Missed-call math for plumbers
A worked example with every assumption on the table, so you can swap in your own numbers.
Illustrative numbers. The figures here are example assumptions to show the arithmetic. They are not measured results. Replace them with your own call records.
Plumbing calls are different from most home-service calls. The caller often has water where it should not be. They are not comparison shopping. They call the first number that answers, and if nobody does, they call the next one.
That makes a missed call easy to price. Here is one way to do it. These are example assumptions, not measured results. Replace them with numbers from your own phone records.
Example assumptions
- 30 inbound calls in a typical week.
- 20% go unanswered (voicemail, busy, or after hours). That is 6 calls.
- 40% of those callers would have booked a visit if someone had answered.
- An average ticket of $350.
The arithmetic
6 missed calls x 40% = 2.4 jobs a week. 2.4 jobs x $350 = $840 a week. Over 50 working weeks, that is $42,000 a year.
Change the inputs and the answer moves a lot:
- Low case: 6 missed, 30% would book, $250 ticket = $450 a week.
- Base case: 6 missed, 40% would book, $350 ticket = $840 a week.
- High case: 6 missed, 50% would book, $500 ticket = $1,500 a week.
What the math leaves out
It counts one visit. It does not count the customer who would have booked a water heater replacement next spring, or called you again for the next leak. It also does not count the caller who tells a neighbor you never pick up.
It also overcounts if some of those missed calls were wrong numbers, sales calls or people already on a job with you. Sort the log first.
How to get your own numbers
Pull a month of call records from your carrier or phone system. Count calls, then count the ones that were not answered by a person. Look at the times: if most misses land between 5 pm and 8 am, or at lunch, that tells you where coverage matters.
Then ask a harder question: of the callers who did reach you last month, how many booked? That is your real booking rate. Use it instead of the 40% above.
Where plumbing differs
After-hours calls are the ones where the booking rate is likely highest, because the problem cannot wait. They are also the calls where a fixed safety script matters: shut off the main if it is safe, stay away from wet electrical items, and get the on-call plumber alerted. Answering those calls is worth more than the average ticket suggests, and getting them wrong costs more.