Most plumbing companies track leads, jobs, and reviews — almost none track missed calls. That's the leak.

Quick numbers worth running for your own shop:

• Average residential plumbing job: $300-$800 profit.

• Industry data puts missed-call rates for service businesses at 20-30% of total inbound volume — higher after-hours and during peak season.

• Close rate on a call that's actually answered live is typically 30-50%. Close rate on a voicemail or missed call that never gets a callback is close to 0%.

So if you're a 2-3 truck shop getting 150-200 calls/month, 20% missed is 30-40 calls going straight to a competitor who happened to pick up first. Even a conservative 20% close rate on those is 6-8 jobs — call it $2,000-$5,000/month in profit walking out the door before you ever get a chance to quote it.

The fix isn't "hire someone to answer phones 24/7" — the economics of a $18-22/hr dispatcher for after-hours coverage rarely work for a 1-5 truck operation. It's making sure every call gets answered the moment it comes in, especially nights/weekends when emergency jobs (burst pipes, no hot water, backed-up sewage) are the highest-ticket, highest-urgency work you'll get all month.

If you're not sure how many calls you're missing today, that's step one — most call tracking or VoIP providers (RingCentral, Grasshopper, your CRM) will show you a missed-call count going back 90 days. Pull that number before you decide whether this is worth fixing.