Blog · Plumbing
The Hidden Cost of Missed Calls
for Plumbing Companies
February 25, 2026 · 5 min read
A burst pipe at 2 AM is worth $600–$1,200 to the plumber who answers the phone. The problem is, most plumbing companies don't answer. 62% of after-hours callers hang up without leaving a voicemail (BrightLocal, 2025). They scroll Google and call the next plumber on the list. That job—and every future referral it would have generated—is gone.
The Math on Missed Plumbing Calls
Here's what a typical 3–6 truck plumbing company is actually losing:
- 250 inbound calls/month (Google Ads, LSA, referrals, Google Business Profile)
- ~117 calls (47%) arrive after 5 PM, on weekends, or holidays
- 62% of after-hours callers won't leave a voicemail
- ~73 callers hang up and try a competitor
- Average emergency plumbing job: $650 (burst pipe, water heater, sewer backup)
- If just 25% would have booked: 18 jobs/month lost
- Lost revenue: $11,700/month from after-hours alone
That number gets worse during peak demand. A cold snap that freezes pipes across your service area can triple call volume overnight. Your office staff is handling 3 calls at once while 7 more go to voicemail. Those are your highest-value emergency jobs—$800–$1,200 per ticket—and they're the ones most likely to call someone else.
Total hidden cost: $12,000–$18,000/month. That's $144,000–$216,000 per year in revenue that never shows up on your P&L because you never see the jobs you didn't get.
Why Voicemail and Answering Services Fall Short
Voicemail
A homeowner with sewage backing up into their basement isn't calmly recording a message. They're panicked, they need confirmation that someone is coming, and they'll call every plumber in a 20-mile radius until they get it.
Traditional Answering Services
At $1.50–$2.50/min, a 500-call month costs $3,000–$5,000. Operators read from a generic script. They can't differentiate a slab leak from a dripping faucet, check your service area, or push a job ticket into ServiceTitan.
Night Dispatchers
$40,000–$55,000/year salary plus benefits and training. They handle one call at a time. During a freeze, when 10 calls come in at once, 9 go unanswered.
How an AI Receptionist for Plumbers Recovers the Revenue
Vox for Plumbing Companies answers every call in under 1 second and handles the full dispatch workflow:
Emergency Detection: Vox determines from the conversation whether it's an emergency (burst pipe, sewage backup, gas smell near water heater, no hot water in winter) or a routine appointment (faucet repair, garbage disposal, drain cleaning). Emergencies escalate to your on-call plumber immediately.
Service Area Verification: Vox checks the caller's zip code against your coverage area in real time. No more rolling a truck 40 minutes for a job that should go to another shop.
Structured Job Tickets: Every call produces a dispatch-ready ticket—name, address, issue type, urgency, preferred time—pushed directly into ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or Jobber.
Unlimited Simultaneous Calls: Frozen pipe season? 15 calls at once? Vox handles all of them. No hold queues. No dropped calls.
The ROI Breakdown
Answering Service (400 calls/mo)
$2,400–$4,000/month
Still drops calls during spikes
No dispatch logic or triage
Vox AI ($250–$500/month)
0 dropped calls
Emergency triage + service area check
1 saved emergency/week = $2,600/month recovered
Vox pays for itself before your first monthly invoice. One emergency call recovered per week at $650 average = $2,600/month. That's a 5x–10x return.
What to Do Next
If you're running Google Ads or Local Services Ads but sending after-hours calls to voicemail, you're paying to generate leads and then letting them walk out the door. See exactly how Vox works for plumbing companies →
Stop Losing Emergency Plumbing Jobs
Set up in 20 minutes. Predictable pricing with included minutes. Every call answered 24/7.