Plumbing Follow-Up Cadence: Day-by-Day Playbook

Roofing leads marinate. HVAC leads compare. Plumbing leads bifurcate. Roughly 60% of inbound plumbing calls are emergencies where the homeowner has water on the floor right now and decides inside 60 minutes. The other 40% are planned replacements like a 12-year-old water heater the homeowner finally got fed up with, or a repipe driven by recurring pinhole leaks. The decision windows are wildly different and your follow-up has to match. Treating an emergency lead like a planned replacement (waiting 24 hours to call back) loses the job before you ever quote. Treating a repipe lead like an emergency (six texts in two days) gets you blocked. Segment your leads the second they come in. Most CRMs let you tag the lead source or trade type at intake. If yours does not, do it manually for the first month until you see the pattern.

Speed-to-lead is the entire game here. The 78% stat is not a marketing number, it is what closes the deal. If a homeowner calls at 9:47 PM with a burst pipe, the plumber who texts back at 9:51 PM with an ETA wins. The plumber who calls back the next morning loses, even if their price is better. Run this cadence for any lead tagged emergency, leak, burst, no hot water, or sewer backup.

• Minute 0-5: Auto-text confirms you got the message and a tech is being dispatched ("On it. Tech ETA in 45 min. Reply STOP to cancel.")
• Minute 5-15: Live phone call from dispatch with confirmed ETA and the tech's name
• Minute 30: Tech sends "15 min out" text from the truck
• Post-arrival: Diagnostic and same-visit estimate, no email-it-later nonsense
• Post-job +1 hour: Thank-you text with warranty registration link

This is the bread and butter. A homeowner whose water heater is on borrowed time is shopping 2 to 3 quotes over a 3 to 14 day window. They are weighing tank versus tankless ($1,200 to $3,500 versus $3,500 to $7,000), warranty length (1 vs 6 vs 10 year), and brand (Rheem, Bradford White, Navien). Your job is to stay in the conversation without nagging.

• Hour 1 (post-estimate): Recap text with quote PDF, warranty terms, and financing link
• Day 1 (24h): Personal text from the estimator ("Any questions about the Bradford White vs the Rheem option?")
• Day 3: Photo or short video of a similar install you finished this week
• Day 7: Financing reminder + warranty highlight ("Our 10-year tank warranty vs the 6-year big-box version")
• Day 14: Soft close ("Want to lock in this week's price before our supplier price update?")
• Day 30: Long-tail check-in tagged for re-quote in 6 months

Whole-home repipes ($4,500 to $15,000) and sewer line work ($2,500 to $25,000 trenchless) are the longest sales cycles in residential plumbing. Homeowners are getting three quotes minimum, often four, and frequently waiting on a spouse, an insurance adjuster, or a tax refund. The cadence stretches and the content shifts from urgency to trust-building. Touch every 5 to 7 days, alternating value and check-in, for 45 days.

• Day 1: Quote PDF with scope, materials (PEX vs copper), licensed master plumber on the job
• Day 3: Customer review or case study of a similar repipe
• Day 7: Insurance / financing breakdown if relevant
• Day 14: Address the second-opinion objection head-on ("Happy to walk through any other quote you got")
• Day 21: Warranty deep-dive ("Why our 25-year PEX warranty matters")
• Day 30: Soft check-in, ask about timing
• Day 45: Last touch ("Closing your file unless I hear back, no hard feelings")

Industry data consistently shows it takes 5 to 8 touches to close a planned plumbing job. Most plumbers send 2 and stop. The drop-off between touch 2 and touch 5 is where Mr. Rooter and the local independent quietly win the deal. The reason is not laziness, it is bandwidth. A plumber on a truck cannot reliably remember to text a Day 7 financing reminder to a lead from last Tuesday while also running a sewer cable through someone's basement. This is exactly what automation is for. Set the cadence once, let it run, and only break in personally when the lead replies. We chase. You build.

QuoteFollow runs all three cadences automatically based on the lead tag. Tag a lead as emergency, replacement, or repipe at intake and the right sequence fires. Texts come from your business number, replies route to your phone, and the moment a homeowner replies the cadence pauses so you can take the conversation human. Flat $79/month, SMS included, 14-day free trial. Most plumbing shops see the trial pay for itself on the first recovered water heater quote. Start at /auth/signup.

Plumbing follow-up is not one cadence, it is three. Emergencies close in under an hour and reward the plumber who is fastest to respond. Planned replacements close over 7 to 14 days and reward the plumber who stays present without being annoying. Repipes close over 45 days and reward the plumber who builds trust through consistent value. The plumbers who run all three cadences with discipline are the ones pulling 50% close rates while their competitors sit at 25%. You do not need to be the cheapest or the biggest. You need to be the one still in the conversation on Day 7 when the homeowner is finally ready to pull the trigger. Set the cadence once, let it run, get back to wrenching. Start your trial at /auth/signup.