Plumbing marketing works best in order: property managers and past water heater customers, then your Google listing, then ads. I'm Joshua Albanese of Spearleaf, and my short video on plumbing marketing answers a plumber asking what works without paying per click. This guide adds the rules for license numbers, texting past customers and reviews, and how to count booked jobs by source.
What plumbing marketing works without a cost per click?
Property managers, landlords and your own past customers cost time, not clicks. ENERGY STAR tells homeowners to consider replacing a water heater past 10 years old, before it becomes an emergency. Start with the tanks you already installed.
The goal is easy to say: word of mouth works, but we want more consistent lead flow. Accounts and repeat customers give you that without an ad budget, and your Google listing adds calls over months.
Paid search still has a place. Run it when the schedule has gaps, and judge it by booked jobs, not clicks.
Why plumbers should work accounts and past customers before ads
Accounts and past customers cost an afternoon of calls, while ads charge for every click whether the phone rings or not. Google's ranking help page says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, so your listing is earned too. Use ads once the free work is running.
Clicks are easy to buy and hard to judge. One reviewer of a marketing agency on Trustpilot described "ALOT of clicks and no calls". A new listing takes time, so if you search for your business on Google and nothing shows up, keep building.
That order is a planning lens, and it breaks down. A brand-new shop with no customer list may need ads first, so keep the first budget small and tracked.
Four plumbing marketing strategies, in order of cost and speed
Property managers and landlords
One account can mean many units and repeat calls. Costs time, not clicks. Best for steady service and repair work you can plan around.
Your water heater customers
Every tank you installed has an age. Costs time and a stamp or a phone call. Best for replacements and flushes booked before a tank fails.
Your Google Business Profile and reviews
Slow to build, with no cost per click when someone calls from the map. Best for the plumbing work homeowners search for every day.
Search ads and Local Services Ads
Paid per click or per lead, and live within days. Best for emergency calls and for filling gaps in the schedule.
Property managers and landlords can send a plumber repeat work
A property manager can send work for many units, so one good account can fill a lot of the calendar. Managers need a plumber who answers at night, shows up, and sends a clean invoice. Lead with how fast you answer.
Some managers will shop you on price alone. Others pay to stop chasing a plumber at midnight. Ask how fast they pay, and walk away from accounts that only want the lowest rate.
Small landlords with a few rentals want the same things on a smaller scale. That split between price buyers and speed buyers is a planning lens, and it breaks down. Some managers want both, so set your floor before the first meeting.
How to win a property management account as a plumbing company
- List the property managers and landlords with rentals in your service area, and ask current customers who own rentals.
- Open with your answer time after hours and your arrival window, then ask how they dispatch plumbing work today.
- Ask about their approval limit per job, how fast they pay, and who signs off on bigger repairs.
- Send your license number and proof of insurance up front, so the manager has them before the first job.
- Invoice each job by unit address, with the work done and before and after photos.
- Review each account after a few months: jobs sent, average ticket and days to payment.
Your water heater customers are a list worth calling
Every water heater you installed wears out someday, and you know when it went in. ENERGY STAR says to consider replacement past 10 years, and to read the age from the brand and serial number. Pull your install list and sort it by year.
Offer a flush or a check to the older tanks first. A planned visit lets the homeowner choose a replacement on a calm day instead of a flooded one.
Put a sticker with your company name, phone number and license number on every tank you touch. Houses change hands, and the sticker tells the next owner who to call. When the list runs long, Spearleaf also runs customer reactivation.
Texting and emailing water heater customers under the TCPA and CAN-SPAM
Your own customers still fall under federal rules. The FCC's TCPA rules at 47 CFR 64.1200 and the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide set the floor, and states can add more.
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Autodialed or prerecorded marketing calls and texts to a cell phone need prior express written consent, signed by the customer.
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A customer who bought from you within 18 months can get sales calls even on the Do Not Call Registry, unless they asked you to stop. An inquiry gives you three months.
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Past those windows, check each number against the National Do Not Call Registry before a sales call.
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Sales calls are allowed only from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., the customer's local time.
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A text reply of stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe revokes consent. Honor it within ten business days.
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Marketing email needs an honest subject line, your physical postal address and a clear way to opt out.
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Honor email opt-outs within 10 business days, and you stay responsible when a vendor sends for you.
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Whether your texting tool counts as an autodialer is a legal question, so get written consent and ask your attorney.
Set up your Google Business Profile as a service-area plumber
Most plumbers drive to the customer, which makes them a service-area business in Google's terms. Google's guidelines allow one profile for your central office with a service area, and no virtual office unless it's staffed. They also say the service area shouldn't reach past about 2 hours of driving.
Calls from the map carry no cost per click, and they keep coming when ads pause. Local results rest on relevance, distance and prominence. Fill in every service you sell, from drain cleaning to water heater replacement, and every town.
For a deeper walkthrough, read how to get more calls from your Google Business Profile. My team also handles Google Business Profile optimization.
Ask for Google reviews within Google's rules and the FTC's
Ask every customer for a review, and offer nothing in return. Google's content policy bans incentives such as discounts, asking only happy customers, and pressuring people to review on the spot. That rules out a discount on the next drain cleaning for a five-star review.
The FTC's 2024 rule (16 CFR Part 465) bans fake reviews and rewards conditioned on a positive or negative review. It also bans review suppression, such as threats or intimidation used to stop negative reviews.
Where to find your Google review link covers the timing, so you can send it the day the job closes. You can also watch my short video on a Google reviews QR code for plumbers, or use the free review link generator.
What ChatGPT and Yelp show when someone asks for a plumber
36.2% of the plumber ratings ChatGPT showed were Yelp's, the highest share of the 12 services I tested. That's from my August 2026 study, counting the 58 plumber ratings that matched one platform. Keep your Yelp profile as accurate as your Google one.
The same study found bestprosintown.com was the site ChatGPT cited most for plumbers, in 8 of 18 markets. That shows where ChatGPT reads, not that a listing there gets you picked.
The picks also move. Across all 12 services, 48.2% of the businesses ChatGPT showed were shown again 4 to 9 days later (469 of 974). Ask ChatGPT for a plumber in your town each month, and see AI search optimization for the rest.
Google Ads for emergency plumbing calls
Search ads put you in front of people typing emergency plumber or burst pipe into Google. They start fast, because most ads are reviewed within one business day. You pay for each click, whether it books or not.
Check what clicks cost in your area in Google's Keyword Planner before you set a budget. Price emergency and routine repair terms separately, then start with the jobs you most want.
Set up call tracking in Google Ads, so you can see which keywords and ads produced calls. Compare it with your listing in local SEO vs Google Ads, and my team runs Google Ads management when you want help.
How Local Services Ads charge plumbers
Local Services Ads charge per valid lead instead of per click. Google's screening rules call plumbing an urgent category, citing a hot water outage, so plumbers face extra screening, including background checks. Check your screening status before you count on these leads.
Google's page on how leads work says a missed call during business hours counts once the caller waits over 20 seconds. Lead prices vary by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode. Set ad hours only for times someone answers.
Put your license number on plumbing ads, trucks and your website
Each state sets its own rules for license numbers in ads, so start with yours. California's Contractors State License Board is one example, and its 2020 bulletin covers the first seven points:
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Include your license number on all commercial vehicles and advertisements.
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That covers websites and online postings, plus newspaper, radio and TV ads.
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Put it on business cards, contracts and promotional materials too.
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Show your business name and license number on the truck in at least 72-point type, about three-quarters of an inch.
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Advertise only work within the trade you're licensed for.
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Contractors may not advertise that they're bonded.
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Civil penalties for breaking the advertising rules range from $100 to $5,000.
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Outside California these exact rules don't apply, so check your own state's plumbing or contractor board before the next truck wrap or ad.
A plumbing website that turns a search into a call
Your website is where homeowners, Google and AI answers check what you fix and where. Put a tap-to-call phone number at the top, and give each job its own page, such as drain cleaning, leak repair and water heater replacement.
List the towns you serve, show real photos of your vans and crew, and add your license number. Keep your business name, address and phone number the same as your Google listing.
For the full checklist, read what makes a good contractor website. My team handles web design when you want help with it.
Referrals and social media for a plumbing company
Referrals come from people and businesses that see your work. Realtors, home inspectors and other trades all meet homeowners who need a plumber. Ask them to send work your way, and send work back.
On social media, post before and after photos of real jobs, with the homeowner's permission. Answer plumbing questions in local Facebook and Nextdoor groups without a sales pitch.
Keep any referral thank-you separate from reviews, since Google bans any incentive for a review. If you pay for referrals, check your state's licensing rules first.
Seasonal plumbing marketing, starting with Fix a Leak Week
Seasonal reminders give you a reason to reach past customers. EPA WaterSense runs its annual Fix a Leak Week in March, from March 16 through 22 in 2026. Offer past customers a leak check that week.
EPA says household leaks can waste nearly 1 trillion gallons of water a year nationwide. It also says 9% of homes have leaks wasting 50 gallons or more per day.
Running toilets and dripping faucets make an easy first visit. Use the same idea before your area's cold weather, with a reminder about outdoor faucets and exposed pipes.
How plumbers can track where each booked job came from
- Ask every caller how they heard about you. One owner on r/smallbusiness put it plainly: "You'd need to ask every customer how they found you".
- Tag each job by source: property manager, past customer, Google listing, review, referral, search ads or Local Services Ads.
- Mark each call booked or not in your field service software, and record the job value.
- Pull spend from each place: Google Ads, the Local Services Ads leads page, mailers and stickers.
- Divide each source's spend by its booked jobs to get cost per booked job.
- Review it monthly and move time and money toward what books. See the local SEO metrics that matter.
Get more plumbing calls from your Google Business Profile with local SEO
My team at Spearleaf runs local SEO for service businesses: the Google Business Profile, reviews, service pages and the AI answers that read them. It builds plumbing calls that keep coming when the ad budget pauses.
Talk to Spearleaf about local SEO
- The wider plan: home service marketing strategies.
- If you also run HVAC: how to get HVAC leads.
- Weigh them: local SEO vs Google Ads.