Reliable Plumbing Captured $23K in Monthly Revenue from After-Hours Emergencies

The Challenge

Reliable Plumbing, a 6-truck operation in Phoenix, Arizona, faced the classic plumber's dilemma: emergencies don't wait for business hours.

Owner Carlos Mendez had tried everything:

• Answering service ($800/month, but they just took messages)
• Rotating on-call phone (techs hated it, often missed calls anyway)
• Contact form (nobody uses forms at 2am with a flooded bathroom)

"We were losing the best leads—the true emergencies with the highest tickets—to whoever answered first," Carlos explained.

The Situation Before

• Monthly leads: 22
• After-hours emergency capture: ~15% (mostly lost)
• Average response time: 6+ hours for after-hours
• Emergency call close rate: 45% (lower due to delayed response)
• Lost revenue estimate: $20,000+/month

The problem was especially acute because emergency plumbing calls have the highest average ticket value—often $400-800 for after-hours repairs.

The Solution

We deployed a plumbing-specific AI agent with emergency-focused capabilities:

1. Emergency Severity Scoring - Classifies issues by urgency (active leak, sewage backup, water heater failure) 2. Damage Mitigation Guidance - Tells customers how to shut off water while help is dispatched 3. Priority Dispatch Routing - True emergencies get immediate text alerts to on-call tech 4. Direct Calendar Booking - Non-emergency issues book directly for next available slot

The agent was also trained to collect photos of the problem when possible, giving techs a head start on diagnosis.

The Results: First 90 Days

Metric

Before

After

Change

Monthly leads	22	64	+191%
After-hours leads	4	28	+600%
Emergency close rate	45%	82%	+82%
Average response time	6 hours	18 seconds	-99.9%
Photo uploads	0	23/month	New

The Revenue Impact

• Additional leads per month: 42
• Close rate improvement: 45% → 82% on emergencies
• Average emergency ticket: $520
• Additional monthly revenue: $23,478
• Annual impact: $281,736

Agent cost: $299/month.

ROI: 78x

Key Wins

1. True Emergencies Get True Priority

"The agent knows the difference between 'my faucet drips' and 'water is coming through my ceiling,'" Carlos said. "Real emergencies hit my phone in seconds. Routine stuff books for tomorrow."

2. Customers Feel Helped Immediately

Even if a tech can't arrive for an hour, the customer knows help is coming. The agent tells them how to shut off the water and minimize damage. "We've had customers thank us just for the quick advice—before we even arrived."

3. Better Prepared Techs

Photos submitted through the chat mean techs know what they're walking into. "We show up with the right parts more often. Fewer callbacks, faster jobs, happier customers."

What Carlos Says Now

"I used to dread going to bed knowing I'd wake up to voicemails from people who'd already called someone else. Now I wake up to a full calendar of booked jobs. It's a completely different business."