Price a showerhead swap: 5 EPA figures to quote

• Quote the 2,700-gallon figure as an average-family figure, using the words "could save."
• Present the flow rate as a maximum: WaterSense labeled showerheads must demonstrate they use no more than 2.0 gpm.
• Write a unit with every number, and label the $2.9 billion and 260 billion gallons figures as national.
• Keep the swap price on its own line, built from your own price book.

Every EPA figure here comes from the EPA's Showerheads page . The EPA's wording uses words like "could" and "average family," and this post keeps that wording. Your quote should keep it too. A savings figure describes what the EPA says could happen. Presenting it as a promise for one household goes further than the source does.

Each section below gives one figure, the wording to use with it, and the mistakes to avoid.

The five figures are listed below with the unit and scope the EPA gives for each. Figure 1 has two rows because the EPA gives both a standard flow rate and a WaterSense maximum.

The Showerheads page asks whether readers knew that standard showerheads use 2.5 gallons of water a minute (gpm). It then states the label requirement: "Water-saving showerheads that earn the WaterSense label must demonstrate that they use no more than 2.0 gpm."

The gap between those two numbers is the core of the swap conversation, but it is a limit, not a measurement of the house in front of you. The label requirement sets a maximum. A quote should describe the new showerhead as one that must demonstrate it uses no more than 2.0 gpm, not as one that uses exactly that amount.

If the customer asks about the current showerhead, compare against the EPA's standard figure of 2.5 gpm and say that is the figure you are comparing against. Do not write a measured flow rate for the old head on the estimate unless you took that measurement.

The gpm figure is a rate. The figures that follow are totals per year, per day, and nationally, so keep the units straight. A reader who sees 2.0 gpm and 2,700 gallons per year should understand that one is a rate and the other is a yearly total.

This is the figure to use when describing the swap itself, because the EPA sentence names installing WaterSense labeled showerheads as the action.

Use the wording the EPA uses. Say "could save," not "will save," and say "the average family," not "your family" or "this household." If you want to talk about this customer's home, put that in a separate sentence and say that the 2,700-gallon figure is for the average family.

Write the unit every time. A bare 2,700 on an estimate is unclear, so write 2,700 gallons per year.

If the customer's household is not an average family, say that in the quote and leave the number as the EPA states it. Do not scale it up or down by guesswork. A figure you adjusted yourself is no longer the EPA's figure, and the estimate should make clear which numbers came from which source.

The Showerheads page says showering accounts for nearly 17 percent of residential indoor water use, and that for the average family that adds up to nearly 40 gallons per day.

The same page describes showering as "one of the leading ways we use water in the home." This is context rather than a savings number. It tells the customer how much of indoor water use the shower takes up, which frames the shower's place in the home's water use.

Keep the qualifier "nearly" with both numbers, since the EPA uses it with each. Do not round nearly 17 percent up to a bigger share, and do not turn 40 gallons per day into a yearly total on your own.

Write "percent" in the same form the EPA uses, so the figure reads the same on your estimate as it does on the source page. If you show the 40-gallon figure to a customer, say that it is a daily figure for the average family, so it is not confused with the yearly figure in Figure 2.

The EPA says the average family could save more than 330 kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough to power a house for 11 days, as stated on the Showerheads page .

This is a separate saving from the water figures, so give it its own line on the estimate. The quoted sentence gives kilowatt hours, not dollars. Do not add a dollar amount for electricity using this source, because the EPA sentence does not give one.

Keep the comparison exactly as written: enough to power a house for 11 days. Do not restate it as a month, a year, or a cost, and do not explain how the savings happens unless you have a separate source for that explanation.

The Showerheads page says that if every home in the United States installed WaterSense labeled showerheads, the nation could save more than $2.9 billion in water utility bills and more than 260 billion gallons of water annually.

This is a national scenario, and its condition is part of the figure. The words "if every home in the United States installed" must stay in any sentence that uses these numbers.

Do not present it as what one customer will save, and do not divide it among homes. It is not a figure for a single estimate.

Keep the two amounts separate, since dollars in water utility bills and gallons of water are different measures. Write each one with its own unit.

Start with the question the customer asked, then answer it with one EPA figure in plain words. A customer who asks about water gets the flow rate or the yearly water figure. A customer who asks about electricity gets the electricity line.

Here is a short script you can adapt: "The standard showerhead I'm comparing against uses 2.5 gallons a minute, according to the EPA. A WaterSense labeled one has to show it uses no more than 2.0. The EPA says the average family could save 2,700 gallons per year. That is an average, not a promise for your home."

Pause after each figure so the customer can ask a follow-up before you add another number. If the customer wants to know about their own home, say that the EPA figures describe an average family and answer the home question separately.

A rate in gallons a minute measures how fast water flows, so a lower number means less water passes through the head in each minute. Explain that 2.0 gpm is the most the label allows, not a fixed amount. The difference between a maximum and a measured result is worth getting right in the conversation.

Write one savings line that names the EPA page, uses the EPA's wording, and includes the unit for every figure. Keep it short enough that the customer can read it in one pass.

Example, using Figure 2: "The EPA says the average family could save 2,700 gallons per year by installing WaterSense labeled showerheads ( EPA, Showerheads )."

Pick the figures that answer the customer's question, and leave the rest for a follow-up. If you attach a printout, include the cited EPA page so the customer can read the original wording.

Imagine a quote with three lines. The first line is your swap price, from your own price book. The second line lists what the price includes. The third line is the savings line: the average family could save 2,700 gallons per year, with the source page named beneath it. The price and the savings stay on separate lines, so the customer can see what they pay and what the EPA says could be saved.

The main mistakes are changing "could" to "will," dropping units, and presenting national totals as one household's savings. Each one makes a figure say more than its quote says.

Mixing a flow rate with a yearly total is another error. A rate of 2.0 gpm is not a yearly figure, and 2,700 gallons per year is not a flow rate.

Rounding is another: more than 330 kilowatt hours is not exactly 330 kilowatt hours.

Adding a dollar figure for electricity or water that the quoted sentences do not give is the last mistake to avoid. Keep the estimate to the numbers the sources state.

Lead with the flow rate when the customer is comparing showerheads, and lead with the yearly water figure when the customer is asking about savings. Either way, the EPA page you cite should be the source for both.

Leading with the flow rate gives the customer a number they can check against a product label. Leading with the yearly figure gives them the outcome the EPA attaches to the swap. Keep the two in the same order each time you quote, so the customer does not have to work out the difference between the two figures.

The five figures cover water use and electricity use tied to showerheads, in the terms the EPA states them.

That limit matters when a customer asks what the swap will cost them and what it will save them in the same breath. Answer the cost question from your quote and the savings question from the EPA figures, and keep the two answers in separate sentences.

Build the price from your own price book and your own supplier quotes . None of the five figures above is a price, and none should be used to set one.

Keep the quote simple: the swap price, what is included, and then a short savings section that cites the EPA page.

Workiz reports that plumbing material costs jumped roughly 30% between 2021 and 2025 in its guide, How to Build a Plumbing Flat Rate Price Book .

That figure is about plumbing materials in general. It is not a showerhead price, and it is not a savings figure. Use it as a reason to check your material inputs against current supplier quotes before you set a flat rate.

Date each entry in your price book, so you can see which material costs are older than the figure in this guide.

Keep a saved copy of each source you cite, with the date you saved it. For this post that means the EPA Showerheads page and the Workiz guide.

When a figure is questioned later, the saved copy shows the exact wording you relied on. Store the EPA figures with their exact wording in one place, so every estimate uses the same text.

Check every figure against its source and wording before it goes on an estimate. Use this list as a last pass:

• Cite the EPA Showerheads page for the five EPA figures.
• Keep each unit: gallons a minute, gallons per year, percent, kilowatt hours, dollars, and gallons.
• Keep "could save," "the average family," and "if every home in the United States installed" wherever they apply.
• Label the $2.9 billion and 260 billion gallons figures as national.
• Do not use the Workiz figure as a savings amount.

A quote with a clear price, the EPA figures in their original wording, and a plain statement of what the figures do and do not cover is easier to defend than a number that sounds bigger.

Your next step today: open the EPA Showerheads page , save a copy, and check the five EPA figures in your draft estimate against it before you send the quote.

Related guides: Silica dust limits: 2 California figures before you price · Supplier price changes: 4 tools for repair quote checks .

Are the savings guaranteed?

No. The figure describes what the EPA says could happen for an average family, and it is not a promise for one home.

Should I quote gallons for each minute or gallons per year?

Quote both, with their units. Gallons a minute is a rate, and gallons per year is a yearly total.

Does the $2.9 billion figure apply to one customer?

No. The EPA figure applies only if every home in the United States installed WaterSense labeled showerheads, so it is not a figure for a single estimate.