Most plumbing websites are built to look professional. The ones that get calls are built around one moment: someone standing in water with a phone in their hand, deciding who to ring. This article lists what those sites have in common so you can check your own site against it.
It is written for owners of plumbing companies in the US, UK and Australia who already have a website or are about to pay for one. The examples come from sites I have built, including a full rebuild for a plumbing and HVAC company in Ohio.
The checklist
- The phone number is on screen before anything else.
- Each service has its own page.
- Each area you cover has its own page.
- Emergency availability is stated plainly.
- The photos are real.
- Reviews show names and towns.
- Licence and insurance details are easy to find.
- The forms actually reach you.
- The site is fast on a phone.
1. The phone number is on screen before anything else
On a phone, the number should sit at the top of every page, and tapping it should start a call. A call button that stays in view while the visitor scrolls is better still. Try it yourself. Open your site on your phone and time how long it takes to find the number and call it.
2. Each service has its own page
Drain cleaning, water heater repair, leak detection and repiping are separate searches made by different customers. A single services page with a bullet list gives Google nothing specific to rank for any of them. A page for each job, with a few paragraphs about how you handle it, does.
3. Each area you cover has its own page
Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence (Tips to improve your local ranking on Google). A plumber who covers a dozen towns is competing in a dozen separate local searches.
When I rebuilt the site for Advantage Plumbing, Heating & Air in Ohio, the old Wix site mentioned the service area in one line. The new WordPress site has a service area page for each town Rob works in, along with separate service pages. I explain how I plan this for plumbers in Ohio and plumbers in Austin.
4. Emergency availability is stated plainly
If you take emergency calls, say so near the top of the page. Give the hours and days, and say whether there is a call-out fee. If you do not take emergency work, say that too. Someone who rings at 11pm and reaches voicemail will not try again.
5. The photos are real
Homeowners can spot a stock photo of a smiling plumber straight away. Photos of your own vans, your team and your finished jobs show that you are local and that you exist. They do not need to be professional photos. They need to be yours.
6. Reviews show names and towns
A review that just says “great service” with no name attached is easy to ignore. A review with the customer’s first name, their town and the job you did is much more believable. Bring your best Google reviews onto your site in that format and link to your Google Business Profile so people can read the rest.
7. Licence and insurance details are easy to find
Licensing depends on where you work. In the US, plumbers are licensed at state or local level. In Australia, each state issues plumbing licences. In the UK, anyone working on gas appliances must be on the Gas Safe Register. Put your licence or registration number and your insurance details in the footer or on the about page. It answers a question plenty of customers have before they pick up the phone.
8. The forms actually reach you
Contact forms on cheap builds often fail without anyone noticing. The visitor sees a thank-you message and the email never arrives. On the Advantage Plumbing rebuild, every form sends through SMTP so enquiries land in the inbox. Fill in your own contact form once a month to make sure it still works.
9. The site is fast on a phone
Google uses the mobile version of a site’s content for indexing and ranking (Google Search Central). Its Core Web Vitals targets are a main content load within 2.5 seconds, a response to taps within 200 milliseconds, and a layout shift score of 0.1 or less (web.dev). You can test any page for free with PageSpeed Insights.
What about plumbing website templates?
A well-built template can take care of the phone number and the speed. Service pages, area pages, reviews and licence details depend on content only you have. I wrote about the trade-offs in HVAC website templates: what they do and don’t fix, and nearly all of it applies to plumbing websites as well.
Replacing an old site without losing rankings
If your current site already ranks for anything, a careless rebuild can throw that away. Before I touched the design on the Advantage Plumbing project, I mapped every old Wix address to its new WordPress page and set 301 redirects, so the pages that already ranked kept their place. Google recommends permanent server-side redirects as the best way to send both people and search engines to the new page (Redirects and Google Search).
“We like the site. It is definitely what we were looking for. I will definitely use Saqlain for other projects in the future.”
Rob, Owner, Advantage Plumbing, Heating & Air, Ohio
Frequently asked questions
How many pages does a plumbing website need?
At minimum: a homepage, one page for each main service, one page for each main service area, an about page and a contact page. A plumber with 6 services covering 8 towns would need around 17 pages.
How much does a plumbing website cost?
My Starter build is $800 for up to 5 pages, delivered in 7 days. The Business build is $1,400 for up to 10 pages with a custom design, booking or WooCommerce integration and SEO setup, delivered in 14 days. Larger sites with location pages are quoted per project. See the pricing page for details.
Should a plumbing website have online booking?
For planned work such as a water heater replacement, a booking or quote form is useful. For emergencies, people call. Most plumbing websites need both, with the phone number given more weight.
Check your own site
Run through the nine points above on your phone. If more than two fail, the site is probably costing you calls. I build websites for HVAC and plumbing companies from $800, and I work EST hours. Call +1 (239) 799-3971 or get a quote.
