You're under a sink fixing a leak. Your phone rings. You can't answer, because your hands are full and you're in the middle of a job.
That call was a homeowner with a burst pipe emergency, willing to pay £800 for immediate call-out. They called the next plumber on Google. Job gone.
Sound familiar?
Plumbing is a Phone Business
More than almost any trade, plumbing relies on phone calls:
- Emergencies - Burst pipes, no hot water, blocked drains
- Urgency - People need help NOW, not tomorrow
- High value - Average plumbing job: £250-600
- Repeat business - Fix someone's boiler, and they'll call you for everything
But here's the problem: You're busy doing the work. And when you're working, you can't answer calls.
How Many Calls Are You Missing?
Here is the shape of it for a one-person plumbing business. These are assumptions, not measurements: put your own in. Our own line took 287 calls since August 2025, and most single-site businesses we see take twenty to sixty a month.
Calls a month, assumed: 40
Assumed answer rate while you are working: 30-40%
On those assumptions you are missing 24 to 28 calls a month.
What a missed call costs you
What a missed call is worth depends entirely on what you charge, so put your own numbers in. Here is the shape of it. None of this is measured: it is arithmetic on assumptions you should replace with yours.
- Missed calls a month, from above: 25
- Jobs won, if one in five of those enquiries converts: 5
- Average job value: £350
- Lost revenue a month: £1,750
- On those assumptions, a year: £21,000
Halve it again, on the basis that you would have been too busy to take some of them, and it is still £10,500 a year.
Enter AI Receptionists
Genni answers your calls 24/7/365:
- Emergency calls: Answered rather than missed, with what the caller said recorded in their own words
- Quote requests: Details taken, you call back same day
- Questions: Common questions answered ("Do you do bathroom installations?" "What areas do you cover?")
- Booking requests: the caller's details, passed to you to confirm
Cost: £150/month
That is the price of one small job. Not £24,000 a year for a full-time receptionist, not £12,000 for someone part-time. £1,800 a year.
Put your own numbers in. If she catches two or three jobs a month that you would otherwise have missed, she has covered her cost.
Hear It For Yourself
Call our demo line right now and speak to Genni. Ask her plumbing-specific questions:
- "I've got a burst pipe, can you help?"
- "How much do you charge for a boiler service?"
- "Do you do bathroom installations?"
Demo Line: +44 1274 041234
Then imagine what it would look like if most of those calls got answered.
Get started: hello@askgenni.com
Setup in 48 hours. Three-month minimum term, then 30 days' notice.
Because the calls you're missing? They're costing you more than you think.