Write down your top three most profitable job types right now. For most plumbers in Ireland that is full bathroom fits, boiler upgrades (especially grant-eligible heat pumps or SEAI-backed jobs), and full house replumbs. These are the jobs your lead generation should be pulling in, not unblocking drains for twenty euro.

Decide which jobs you want to stop taking or price high enough to put off. Small tap washers, one-off toilet fills, and calls from people who just want a quote to beat another plumber’s price are all time-wasters. Knowing this up front shapes everything from your Google ad keywords to how your website reads.

Put a phone number in large text at the very top of every page, not buried in a footer. Someone who has just noticed a leak under the sink at 7pm is not scrolling down looking for your contact page. Make it impossible to miss, and use a click-to-call link so mobile visitors tap once and are through.

Add a short, specific list of the areas you actually cover. Say the towns and counties plainly, for example ‘We cover Dublin 6, Dublin 12, Tallaght, Rathfarnham and surrounding areas.’ People search ‘plumber near me’ and Google pairs that with location, so being explicit helps you show up for the right postcode and stops you getting calls from places you will never travel to.

Have one clear page dedicated to each of your main services, not one long list. A single page for bathroom installation, a separate one for boiler servicing, another for emergency plumbing. This is what lets Google understand what you do and rank you when someone searches ‘bathroom fitting Dublin’ versus ’emergency plumber Dublin’.

Show your RGII registration number on every page where you mention gas or boiler work. Homeowners are increasingly aware that gas work requires a registered technician. Seeing your RGII number builds trust instantly and filters out the people who were going to ring some fella from a Facebook group anyway.

Make sure your services list includes specific plumbing jobs, not just the word ‘Plumber’. Add entries like ‘Boiler Service’, ‘Bathroom Installation’, ‘Emergency Plumber’, ‘Leak Detection’, and ‘Central Heating Installation’. Google uses these to match you with searches, and a detailed list gives you a much wider net.

Upload at least ten recent photos of actual jobs you have completed. Before and after shots of bathrooms you have tiled and plumbed, a new boiler installation in a utility room, a neat manifold on an underfloor heating system. Real photos outperform stock images every time and give a homeowner confidence that you can handle their job.

Post a short update every two or three weeks mentioning a job type and a real location. Something like ‘Completed a full bathroom fit in Dundrum this week, new shower, bath, and all new pipework. Booked up in this area but taking enquiries for next month.’ This keeps your profile active and signals to Google that your business is current.

Ask for a Google review at the exact moment the customer is happiest, which is when you hand the job back to them. That is when they have hot water again or a shiny new bathroom and they are delighted with you. Send a single WhatsApp message with your Google review link right then. Do not leave it until later because later never comes.

Reply to every review, good or bad, within a couple of days. For a good review, thank them by name and mention what the job was, for example ‘Thanks Mary, delighted the new bathroom in Clontarf came together so well.’ For a complaint, stay calm, apologise briefly and offer to sort it offline. Future customers are reading your replies as much as the reviews themselves.

Set a personal rule to respond to every new enquiry within one hour during working hours. A homeowner whose boiler has packed in will ring two or three plumbers at once. The first one who calls back and sounds confident usually gets the job, even if they are not the cheapest. An hour is already pushing it.

Put an auto-reply on your website contact form and Facebook messages so no one waits in silence. A simple message saying ‘Thanks for getting in touch, we will call you within the hour during working hours’ sets an expectation and keeps the lead warm while you finish the job you are on. Most plumbers have nothing set up here and the lead assumes no one is coming.

For out-of-hours emergency enquiries, have a voicemail that tells people what to do next. Something like ‘If this is a burst pipe or active leak, shut off your stopcock which is usually under the kitchen sink or in the attic, and text this number and we will call you back as soon as we can.’ This helps the customer, makes you sound professional, and keeps the lead alive until morning.

Call or text every quote you send out if you have not heard back within 48 hours. A simple ‘Hi John, just checking you got my quote for the bathroom, happy to answer any questions’ is all it takes. Most plumbers send the quote and wait, and the customer ends up booking whoever followed up. You already did the work of measuring up, do not let it go to waste.

Keep a simple log of every open quote, even a notes app or a whiteboard will do. Date, customer name, job type, area, and quote amount. Look at it every Friday and chase anything that is more than four days old. The number of jobs that come in from a single follow-up message would surprise you.

For bigger jobs like full bathrooms or heating systems, follow up a second time ten to fourteen days later. People procrastinate on large spend decisions. A second message that says ‘Just checking in, we have a slot opening up in three weeks if that suits’ gives them a reason to make a decision and makes the slot feel scarce without being pushy.