How to get more plumbing customers

Be the number people find in an emergency

A leak is a decision made in seconds, standing next to the problem with a phone. The plumber who wins is the one whose number is easiest to tap. Put it at the top of every page of your website, make it a call button on mobile, and keep your opening hours on Google accurate.

Say plainly whether you take emergency call-outs, at what hours and in which areas. If you do not, say that too. It saves you calls you cannot take and stops people leaving a bad review because you never rang back.

Win planned jobs on trust

A bathroom or a new boiler is a considered purchase. People get three quotes and choose the plumber they trust most, which is not always the cheapest. Photos of finished bathrooms, tidy pipework and clean boiler installs do a lot of that persuading for you.

Explain how you work: whether you visit to quote, how long a written quote takes, how you protect floors, what happens if something unexpected turns up behind a wall. Those answers are what a careful customer is really asking.

Gas work: show your Gas Safe registration

Anyone working on gas appliances must be on the Gas Safe Register, and customers can check a registration number online. If you do gas work, put your number on your website, your quotes and your van, and say which work you are registered for.

If you do not do gas, say so on your website. It avoids confusion, and customers looking for a bathroom fitter or someone to fix a leak will not be put off.

Boiler services bring customers back every year

A boiler service is due every year, and landlords must have a gas safety check on their properties every twelve months. That is work that comes round again by itself, if you keep track of it.

Keep a list of who you service for and when, and send a short message a few weeks before each one is due. A customer who already trusts you will usually book. Over a few years a service list becomes the steadiest part of a plumbing business.

Ask for the review before you drive off

Reviews decide a lot of plumbing jobs, because customers have no other way to judge you before you arrive. Ask the day you finish and text the link so it takes seconds. A steady trickle of recent reviews counts for more than a big batch from years ago.

Give each main job its own page

Emergency repairs, bathroom installations, boiler replacement, boiler servicing and landlord gas safety checks are different searches made by different people. A page for each, saying what the job involves and how you handle it, gives Google something to show for each search and gives the customer a reason to choose you.

Where lead websites fit

Platforms that sell leads can help fill a quiet diary, especially when you are new. But you pay for every lead, other plumbers are sent the same job, and the customer belongs to the platform. Your own website and Google profile build up over time and bring in enquiries that only you receive.