You're under a sink, the phone rings, and they call the next plumber.

A missed call at a plumbing shop isn't just a lost message. It's often a lost job. People with water on the floor rarely leave a voicemail. They go down the list until a plumber picks up.

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A plumber reaching into a sink cabinet with both hands busy on the drain pipes — Photo by Timur Shakerzianov on Unsplash

Sound familiar?

You're flat on your back under a sink, wrench in one hand and a flashlight in the other, and your back pocket keeps going off.
Urgent callers often don't leave a voicemail. They hang up and try the next plumber.
When you finally call back, they tell you someone else is already on the way.
The calls that matter most, like a burst pipe or a sewer backup, tend to come after dark and on weekends.

What it costs you

The job goes first. A water heater that just let go is work somebody gets today. If it isn't you, it's the shop that answered.

Those urgent jobs are often the bigger tickets, so every one that slips stings.

You can lose the customer for good, too. Whoever shows up for the emergency is often the number that gets saved for next time.

And the phone starts running your day. You climb out of a crawl space or stop mid-repair to answer, which slows down the job you're already being paid for.

Why it keeps happening

Plumbing work takes both hands, and a lot of it happens where a phone is hard to reach: under a cabinet, in a crawl space, down in a trench.

Water problems don't keep office hours. A supply line can split at midnight on a Sunday.

Someone watching water spread across a floor doesn't want to leave a message and wait. They want to hear that a plumber is coming, so they keep calling until they do.

And a small shop can't easily pay someone just to watch the phone, so after hours it rides with whoever's turn it is.

Who you'll talk to

Kevin Kirchner smiling, in black glasses, a black cap and a green plaid shirt — Kevin Kirchner

You'll be on the phone with me, Kevin Kirchner, an AI enablement specialist at True Frontier. I want to hear what happens to a call that rings while you're mid-job, and to one that rings after you've gone home.

Much of the phone work in a plumbing shop is the same handful of questions, over and over. Routine like that no longer has to land on the person holding the wrench. How it would work at your shop is what the call is for.

Questions

Why don't urgent plumbing customers leave a voicemail?

Because a voicemail doesn't make the problem stop. They want to know someone is on the way, and the quickest way to find out is to call the next plumber.

Do I need someone answering the phone after hours?

That's your call, and it comes down to when your best work comes in. Some plumbers do fine with a daytime phone. Others find that the emergency work they want most comes in after the office closes.

What exactly do you build?

It depends on how you work today; we figure that out on the call.