Networking with plumbers is not as hard as you think. Call the right company and you’re speaking with the owner on your first attempt. Your referral fee has to be competitive so you need to understand what average market rate is and beat it. No one likes overpaying but how else do you expect to get your foot in the door?
If your referral fee is competitive and you give a plumber a plumbing lead first you’re bound to get their attention. Give them the rough plumbing, fixtures and opportunity to upsell after you open up the walls and you’ll stand out. Most mitigation only companies sell the repair and the plumber loses all rough ins and upsells. Dont get discouraged when you get a small job and your paying a premium referral it’s only a matter of time before the whale hits.
A residential plumber with 4 vans on the road, doing 40-60 inspection a month will give you 5-10 jobs a month. With an average of 10k per ticket you’ll easily bring in an additional $500,000/year across mit and repairs.
If you’re a restoration company who relies on insurance referral work like TPA’s I know you felt it. Claims were down by 20% due to changes in consumer behavior influenced by rising deductibles and fear of losing coverage. On top of that 51% of claims ended without a payout. Belfor the largest restoration company lost 60,000 jobs last year.
The point is that consumer behavior has changed. Losses are still happening but rising deductibles and coverage uncertainty are shaping how homeowners deal with smaller loses. They’re going to google, getting 3 bids and going with someone who’s competitively priced and knows how to sell. If you’re not ranking on maps or running ads you’re not even competing.
No matter the size of your company or wallet you need to diversify. Invest in SEO, run ads and network with plumbers. The guys who are surviving the chaos are diversifying their lead sources and offering packouts and repairs services.
This is a blog about one thing: how restoration companies make more money.
Not branding. Not awareness. Revenue: the phone ringing with jobs worth taking. Each post looks at what separates the companies that get those calls from the ones that don't.
Posts will be short. If something can be said in three paragraphs, it will be.
Nobody plans to hire a restoration company. There is no consideration phase. A pipe bursts at 2 a.m. The homeowner searches "water damage repair near me." They call whoever shows up first and answers the phone.
Most restoration marketing ignores this. It copies what kitchen remodelers do: brand campaigns, social posts, brochures. But this customer spends ninety seconds choosing. Then they never think about the category again.
The whole game is being findable and reachable in the moment of emergency. That means winning local search. It means reviews that make the decision easy at a glance. It means picking up on the first ring. Everything else is a rounding error.