A plumber resume has a problem most trades do not: the word covers at least three different jobs. A service plumber diagnosing a leak in someone’s kitchen and a commercial plumber running underground on a hospital are barely the same occupation, and a hiring manager knows within one line which one you are.
Two complete samples below – residential service and commercial construction – plus how to write the licence, which certifications actually raise your rate, and the numbers plumbers can produce that almost nobody puts on the page.
Say which kind of plumber you are, in line one
This is the whole game on a plumbing resume. A service company reading a resume full of underground footage and isometrics assumes you will hate service work and quit in three months. A commercial contractor reading about ticket averages and upsells assumes you have never worked to a drawing.
So say it immediately, in the header line under your name:
- Service plumber – residential, light commercial, or both
- New construction – residential tract, custom, or multi-family
- Commercial – ground-up, fit-out, or both
- Industrial or process piping – a different trade again, and worth saying
If you genuinely do two of them, say so and lead with whichever matches the posting. Reordering one line per application is the cheapest improvement available to you.
Plumber resume sample: residential service
Nine years, service side. Notice how much of this is measured: calls per day, first-visit resolution, callback rate, ticket average. Service companies track all of it, which means you can quote it – and almost no applicant does.
ANDRE WHITFIELD Charlotte, NC 28208 | (704) 555-0166 | a.whitfield.plumb@email.com Journeyman plumber | 9 years | NC licence #XXXXX, active Backflow certified | Own van and tools | On-call rotation SUMMARY Journeyman plumber with 9 years in residential and light commercial service. Runs 8-12 calls a day solo with 91% first-visit resolution across roughly 4,800 calls, and a callback rate under 3% against a 6% company average. Backflow tester and gas qualified. EXPERIENCE Service Plumber - Queen City Plumbing & Drain, Charlotte, NC May 2020 - Present - 8-12 service calls per day, unsupervised, from a stocked van - 91% first-visit resolution across roughly 4,800 calls - Callback rate under 3% against a 6% company average - 260+ water heater changeouts: tank and tankless, gas and electric - Repipes in copper, PEX and CPVC on 40+ homes - Sewer camera, line locate, cabling and hydro jetting - Backflow assembly testing and reporting, 150+ devices a year - Averaged $340 per ticket, highest on a 7-plumber team two years running, with no upsell complaints on file Plumber - Piedmont Residential Services, Gastonia, NC Jul 2017 - Apr 2020 - Rough-in and trim on 60+ new single-family homes - Fixture setting, water heater install and gas line runs - Completed apprenticeship, 8,000 hours SKILLS Service diagnosis | Water heaters: tank, tankless, gas, electric Repipe: copper, PEX, CPVC | Drain cleaning, cabling, hydro jetting Sewer camera and line locate | Backflow testing and repair Gas line install and leak test | Well pumps and pressure tanks Fixture set and trim | Code: IPC | Customer-facing service work CERTIFICATIONS NC Journeyman Plumber Licence #XXXXX - active Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester - current OSHA 10-Hour Construction - 2025 First Aid / CPR - current
The line about no upsell complaints is deliberate. Every service manager has been burned by a plumber who hit his numbers by frightening customers, so a plumber who volunteers that distinction is answering a question before it is asked.
Plumber resume sample: commercial construction
Thirteen years, commercial, now running crews. Completely different evidence: square footage, scope value, footage of underground, inspection record and crew size.
DIANE MERCADO Denver, CO 80216 | (303) 555-0128 | d.mercado.pipe@email.com Commercial plumber | 13 years | Colorado Journeyman #XXXXX, active Medical gas ASSE 6010 | OSHA 30 | Own truck and tools SUMMARY Commercial plumber with 13 years on ground-up and fit-out projects from 15,000 to 240,000 sq ft, the last 5 running crews of 4-8. Underground through trim, medical gas brazing certified to NFPA 99, and no failed rough-in inspections in 4 years. EXPERIENCE Plumbing Foreman - Front Range Mechanical, Denver, CO Jan 2021 - Present - Ran crews of 4-8 across 9 commercial projects with plumbing scope from $200K to $1.9M - Hospital and clinic work: medical gas piping brazed and certified to NFPA 99 across 3 facilities - Underground waste and vent in cast iron and PVC, 1,400+ ft on the largest project - Above ground domestic water in copper, PEX and press fit; grooved and welded steel on larger mains - Coordinated shared ceiling space with sheet metal, electrical and fire protection using clash reports - No failed rough-in inspections in 4 years - Material take-off and weekly manpower forecasting Commercial Plumber - Mile High Piping, Denver, CO Sep 2012 - Dec 2020 - Rough-in and trim on retail, office and multi-family projects - Set 900+ fixtures across 14 projects SKILLS Commercial rough-in and trim | Underground waste and vent Copper, PEX, CPVC, press fit | Grooved and welded steel Medical gas brazing and certification (NFPA 99) Backflow assembly install | Fixture and equipment setting Isometric and plan reading | Material take-off | Clash coordination Crew supervision 4-8 | Inspection coordination | Code: IPC CERTIFICATIONS Colorado Journeyman Plumber #XXXXX - active Medical Gas Installer and Brazer, ASSE 6010 - current Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester - current OSHA 30-Hour Construction - 2025 Aerial Lift (scissor and boom) - 2025 First Aid / CPR - current
FREE DOWNLOAD
The 2 samples above, as one editable Word file
Word .docx · 36 KB · ATS-safe formatting, no tables. Delete the note at the top before you send it.
Your licence is the first thing checked
Plumbing licensing is state by state and sometimes city by city, and the tiers do not line up between them. A journeyman in one state is a different qualification from a journeyman in the next, and a master plumber is a legally distinct thing again.
Because of that, do not try to translate. Write exactly what you hold:
- The issuing state or jurisdiction
- The tier as that jurisdiction names it – apprentice, journeyman, master, or the local class designation
- The number, or XXXXX on a resume you are posting publicly
- Whether it is active, and the expiry if it is close
- Reciprocity, if you know your state has it with the one you are applying to – that is genuinely useful information and saves a phone call
If you are still an apprentice, say which year and how many hours you have logged. Hours are the currency in that conversation, not years.
Certifications that add real money
Some plumbing certifications are box-ticking. These are the ones that change what a contractor will pay:
- Backflow prevention assembly tester – testing is billable, recurring and legally required, so a plumber who can do it pays for himself. Put it in the header line
- Medical gas installer and brazer (ASSE 6010) – opens hospital and clinic work, which is a different pay bracket. ASSE 6020 for inspectors, 6030 for verifiers
- Gas fitting – the local licence or endorsement, named the way your state names it
- Water treatment or well systems – narrow but valuable in rural markets
- OSHA 30 for commercial site work, OSHA 10 for service
- Confined space – required for a lot of underground and municipal work
- Trenching and excavation competent person – if you run underground crews
Write each one as the issuing body writes it, with the year or expiry. How to list certifications on a resume covers the format.
The medical gas line deserves a note, because the structure of that work is what makes it pay. Under NFPA 99, a medical gas system cannot be signed off by the people who installed it: verification has to be done by a party independent of the installing contractor. That is why 6010 and 6030 are separate credentials rather than steps on one ladder, and why holding both does not mean you can do both on the same job. It also explains the pay bracket — the work is small, heavily documented, and the pool of people qualified to touch it is deliberately narrow. If you hold 6010, write which facilities you have piped and whether your brazing procedure qualifications are current.
Numbers a plumber can produce
Service side:
- Calls per day, and whether you run them solo
- First-visit resolution rate
- Callback rate – and the company average, if it flatters you
- Average ticket, and where you sat on the team
- Water heaters, fixtures or devices per year
- Backflow devices tested annually
- Customer rating, if the company collected one
Construction side:
- Project square footage and plumbing scope value
- Fixtures set, per project or in total
- Feet of underground, and the material
- Crew size supervised
- Failed inspections – ideally zero, and say over how long
- Schedule performance, if you have it
- Man-hours without a recordable
If a number is an estimate, write “roughly”. It reads as more honest than a suspiciously round figure, and nobody expects you to have audited your own callback rate.
Service and construction are different resumes
If you are applying to both, keep two versions. Not two completely different documents – the same skeleton, with the summary line, the top three bullets and the skills order swapped. Ten minutes of work, and it stops you looking like a bad fit for both.
What changes:
- Service version: lead with diagnosis, autonomy, customer handling and the metrics. Van stock and on-call availability matter
- Construction version: lead with scope, drawings, inspections and crew. Take-off and coordination matter
- Skills order: service wants troubleshooting first; construction wants materials and systems first
- Certifications: both want backflow, but medical gas only signals on the commercial version
Mistakes on plumber resumes
- Not naming the licence tier. “Licensed plumber” is not a tier, and it makes a hiring manager assume the worst
- Listing pipe materials as achievements. Copper, PEX and PVC are the floor, not a selling point. They belong in skills, not bullets
- No numbers on the service side. Service work is the most measured trade there is and the numbers are sitting in your company’s software
- Hiding the truck and tools. On service work, having your own van stock and being on the on-call rotation is worth a header line
- Writing “residential and commercial and industrial” to look broad. It reads as unfocused. Pick the one you want and lead with it
- Leaving off code familiarity. IPC and UPC are regional. Saying which you have worked to tells an out-of-state employer how much retraining you need
Frequently asked questions
I am an apprentice. What goes on the resume?
Hours logged, year of apprenticeship, the school or programme, and what you have actually done on site. Hours are the number that matters. The apprentice electrician resume guide covers the same shape for a different trade.
Should I put my licence number on a resume I post online?
Use XXXXX in public postings and give the real number on application. Licence numbers are public record, but there is no reason to hand them out with your phone number attached.
I am moving states. How do I handle the licence?
Say what you hold, say whether reciprocity exists, and say where you are in the process for the new state. Employers deal with this constantly and vagueness is the only thing that hurts you.
Does customer service experience belong on a plumbing resume?
On the service side it is close to essential – you are alone in someone’s house quoting them money. Write it as behaviour and outcomes, not as “excellent people skills”.
How do I show I can be trusted alone in a house?
Background check status, years running solo calls, customer rating and no complaints on file. All four are concrete, which is the point.
Related guides
Licensed trade with the same licence-first structure: electrician resume example. Pipe welding tickets: welding certifications list. General site work: construction worker resume example. Getting numbers onto the page: how to quantify physical work. Formatting: ATS resume template.
If you would rather not write it yourself
Most plumbers do not need to pay anyone. Your licence tier, your callback rate and your inspection record do the persuading, and all three are yours to supply.
Do it yourself. A resume builder handles the single-column formatting that application software wants, which is the fiddly part. Take the template above, replace the content with your own numbers, and you are done in under an hour.
Pay someone to write it. Worth it mainly if you are moving into estimating, project management or a service manager role, where the resume has to argue about revenue and crews rather than your own calls. If you go that route, Resumeble is a US-based writing service – where the writer sits matters on trades work, because someone unfamiliar with the trade flattens your specifics into generic phrasing. If you do, the code HARDHAT10 takes 10% off. Expect to be asked for your numbers either way, so do that homework first regardless of which route you take.
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