Residential, commercial and emergency work orders — ServiceTitan-friendly log.
Self-employed plumbers run 1,500+ km/month between residential, commercial and emergency service calls. Each drive to a customer is a Schedule C operating expense, but it vanishes when it lives only in memory. Logging every work order as a standardized receipt turns the daily back-and-forth between jobs and supply houses into a concrete deduction.
Common pains
After-hours emergencies — Nights-and-weekend leaks create unplanned mileage that rarely gets written down in the rush of the call.
Supply-house trips between calls — Driving to the supplier between two jobs is deductible work travel that often goes unlogged.
Pre-bid site visits — The trip to scope a job is frequently uncharged and unlogged, forfeiting the deduction.
Best practices
Tag the work-order number in the purpose — Recording the WO number on each receipt builds an audit trail that ties the trip to the customer served.
Log supply-house trips separately — Treat the supplier run as its own event, since travel to buy materials is fully deductible.
Separate service from inspection — Keep distinct cost centers, because a pre-bid inspection may become a contract worth analyzing on its own.
Frequently asked questions
Are free inspections deductible?
Yes. Even unbilled, the visit is commercial activity and the trip is deductible as long as it is documented.
Do after-hours calls count?
Yes, there is no time-of-day distinction; a midnight emergency generates mileage as deductible as a daytime job.
Sole prop or LLC?
Both can deduct vehicle costs on Schedule C, so the structure does not change your right to the mileage deduction.
Plumbers who document every call recover up to US$ 13,000/year in operating deductions.