Human answers. Every hour. Every day.
Two service technicians in hard hats and safety vests standing with their toolboxes in front of a work van

Plumbers and plumbing contractors

24/7 Plumbing Answering Service

A burst supply line at midnight, a sewer backup on a holiday weekend, a water heater quote on a Tuesday. Live US-based operators answer as your plumbing company, 24/7/365, separate active water from everything that can wait, and get the real emergencies to your on-call plumber.

Talk with our team Call now 888-654-8500

Operators on the floor right now

  • 85M+
    Quality connections
  • 65K
    Entrepreneurs served
  • 30+
    Years in business
  • ZERO
    Days taken off

Why these calls are different

Is water moving right now?

Most plumbing calls come down to one question: is water still coming out? A pipe spraying into a finished basement costs the homeowner more every minute. A slow kitchen drain does not. Both callers sound worried. Both say it is an emergency. The difference decides whether your on-call plumber gets out of bed, and an answering service that cannot tell them apart either wakes your crew for nothing or leaves a flooding home in voicemail.

So every call is sorted by your rules. Is water actively leaking, and can the caller find the shut-off? Is sewage backing up into the house? Is it the only bathroom? Is there no hot water, or is the water heater leaking? Is the caller the owner, a tenant, or a property manager who can approve the work? If you want callers walked to the main shut-off before anything else, we read them your instructions word for word. If you charge an after-hours trip fee, the operator states it and records the caller's answer before anyone is dispatched.

Our operators are not plumbers. They do not diagnose, quote repairs or guess at a cause. They follow your script, ask the questions you wrote, and send the call where your rules send it: the on-call plumber now, or the dispatch board first thing in the morning.

Operators follow your screening script and read your shut-off instructions as written. They do not diagnose or quote repairs.

Calls your team can hand off

Plumber Answering Service

Active leaks and burst pipes

Water moving now. Your shut-off instructions are read first, then the call goes to the on-call plumber by your rules, with the address and access details attached.

Sewer and drain backups

Sewage in the home, the only toilet clogged, or a main line backup. Screened by your rules on how many fixtures are affected and whether it can wait for morning.

Water heater failures

No hot water versus a heater that is leaking. Gas or electric, age if the caller knows it, and your safety wording read when your script calls for it.

Repairs, installs and estimates

Fixture replacements, repiping quotes, remodel rough-ins and inspections, captured with the details your dispatcher needs to book the visit.

Commercial and property accounts

Restaurants, offices and property managers, routed by your commercial rules and contacts, with the unit and who approved the work recorded.

Freeze and storm call spikes

When a cold snap splits pipes across town, overflow calls reach a person instead of a full voicemail box, and the active leaks are not lost in the queue.

Who we answer for

Service plumbers, drain specialists and commercial contractors

We answer for residential service plumbers, drain and sewer specialists, water heater installers, plumbing-and-HVAC shops, commercial plumbing contractors and new-construction crews. Coverage can be nights and weekends only, daytime overflow when the office is buried after a freeze, or every call around the clock. Commercial accounts can follow their own path. A restaurant with a backed-up floor drain or an office building with a failed water main can go straight to your commercial on-call contact, while residential calls follow your standard rules. The same US-based operators answer every time, so the caller hears your company name whether it is noon or 3am. Messages reach your team by text and email, the way you set it, and call logs and recordings are available to you. That record helps when a customer remembers the call differently than your plumber does, and it shows you which nights and which neighborhoods generate the most emergency work.

Before you choose coverage

A straightforward answer.

How do you decide which plumbing calls go to the on-call plumber?
By the rules you give us, not the operator's opinion. A common set: water actively leaking that the caller cannot stop, sewage backing up into living space, the only toilet in the home out of service, or a commercial account with a failure that stops business goes to on-call now. A slow drain, a dripping faucet, a running toilet or an estimate request is booked for the next business day. You can change the rules by season, by customer type or by time of night.
What do your operators ask on a plumbing call?
Whatever your plumber needs to show up ready. Usually the caller's name and a callback number confirmed by reading it back, the service address and access notes, what is happening and where in the building, whether water is still running, whether the shut-off has been closed, when it started, and whether the caller owns the property. For rentals, we ask who authorizes the work. You choose the fields and the order.
Will operators tell callers how to shut off their water?
Only in your words. If you give us a short shut-off instruction, such as where main valves are usually found and to turn the valve clockwise, operators read it exactly as written before collecting anything else. They do not improvise plumbing advice or troubleshoot. If you would rather callers get no instructions at all, operators simply capture the details and reach your on-call plumber.
Can you tell callers about our after-hours trip fee?
Yes. Operators can state your after-hours or emergency fee in your own words and record whether the caller accepts it before anyone is dispatched. Your plumber arrives knowing the fee was agreed to, and the conversation at the door is shorter. If you prefer that pricing only comes from your plumber, operators can be told never to mention it.
What happens if the on-call plumber does not pick up?
Your escalation path runs all the way to the end. For example: the on-call plumber, then a backup plumber, then the service manager or the owner, with set wait times between each attempt. Every attempt is logged with a timestamp, so you can see exactly what happened. The caller is told honestly when to expect a callback, which keeps them from calling the next plumber on the list.
Can you keep up when a freeze or storm brings a flood of calls?
Yes. That is what overflow coverage is for. You can forward the office line when it backs up, or set it to roll to us when no one answers, so callers reach a live operator instead of a busy signal. Because every call is still screened by your rules, the house with water running through the ceiling is not stuck behind ten callers asking about appointments.
Can operators book plumbing appointments?
Yes, either way you prefer. We can book directly into a calendar or scheduling board you give us access to, following your rules on time windows and job types. Or we can capture the request and the caller's preferred times for your dispatcher to confirm in the morning. Repiping, remodel and replacement inquiries can be logged as sales leads separate from service calls, so your estimator follows up on them without digging through the night's emergencies.
How fast can a plumbing company get started?
Usually in days, not weeks. Most of the work is writing down what your dispatcher already knows: what counts as an emergency, who is on call each night, your trip fee, your shut-off wording and the questions to ask. We help you put it on paper, test the on-call path before the first live night, and update the on-call schedule whenever it changes.
What should a plumber ask an answering service before signing?
Whether operators follow your written emergency rules or decide for themselves. Whether they will read your shut-off instructions exactly as written. What the escalation path does when the on-call plumber does not answer, and whether every attempt is logged. Whether they can state your trip fee and record that the caller agreed. Where the operators are located and whether they work on-site. And how freeze-night call spikes are handled.

Related services

Other ways we answer for teams like yours.

Give your callers a real person to reach.

Talk with our team about scripts, escalation and overflow coverage. No obligation, no automated runaround.

Request a quote Or call 888-654-8500 BBB Accredited Business