t worry if you’re a first-time user, as Bubble Level includes calibration instructions to guide you. The app also includes lighting effects and woodgrain to improve user experience.

The Best Reference Apps for Plumbers

12. Pipe and Fitting

(Android – Free)

Often clear and simple visuals can be more helpful than wordy reference guides when it comes to fitting pipes. This is where Pipe and Fitting surpasses many other apps for plumbers. Engineers simply need to choose from its extensive list of pipes, clamps, joints and other parts available on the app. It can then calculate accurate and detailed specifications for each part such as dimensions, maximum load, tensile strength and more.

This helpful plumbing app presents data visually, showing technical diagrams illustrated clearly. This allows plumbers to see exactly how any part can fit into a given plumbing system. This is an easy-to-use app, worthwhile for the veterans of the industry as well as the novices.

13. Copper Tube Handbook

(iOS – Free)

This handy plumbing app is an essential reference guide for all plumbers who work with copper piping systems. It can be used to find technical data about various joining methods. This useful digital handbook is detailed, yet simple to navigate. Developed by the Copper Development Association, the app is perfect for the professional plumber.

Choosing a Plumbing App

When looking for a plumbing app, you can easily become overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices in every category. Even for simple tools, you can find yourself drowning in information and options. Here are our tips for choosing the best plumbing apps to suit your needs.

The best plumbing app:

• Is easy to use: Your plumbers will likely spend most of their day working on job sites. You don’t want them spending any significant amount of time trying to overcome a steep learning curve for an app that is meant to make their life easier. The best apps are not only simple but intuitive, designed to help your plumbers from the moment they download it.

• Is updated regularly: If you find an app that looks promising, make sure to check to see the last time it was updated. If the app hasn’t been updated for months or even years, you can assume the creators aren’t looking to provide any more updates in the future. It is also likely that they will offer no support if you encounter any issues with the app.

• Has positive reviews: It is almost impossible to find an app with no negative reviews, but one with mostly positive reviews will generally indicate that the app is sound. Even if an app does have some negative reviews, it’s worth looking at how the developers respond to these reviews. It will give you an idea of the company’s approach to their customers and their ability to handle criticism.

• Has an extensive knowledge base: You may have questions about your plumbing app and you either don’t have time to address these with the app’s support team, or your query arises out of hours. If the app features a thorough knowledge base, this can be checked at any time and your issue is resolved.

• Integrates with your other apps: Choosing an app that integrates with your software can be a massive help to managers and engineers alike. Not only will it help your plumbers adopt the new app more quickly, but managers can also save time and money as no further software needs to be bought to integrate with it. App websites will often have an ‘integrations’ page where you can check if your other apps are supported. Joblogic, for example, integrates with:

•  Accounting software
• Payment gateways
• Business solutions

• Works on mobile devices: For engineers on the go, an app that works on desktop alone will not be effective. They need one that can also be used on mobile devices. This does not only apply to apps from an app store, but also for more complex job management software. For example, Joblogic’s field service management software can run on iPhones, iPads, Android mobiles and Android tablets. The experience is also optimised for every device, so whichever you operate on, you can get the most out of the software.

Best Plumbing Apps and Resources for Learning

There are so many great resources out there for plumbers to help expand their knowledge of the industry. The following resources are not all apps, but all are accessible using your mobile device, so you can update yourself on the latest industry news between jobs.

r/Plumbing: With over 62,000 members, Reddit’s plumbing channel is a great place to find answers from real plumbers. You can find anything from tool recommendations to plumbing anecdotes, all available on your smartphone or tablet.

PHCC: The Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association are dedicated to educating and advancing the plumbing industry. Offering a number of different members-only resources options, these can assist your plumbing business in many ways. This includes crucial industry updates, career resources, management tips and more.

Plumbing Dictionary: Need to brush up on your plumbing terminology? Plumbing Dictionary provides you with an extensive glossary of common plumbing terms. This is perfect for plumbing professionals who are looking to update themselves with the latest terminology, as well as the plumbing novices looking to educate themselves.

Plumbingforums.com: As the name suggests, Plumbing Forums is an active forum where you can find threads for almost anything industry-related you can think of.

To learn more about Joblogic, book a free demo with us today. Our specialised team of trainers will be happy to guide you through our platform to help determine how it can best enhance your business.

Or, why not see our list of the best apps for HVAC businesses to utilise?