How to Get More Plumbing Leads

Most plumbing leads a small shop loses are calls it already received. Water on the floor will not wait. A water heater quote will, and then it goes quiet. Catch the first. Stay with the second.

Do the list at the end this week. Scripts use Jordan, Sam, and Oak Street Plumbing as placeholders. They are templates, not lines from a real customer.

Decide what you roll for

Write the split next to the phone.

Roll now for water through a ceiling, a wall, or onto a floor, a sewer backing into the house, no water at all, or a water heater that is leaking even if it still makes hot water. Wait until morning for a drip, a running toilet, an old heater that still works, or a fixture swap.

Say that in the greeting. If nobody rolls at night, do not publish a 24-hour schedule. In a Houston freeze, the greeting still has to match who is actually on call. A gas smell is not a callback. Tell the caller to leave and call 911.

Record it yourself.

You have reached Oak Street Plumbing. If water is where it should not be, say emergency and your number and we will call straight back. After hours, active leaks, a backup into the house, and no water still get a callback. Everything else starts at 8.

Text before they tap the next company

Name who holds the phone this week. Whoever is not on a job answers. If everyone is out, text right away and call back before the next job. Block a short window twice a day, before the first job and before the last, for callbacks only.

The text names you, the company, and a time you will hit, plus a way to opt out. Consent rules and quiet hours still apply, so check them for your state and your provider. This is not legal advice. Wording, and where the reply has to land, is in Missed Call Text Back for Contractors (2026).

Hi, this is Jordan at Oak Street Plumbing. Sorry we missed you. We will call you back before 4 today. If water is actively leaking, reply with the address and where it is coming from. Reply STOP to opt out.

If you will miss 4, name an hour you will keep. Treat a form, a map message, and a text to the truck the same way. Ask whether the heater is in the attic, the garage, or a closet, and whether the shutoff is already off.

Put one number on the map

A leak search happens on a phone, and the tap is the map. The Google Business Profile is that listing, and it is free to create. Use the name on the truck and the invoices. A city, or "emergency plumber," added to the name can get the profile suspended. Category: plumber. Add drains or water heaters only if you do that work.

Publish hours a person answers. One line is enough: active leaks and sewer backups during those hours, everything else the next morning. If you hide the street address, list only areas you will reach while water is still moving. In Houston, that means before a ceiling fails.

Photos: the van with the name readable, a heater you set, a clean valve. Not a customer's flooded hallway. Put the same phone number on the profile, the site, the truck, and the invoices. Forward any old number to that line.

Ask before you leave the driveway

The next caller reads recent reviews at night. Ask before you roll the hose up, and text the direct link.

Sam, it is Jordan at Oak Street Plumbing. Glad we got the kitchen supply stopped. If you have a minute, here is the link to leave a review.

Reply yourself. If the job went badly, say what you will do, without an argument. Do not offer money, a discount, or a gift for stars, and do not post as the customer. Google's policies forbid that. If the profile has been quiet, text the last five good jobs this week.

Paid ads only while a person answers

Local Services Ads appear on some plumbing searches, often above the map, in markets where Google offers them. You pay per lead, a call or a message, not per click. Read the price in your account before you turn one on.

Google screens the business first. Have the license and the insurance certificate ready. In Texas, work sold to the public needs a Responsible Master Plumber licensed by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, with insurance on file there. Other states use their own board. Renew a lapsed license first. Finish the profile before you apply, and match the name, phone, and address.

Send those calls to your usual number. Once a week, mark each lead booked, already a customer, wrong trade, outside your area, or spam, and dispute bad charges inside the window the account shows. Turn the ad off when nobody will pick up.

Stay on the water heater quote

A drain cleaning is often decided in the driveway. A water heater, a repipe, or a sewer repair waits on a spouse, a payday, or another company booked for Thursday.

Send the written price the same day, and name when you will check in. Check a small repair the next morning. Check a heater, repipe, or sewer line at two days, again at about a week, then send one last note that closes the file and leaves the door open. Stop after that. Texts you can copy are in How to Follow Up on an Estimate (With Text Templates).

Hi Sam, it is Jordan at Oak Street Plumbing. Checking that the water heater estimate made sense. I can walk through the two options tonight if that helps.

Offer a real opening. Cut the price only if they say price is the issue, and ask what a lower quote included before you match it. Write the next check on the lead when you send the price. Spell out the unit or the pipe, haul-away, and a permit if you pull one.

Book flushes from people you already know

A water heater flush, a hose-bib check before a freeze, and a look at supply stops in a rental do not need a new ad. They need last year's invoices and an afternoon of texts.

On the Gulf Coast, text them ahead of a forecast freeze. In a cold climate, do it in early fall. Offer two mornings to anyone whose tank you installed. Invite everyone else the same way, and mention a plan only after they say yes.

Hi Sam, it is Jordan at Oak Street Plumbing. We are booking water heater flushes before the next cold snap. Reply with a morning that works and I will put you on the board.

Book the reply the same day. Mention a replacement only after they have seen the tank's age or a failed part. Due visits go on the same list as new leaks, with a date.

One partner who already has the key

At the end of a clean job, ask them to hand your number to a neighbor with water where it should not be. Thank the referrer in private when that call books.

Pick one partner. A realtor who wants a sewer camera before closing, a property manager with an after-hours rule, or a restoration company that has opened the wall. Give them one number and a person who answers. Write their name on the lead, and tell them when the job is done. Do not promise a truck you will not send.

Write the source down

Label every lead as it arrives: Google profile, Local Services Ad, website or profile message, a named referral, a repeat customer or flush, the truck or a yard sign, or a few words for anything else.

Once a month, sort booked jobs by that label and by the work. A clog and a repipe should not share a pile. Fill in blanks before you buy another ad.

One owner can use a notebook. Two people need one list both of them open. Stages you would say out loud are enough: new lead, visit booked, estimate sent, waiting on a decision, booked, lost. The plumber CRM page is that list.

Seven moves for this week

1. Record a greeting that states the emergency split, including after hours.
2. Put one phone number on the truck, the Google Business Profile, the site, and the invoices.
3. Text every missed call with your name, a real callback time, and a way to opt out.
4. Ask for a review in the next driveway, and text the last five happy customers.
5. Follow up in writing on every open heater, repipe, and sewer estimate, with a date.
6. Text last year's water heater customers and offer two mornings for a flush.
7. Give one realtor, property manager, or restoration company your number, and record their name as the source.

Where Puffly fits

Puffly keeps the leads, contacts, companies, and deals, with a pipeline, tasks, and a lead form. The CRM is free to start. It does not sell plumbing leads, schedule the trucks, or store a price book. Puff can draft the next follow-up on the paid plans, and the draft waits until you send it. Missed-call text-back is on the plans that include it, and it runs only after you turn it on. On a paid plan, Puff Voice can answer a missed call, note the address and the leak, and book an open time. It stays off until you switch it on.