The two models, and which one fits your firm
Owned campaigns mean the ranking, the ad account, the list and the phone number belong to you. They take sixty to ninety days to produce meaningful volume, and after that the cost per lead falls every month. Bought leads mean we generate the enquiry and you pay for it — no ramp-up, no build cost, but the price per job stays flat. A firm with capacity to fill this week wants the second. A firm planning to double headcount over two years wants the first, funded by the second while it builds.
- Owned: SEO, Google Ads you keep, outbound lists you keep, email lists you keep
- Bought: pay-per-lead and pay-per-call, priced per qualified enquiry
- Blended: bought leads fund the build, owned channels take over the volume
What each channel is actually good at
Every channel has a job it does well and a job it does badly, and pretending otherwise is how agencies burn plumbing budgets. Google Ads buys emergency intent at a known price today. Search compounds into free emergency intent over months. Outbound is the only channel that reaches commercial buyers who are not searching. Call answering is not lead generation at all — it stops you losing the leads you already paid for, which for most firms is the cheapest win available.
- Google Ads — same-week emergency and installation jobs, priced per click
- Search and Google Business Profile — compounding local and map pack visibility
- Outbound — commercial contracts, FM providers, developers, landlords
- Pay-per-lead and pay-per-call — volume you only pay for when it qualifies
- Email — reactivating your existing customer list, the cheapest revenue you have
- 24/7 answering — recovering the 30–40% of calls most plumbing firms miss
What we measure, and what we refuse to report
Rankings and impressions are not outcomes. We report booked jobs, cost per qualified lead, close rate by channel and revenue per lead, tied back to the call recording or form submission that started it. If a channel is not returning, we say so in the monthly review and move the budget rather than defending it.
How the first 90 days run
Weeks one and two are diagnostic: tracking, call recording, existing site audit, and a lead-value model built from your actual job values, not industry averages. Weeks three to six launch the fast channels so revenue starts covering the work. Weeks seven to twelve build the compounding assets — pages, profile, lists — and we review the whole mix at day ninety with a decision to scale, shift or stop each channel.
Who this works for
Lead generation only pays back when the firm can convert and deliver. Before we take a client on we check the basics, because more leads into a broken sales process just creates more angry voicemails.
- Someone answers the phone, or you let us provide the 24/7 answering that does
- Quotes go out within 48 hours of a site visit
- Capacity to take on at least 15–20 extra jobs a month
- A clear view of what a job is worth to you, so we can price leads sensibly
If you are fully booked for the next three months, do not buy leads. Spend that period on the compounding channels and on pricing, and come back when you have capacity to sell into.
Frequently asked questions
What do plumbing lead generation services cost?
Managed campaigns typically start at £1,500 a month plus ad spend. Pay-per-lead sits between £45 and £150 per qualified enquiry depending on job type and area, and commercial leads run £120–£400. There is no long tie-in; we work in 90-day sprints.
How is this different from buying leads from a directory?
Directory leads are shared with three to five firms, so you are competing on price the moment you call. Everything we generate is exclusive to you and qualified before it is sent.
How quickly do leads start coming in?
Pay-per-lead and Google Ads produce enquiries within days. Search, outbound and email take six to twelve weeks to reach steady volume but cost far less per job once they do.
Do you work with plumbing firms outside the UK?
No. We only work in the UK market, because the pricing, compliance and search behaviour we have data on are UK-specific.
Do I have to sign a long contract?
No. We work in 90-day sprints so the numbers are visible before you re-commit, and pay-per-lead is billed on qualified leads delivered.