What they type when a pipe lets go late at night. Why they call one plumber and scroll past three. Who else has to agree before a water-heater quote becomes a job. We model it from research across 500+ businesses over 10 years, then aim it at a schedule where you choose your jobs instead of chasing them. You see the read before you commit a dollar.
“emergency plumber near me”
3 quotes on the kitchen table for a water heater or a repipe. Decides over weeks.
Two speeds of plumbing search, budgeted and reported apart
Most advertising for plumbers is built around the van, the logo and the phone number. We start with the person deciding which plumber gets through their front door, and what they needed to hear first.
Plumbing searches come at two speeds. At the fast end someone has water on the floor, a drain backing up or no hot water; they type "emergency plumber near me" on a phone and call straight from the map results without opening a website. At the slow end the water heater is near the end of its life, or an insurer has asked about the old poly-B pipe in the walls, and the search is about cost: what a tankless unit runs, whether a repipe is worth it, who services their part of town. Most plumber advertising pays for both speeds out of one budget and reports them as one number, so nobody can tell which half is working.
In an emergency the question is cost, and most plumbers make it hard to answer. The customer wants to know the call-out fee, whether there is an after-hours rate, and whether a person picks up. The plumber who says it plainly on the phone usually gets the visit. On a water heater or a repipe they compare the quotes side by side: does it name the unit and the warranty, does it include taking the old tank away, or is it one number with nothing behind it. Two quotes with the same total are not the same quote, and the homeowner can tell which plumber has done this before.
Who decides depends on who owns the pipes. A homeowner with a flooded basement decides on the phone, alone. In a strata building the leak may start in common property, so the owner calls, the property manager approves the work order, and anything large can wait for council. On commercial buildings the annual backflow test is a compliance date rather than a sale, and it goes to whoever is already on the vendor list. Handle the late-night call well and you are on that list when the next one comes.
This is modelled from doing exactly this research for 10 years, across 500+ businesses. It is the part of what we do that a competitor cannot copy in an afternoon.
One truck or a handful, and a phone that rings after dinner. Most of the year is drains, toilets, leaks and water heaters, and then a cold snap fills the board with frozen and burst pipes. We separate that seasonal spike from the steady work in your numbers, so a busy January does not hide a slow September, and we put your after-hours line and your call-out terms where a customer sees them first.
Planned, higher-ticket work: water-heater and tankless installs, drain cleaning and camera inspection, repiping older homes. The customer has three quotes on the kitchen table and is reading reviews for their exact problem. A camera-inspection video, a quote that names the unit and the warranty, and a review from someone with the same job do more to win it than another ad.
You answer to property managers, strata councils, building operators and general contractors. They keep a short vendor list and rarely look for a new name until someone on it lets them down. They choose on response times they can write into a contract, backflow and inspection paperwork filed on time, and insurance certificates ready when asked. The marketing job is to make sure yours is the name a property manager already knows on the day that happens.
Run plumbing alongside heating, electrical or other trades under one roof? Our trades marketing page covers multi-trade shops.
Start with whatever is costing you the most calls, or run all four together. Each one is set up around your service area and the work you want more of.
The sourced read of your market and your customer is shown to you before any delivery work is paid for. If the numbers do not hold up, you will know before you have committed anything.
Scope, timeline and price are set in a client-approved 90-day plan. An itemised scope, not an estimate that moves. It is the same thing your customers want from a quote.
Live dashboards with projection against actual, including the months we miss. You do not have to take our word for any of it.
Month to month. 30 days’ notice. Nobody is locked in. Your accounts, data and content stay yours.
10 Years in Business$100M+ revenue generated500+ clients
B Corp Certified
Google Partner
30 minutes, free.
We will walk you through what we already know about how people in your service area choose a plumber, and what we would do about it. You will get something useful out of the call whether you hire us or not.
We'll take a quick look at your site, ads and rankings before we talk, so the 30 minutes is about your business, not a generic pitch.
10 years · $100M+ revenue generated · 500+ clients
On the call, we’ll walk you through:
Bring your last three months of ad spend or a login to your Google Business Profile if you have it. Not required, just makes the call sharper.
The Plumbing Growth AuditPrefer the conversation framed around plumbing from the first minute? Request the Plumbing Growth Audit. It is a 30-minute read of how plumbing customers in your market actually search and choose. It is the same Growth Strategy call: free to book, no obligation, and not a separate report.We will not add you to a list you did not ask for.
10 years · $100M+ revenue generated · 500+ clients
In their words · Reviews ★★★★★
From political campaigns to nationwide rebrands and massive product launches: an in-house team that moves fast and delivers, across North America and worldwide.
“If I have a client who needs something up in three weeks, you guys will just do it… I never hear no, or ‘it can’t be done’.”
Theodora Jean
Founder & CEO, Coldwater Communications
“Everything that Setsail has designed for us, we try to incorporate that now in all of our presentations, including investor materials.”
Dorthy Cheng
Executive Assistant, CleanDesign
“You made yourselves part of Charlo. You made yourselves part of my story.”
Lia Psomiadis
Founder, Charlo
“We changed our direction of our business and Setsail has been matching that pace each and every time that we made that adjustment.”
Blake Voyer
Microworks Handyman
“From the beginning they were so easy to talk to. Really transparent about the whole process… I’m so proud of my website now.”
Heather LaRoy
Owner, James Crossing
“I’ll immediately hear from somebody… It’s just handled. It’s just white glove considerate handled without a white glove price tag.”
Melanie Clarance
Co-Founder, AetherEV
“Creating a real strategy with KPIs that aren’t out of touch… this isn’t a pie in the sky story, this is an actionable work plan.”
Lucas Ens
Economic Development Officer, City of Prince George
“We’ve been working with Setsail for 7 years for all our marketing materials, website design, product design, videos, photos. They’ve been great. Responsive, responsible, great materials.”
Larry Knurik
VP Logistics, GVA Brands
“It’s been really easy, smooth, and it’s been a great time, and I’d recommend it to anyone.”
Antonio Zivanovic
Founder, ElektraFi
“Tom and Jason are a thrill to work with… The direction and strategy that they bring to the table is top notch.”
Gordon Lai
Surface 604
“If you’re looking for a marketing team that really gets it and delivers outstanding results, Setsail Marketing is the way to go.”
Sam Atakhanov
Founder, DŌST Bikes
These are the people working on a plumbing account week to week, not the ones you meet once in a pitch.
Account Strategist
Owns your 90-day plan, models how customers in your service area choose a plumber, and reports back in booked jobs and dollars, not clicks.
Paid Search Specialist
Runs your emergency and planned-work campaigns and your Local Services Ads, checks what each call costs, and moves budget off what isn’t booking jobs before it costs you a month.
SEO & Local Specialist
Keeps your Google Business Profile, service-area pages and reviews current, so you hold the map in the neighbourhoods you actually want to drive to.
Web Developer
Builds and looks after a site that loads fast on a phone and puts your number where a thumb can reach it.
All 100% in-house at Setsail.
You’re on a job most of the day, so the reporting has to work from the truck. Open the live portal on your phone, read the monthly report, book a call, or send a quick message when something’s on your mind.
Starting numbers
Day one: you know where you stand
We record your starting numbers before we touch anything, so every win after that is one you can see.
Live progress
Every week: you see it moving
Progress shows up in your portal as it happens, so you never wait for a report to know.
Monthly report
Every month: you know what your money bought
What we expected next to what happened, in a report you can read in five minutes.
90-day plan
Every cycle: steered
Every 90 days the plan re-forms around what’s working, so your budget keeps flowing to the work that pays.
Monthly plans for each part of this, from one Google Ads campaign for your emergency calls to the whole stack. What each plan covers, and its pricing, is published on the pricing page.
Every plan starts the same way: a Growth Strategy call. 30 minutes, free. You’ll know whether we’re a fit and what we’d look at first.
What’s included depends on the plan you pick.
The NexGen dewatering website we built, on a MacBook Pro under a spotlightNexGenEven one of those is worth a call. If none of them fit, we’ll say so, and we won’t try to sell you anything.
Setsail Marketing
Vancouver, BC + Beaverton, OR
