Marketing for plumbers,
paid per booked survey instead of a retainer.
A plumber marketing agency charges a monthly fee for activity: ads, posts, a website. MyTradeBuddy does the marketing and the follow-up and charges when a qualified homeowner is booked into your diary. Ads, AI receptionist, quote follow-up, reviews and a website, one plumbing business per area.
What is the best marketing for plumbers?
For most plumbing and heating firms the order is: a complete Google Business Profile with steady reviews, a phone that is always answered, follow-up on every quote, then paid demand for survey-led work such as boilers and bathrooms. MyTradeBuddy covers all of it in one system, generates the paid demand itself (we never buy enquiries from third parties), and bills per booked survey rather than per month. The plumber website design page covers the site; this page covers the rest.
How plumbers pay for marketing in 2026
The cost models, side by side. Agency and directory figures are what tradespeople report to independent reviewers; ours is our published model.
| Option | How you pay | What you get | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumber marketing agency | Monthly retainer plus ad spend | Ads, content, website, reporting | You pay for activity whether or not the phone rings; enquiries still need answering and chasing by you |
| Directories (Checkatrade, TrustATrader) | Monthly membership, £60–£500 a month reported | Profile, reviews, shared enquiries | The same homeowner goes to several members; see Checkatrade cost 2026 |
| Lead marketplaces (MyBuilder, Bark, Rated People) | Per lead or per shortlist, £5–£40 reported | Contact details for posted jobs | Three to five firms buy the same job; fees are paid win or lose |
| Do it yourself | Your evenings | Google profile, ads, social posts | Works until the diary fills and the marketing stops |
| MyTradeBuddy | Per booked survey; no retainer, no contract | Ads, AI receptionist, quote follow-up, reviews, website, CRM | Built for survey-led work; one business per area, so your patch may be taken. Pricing |
Directory and marketplace figures: Checkatrade cost 2026, MyBuilder fees 2026, Bark for tradesmen.
How the marketing runs, month to month
1. Your area, your ads
We run local ads for boiler, bathroom and heating work in your patch. One plumbing business per area, so you are not bidding against another client of ours.
2. Every call and enquiry answered
The AI receptionist answers 24/7, qualifies the homeowner and books the survey. Web enquiries get a call back within seconds.
3. Every quote chased
Quotes that go quiet are followed up by text and email until the customer says yes, no or stop.
4. Reviews and repeat work
Review requests after each job, service reminders when a boiler is due, all from the CRM.
Plumber marketing agency vs paying per booked survey
Before you pay anyone for plumber marketing
Ring your own number from a friend's phone at 5.30pm. If it goes to voicemail, fix that before buying demand; a homeowner with a boiler down rings the next firm within a minute. Then complete your Google Business Profile (guide here) and ask every completed job for a review. Those two are free and beat most paid marketing for a small firm.
Paid demand is worth it for survey-led work, where the job is decided at the property and a shared lead lost to a faster caller costs hundreds. That is what the plumbing leads and boiler leads pages describe. Not getting enough plumbing work? ranks nine fixes by speed.
Plumber marketing FAQs
Agencies charge a monthly retainer plus ad spend. Directories run £60–£500 a month by tradespeople's reports. Lead marketplaces charge £5–£40 a lead. MyTradeBuddy charges per booked survey, quoted for your area, with no retainer and no contract.
We do what an agency does (ads, website, reviews) plus what an agency does not (answer the phone, qualify, chase the quote, book the survey), and we charge for the booked survey rather than the activity. We generate all demand ourselves and never buy enquiries from third parties.
Yes, built for the trade with live chat that books surveys. Details on the plumber website design page.
Yes. Many clients keep a directory for reviews and credibility while the exclusive pipeline fills the survey diary.
Boiler replacements, bathrooms, heating systems and heat pumps. For call-out work the AI receptionist matters more than demand generation.
The pieces
Talk through your marketing
Book a call. We look at what you spend now, what a booked survey is worth to you, and whether your area is free.