As a plumber, your job is never truly done when you clock out for the day. Burst pipes, backed-up drains, and water heater failures can happen anytime to your customers, including nights, weekends and holidays. Their plumbing emergencies don’t follow a 9-to-5 schedule.
Responsiveness is crucial for delivering great service and protecting your business’s reputation in the community. A frustrated client who encounters an eternally ringing phone line or full voicemail box will quickly call a competitor instead.
However, having plumbers on-call 24/7 is exhausting, expensive, and a major sacrifice of work-life balance. So how can you properly manage those inevitable after-hours calls? With some smart strategies and modern tools, your plumbing business can provide attentive around-the-clock service without burning out your team.
Utilize a 24/7 Answering Service
For affordable peace of mind, many plumbing companies rely on a professional plumbing answering service provided by a company like Apello to capture all inquiries, job requests and dispatch emergencies when their office is closed. These live virtual receptionists:
- Answer calls 24/7 with your customized greeting.
- Gather detailed descriptions of plumbing issues.
- Contact on-call technicians with accurate message.
- Schedule appointments for next-day service calls.
With this system, every customer gets a friendly, responsive experience and your techs can focus on prioritizing true urgent jobs, not just reactively taking calls all night. Emergency calls go straight to the on-call plumber’s phone while routine requests await the next business day.
Use Smarter On-Call Rotation
Implementing an equitable rotation and compensation policy eliminates stress and ensures you always have coverage. Some best practices:
- Schedule defined on-call shifts capping maximum stretches.
- Offer extra pay or future paid-time-off as incentives.
- Share the rotation across all technicians, not just seniors.
- Restrict on-call duties to reasonable geographic ranges.
Managing expectations and making it worthwhile enables happier participation. Have plumbers temporarily forward office and mobile calls to the answering service during their on-call periods.
Quick Callout Process Via Mobile
When an emergency request does require dispatching a technician, you will want robust mobile capabilities enabling prompt callout and response. Not only voice calls, but messaging apps like WhatsApp, team chat platforms like Slack, and mobile web portals have become invaluable tools.
Having all the relevant details like customer name, address, and job description embedded into the mobile alert allows plumbers to avoid playing phone tag. They can respond immediately with availability status and location details if dispatched.
Market Your 24/7 Availability
Implementing the above after-hours coverage solutions means you can proudly promote your plumbing services as available anytime day or night for emergencies. Emphasize this responsiveness on your website, blog, social media, vehicle wraps, and other marketing content.
Include details on your emergency process and phone number for the answering service so customers know exactly how to reach you when they have an urgent plumbing crisis after business hours.
Automate Appointment Booking Online
Even for non-emergency plumbing issues, you will want to make it easy for customers to schedule service calls online at any time of day or night that is convenient for them. Online appointment booking is a must-have these days.
Be Proactive With Maintenance Plans
While you cannot eliminate after-hours plumbing emergencies entirely, nudging customers towards preventative maintenance routines helps minimize those unexpected occurrences.
Promote annual inspections, water sensor installation and automatic service plans to identify plumbing risks before they escalate into bigger problems. Using calendar appointment reminders keeps everyone on a consistent schedule.
Conclusion
After-hours is simply part of the territory in the plumbing business. But with the right technology, procedures and support systems in place, handling those inevitable late-night calls becomes far less overwhelming and disruptive to your operations and personal life.