What you're actually up against

Five ways plumbing work is slipping through your fingers

Emergency jobs are handing money to whoever has the fastest website.

Burst pipe. Blocked drain. No hot water. At 11pm on a Sunday, the homeowner doesn't shop around — they call whoever answers first on Google. If your site takes four seconds to load or doesn't show your licence number in the first scroll, they're gone. That's a $300-$850 callout going to someone with a faster site.

HiPages sends the same job to three other plumbers — and you pay for the privilege.

A homeowner submits a job for a burst pipe. HiPages sends it to you and three other plumbers in your area. You're all racing to quote the cheapest price. Even if you win it, you paid $30-$80 for that lead — and the platform got paid either way. The plumber who drops their price the most wins the race to the bottom.

Your licence number isn't visible — and it's costing you jobs.

'Licensed plumber near me' is one of the top three plumbing searches on Google. Homeowners want proof you're qualified before they call. If your site buries your licence number in an About Us page or doesn't show it at all, they call the guy who has his licence number in the hero section. It's a $50-$150 callout fee lost because your credentials weren't the first thing they saw.

Hot water jobs spike every winter — and competitors with suburb pages eat them all.

A hot water system replacement averages $1,500-$2,500 installed. Searches for 'hot water repair near me' double in May through August. Plumbers who have a dedicated page for hot water systems on their site rank for those searches. Plumbers with one generic 'services' page don't. The difference is $2,000+ jobs going to someone who built a page for it.

Commercial and residential plumbing are two different businesses — one page can't cover both.

Strata managers, restaurant owners, and office facilities managers don't search the same way a homeowner does. They look for 'commercial plumber near me', 'strata plumbing maintenance', 'restaurant grease trap service'. If your site only talks about residential work, commercial clients assume you don't do it. You're leaving $500-$5,000 commercial jobs on the table.

Do the maths

What HiPages actually costs you

Every plumber we talk to says the same thing: "I'm on HiPages because I have to be." Here's what that decision costs.

HiPages subscription

$300/mo

Base monthly fee for a standard plan. Before you've won a single job, you're out $300.

Average cost per lead

$30

The average HiPages lead costs between $20-$80 depending on the job. You pay whether you win it or not.

Leads per month (typical)

A busy plumber might get 12 leads a month from platforms. At $30 each, that's $360 in lead costs alone.

THE MONTHLY MATH

$300 subscription + $360 lead costs = $660/month

That's $660/month to get 12 leads that three other plumbers also received. You're competing against yourself and paying for it. And the leads stop the minute you cancel your subscription — you own nothing.

TradesPro
$30/mo
All-in. No per-lead fees. Every call comes straight to your phone. You own every lead. They keep coming after month one, two, twelve — because they're your leads, on your site.

Extra emergency job

$850

One emergency callout a month that you would have lost because you didn't rank. One job covers TradesPro for 28 months.

What you own after one year

Everything

Your domain, your reviews, your ranking, your calls. No platform owns your pipeline. You do.

Service pages we build

One page per service, per suburb

Every service gets its own page optimised for the suburbs you work. This is what separates plumbers who get calls from plumbers who pay for leads.

🚨

Emergency Plumber

24/7 availability page with prominent call button and SMS alerts. The page that pays your bills at 2am.

Highest intent

🔧

Blocked Drain

Dedicated drain clearing page. CCTV inspection, hydro-jetting, electric eel — whatever gear you use, it goes on this page.

Most common search

💧

Burst Pipe

Emergency burst pipe page with immediate response messaging. Tells homeowners exactly what to do while waiting.

Emergency premium

🔥

Hot Water Repair

Covers electric, gas, heat pump, solar — all system types. Seasonal content refreshes every autumn before winter spike.

High value

🛁

Bathroom Renovation

Full renovation page with before/after space, project gallery, and timeline estimates. Captures planned work, not just emergencies.

Planned work

🚰

Leaking Tap

Simple service page for the most common residential job. Priced competitively — drives five-star reviews from quick wins.

Review generator

🏢

Commercial Plumber

Separate page for strata, restaurants, offices, retail. Mentions compliance, insurance, project management, after-hours service.

Higher average job

⛽

Gas Fitting

Gas appliance installation, gas leak detection, gas line certification. Shows your gas fitting licence number prominently.

Licensed trade

Keywords that bring real work

What people actually type to find a plumber

Not 'optimisation strategy'. Real searches that real homeowners type into Google every night.

'burst pipe near me'

Someone with water pouring through their ceiling. They're not comparing prices — they need the problem stopped right now. Your phone needs to ring within 30 seconds.

Emergency — call now

'blocked drain cost near me'

Researching before they book. They want to know what a fair price looks like. Your page answering that question with a clear price gets the call.

Research intent

'hot water system repair near me'

Cold shower. Winter morning. They need hot water today. Average job value: $1,500-$2,500. Seasonal search volume doubles May-August.

High value

'licensed plumber near me'

Trust check. They want to know you're qualified before they let you in their house. If your licence number isn't visible, they go to the next result.

Trust signal

'plumber near me same day'

Urgent but not emergency. Blocked toilet, leaking tap, hot water out. They want it fixed today. Same-day availability message wins this search every time.

Urgency signal

The midnight scenario

Two websites. One blocked drain. One winner.

❌ The site that loses the job

It's 11:47pm. A homeowner across town walks into their bathroom and steps in water. The toilet is backing up into the shower. They grab their phone and Google 'emergency plumber near me'.

Your competitor's GoDaddy site takes four seconds to load. The call button is buried in a menu. The page has one paragraph about 'reliable plumbing services' — no licence number, no emergency number, no suburb name. The homeowner scrolls past. They call the next result.

That job? $380 callout fee plus after-hours rate. You didn't even know it existed.

✅ The site that wins the job

Same homeowner. Same bathroom. Same 11:47pm. They Google 'emergency plumber near me'. Your TradesPro site loads in 0.8 seconds. The first thing they see is your licence number and a glowing orange 'Call Now — 24/7 Emergency' button. One tap dials your phone.

Your phone rings. You answer. You're in the van within five minutes. The job is yours — and nobody else even knew it existed. Your SMS alert system captured the lead, your suburb page ranked for the search, and your site loaded fast enough to matter.

That's what owning your own lead source looks like — the job comes straight to you, not to a platform that sold it to four other plumbers.

Reviews that run themselves

Word of mouth is everything. This makes it automatic.

Plumbing is word-of-mouth business. A hot water replacement that goes smoothly means three referrals next year. But nobody remembers to ask. TradesPro sends the ask for you — timed to when the homeowner is most likely to say yes.

Day 0 — Right after the job

Job closed. Review request sent.

The moment you mark a job complete, TradesPro sends a one-tap Google review link via SMS. The homeowner is standing in their shower with hot water for the first time in two days. They're happy. They'll leave a review right now.

→

Day 3 — Gentle follow-up

Didn't review? Here's a nudge.

Three days later, if nothing happened, a second SMS goes out. Same link, shorter message. No pressure — just "hey, if you've got a minute." Most people who were going to leave one do it now.

→

Day 10 — Final check

Last reminder. Then it stops.

Day 10 is the last nudge. If they leave a review after this one, the system stops automatically. No follow-ups. No spam. If they don't leave one at all, the system stops anyway. You never chase anyone for a review again.

How TradesPro helps

Built for how plumbers actually work

Every feature answers a problem you deal with daily. No generic website builder noise.

Emergency capture that works at midnight

Burst pipe, blocked drain, no hot water — you're not sitting at a desk waiting for emails. Your site has a 24/7 form that sends you an SMS within 60 seconds. You respond from your phone, on the way to the job.

Service area pages for every suburb

Rank for 'emergency plumber Parramatta', 'blocked drain Penrith', 'hot water repair Campbelltown'. One page per suburb, per service. Most plumbers have zero suburb pages. You'll have a dozen, and each one is a new way for a homeowner to find you.

Licence number front and centre

Your licence number appears in the hero, at the top of every service page, and in the footer. Google surfaces it in search results. Homeowners see it before they decide who to call. It's the first thing they're looking for.

Automated review requests after every job

When a job closes, TradesPro sends a one-click Google review request via SMS. Gentle follow-ups at day 3 and day 10. It stops the moment they leave a review. You build trust on Google without chasing anyone.

Referral system that pays for itself

Every satisfied customer gets a referral link. When their neighbour's hot water goes out, they share it. The incoming call is tagged with who sent it. You see exactly which customers send you the most work.

What's included

Everything in one system

Professional trade website (built in 48 hours)

Lead capture with SMS alerts (every enquiry, instantly)

Suburb-level ranking pages for every area you work

Google Business Profile sync and management

Automated review collection (day 0, day 3, day 10)

Built-in referral system for word-of-mouth growth

Quarterly content refresh for each service page

How it works

Three steps to getting more calls

Tell us about your business

15 minutes. Which suburbs you work, what services you offer, your licence number, your story. We don't use forms that assume you know HTML.

We build and launch in 48 hours

Your site goes live within two business days. Full suburb coverage, every service page, SMS alerts active, review automation running. You get a 10-minute walkthrough when it's ready.

Your phone starts ringing

Enquiries come in. You answer them. We handle the rankings, reviews, referrals. You don't need to learn SEO. You don't need to chase reviews. You just need to show up and do the work.

Questions

Common questions from plumbers

How do I rank for 'blocked drain near me'?

It starts with having a dedicated page for that specific service in that specific suburb. Not a generic 'blocked drains' page — a page that says 'Blocked Drain Parramatta' with content about what causes blockages in that area, your service area, and your licence number. Google needs to see that the page is about that suburb and that service. TradesPro builds these pages for every suburb and service you offer, so you don't have to write a word.

Should I have a separate page for commercial plumbing?

Absolutely. Commercial and residential plumbing are different searches. A strata manager searching for a 'commercial plumber Sydney' is not looking for the same thing as a homeowner searching for 'blocked drain Parramatta'. Commercial clients want to see compliance certificates, insurance details, after-hours maintenance contracts, and project management experience. A single 'plumbing services' page can't speak to both audiences. We build separate commercial pages that talk directly to businesses, and we include them in your setup.

How does after-hours emergency capture work?

Your site has a prominent 24/7 emergency form that's visible on every page — especially the mobile version. When someone submits it, you get an SMS within 60 seconds. Not an email you check tomorrow morning, an SMS with their name, suburb, and what's wrong. You call them back, quote the job, get in the van. The whole system is built for the reality that most plumbing emergencies happen when you're not at your desk — because plumbers don't have desks.

Can I track which suburb most calls come from?

Yes. Every time a lead comes through your site — whether it's a phone call, form submission, or SMS enquiry — TradesPro records the suburb and the service they asked about. After a month, you can see which suburbs send you the most work. After three months, you can see which service pages are performing best. This tells you where to focus your van schedule and whether you should expand into a new suburb. Most plumbers guess where their work comes from. You'll know.

Is gas fitting a separate service page?

Yes. Gas fitting is a licensed trade in Australia and needs its own dedicated page. Homeowners and businesses searching for 'gas fitter near me' or 'gas leak detection near me' have different concerns from someone looking for a drain unblocking. Your gas fitting page prominently shows your gas fitting licence number, lists the types of appliances you service, and covers certification and compliance. We build it separately from your general plumbing page so both search for them and rank independently.

How long to replace HiPages income?

Most plumbers see their first organic call within 2-4 weeks of going live with TradesPro. The key is that you don't have to cancel HiPages immediately. Run both for 60-90 days. Let your TradesPro site start generating calls while you still have HiPages leads coming in. As your organic calls increase month over month, you reduce your HiPages spend. By month 4-6, most plumbers are getting enough site calls that they either drop HiPages entirely or drop to the minimum plan. The transition is gradual — you never lose income during the switch.

What about strata plumbing jobs?

Strata plumbing is a unique market. Body corporates and strata managers don't search for 'plumber near me' — they search for 'strata plumbing contractor near me' or 'commercial plumbing maintenance near me'. They want to see that you have public liability insurance, that you understand OC (Owners Corporation) requirements, and that you can handle after-hours callouts for multiple units. Your TradesPro site includes a separate page for strata plumbing that speaks directly to property managers, and we structure the content around the compliance signals they're looking for.

Does it work with my existing domain and Google Business Profile?

Yes to both. If you already have a domain, we build your new TradesPro site on it — you don't lose any existing Google ranking or backlinks. Your Google Business Profile stays exactly where it is, and we sync your new suburb pages into it. If you don't have a domain, we set one up as part of the onboarding. Nothing you've already built online gets lost.

What happens if I want to cancel?

Your domain stays yours. Your Google reviews stay on Google. All your lead data gets exported to you in a simple format. The site itself is a managed service — we build it, host it, and maintain it. If you want to take your content elsewhere, we hand it over. Month-to-month, no lock-in, no cancellation fee. We'd rather you stay because the system is working than because you're trapped.

How fast will I start getting calls?

It depends on your suburb and competition, but most new sites start getting enquiries within 2-4 weeks. The first calls often come from the emergency capture form — homeowners searching 'emergency plumber near me' find your site and use the 24/7 form. Suburb page rankings build over the first 2-3 months as Google indexes them. The important thing is that every day your site is live, it's working. Unlike HiPages where leads stop the day you cancel, your website compounds — month six brings more calls than month one, without you spending a cent extra.

When someone searches 'emergency plumber near me' at 11pm, your phone should ring.