Under a sink, not at a desk
Small plumbing teams answer from the van or the crawlspace, so calls during a job often go unanswered.
Free tool / Plumbing
What do missed calls cost a plumbing company?
Burst pipes don't leave voicemails.
Plumbing callers often have water on the floor. They rarely wait for a callback, they ring down the list. This page uses Angi's national average repair as the job value, which leaves out repipes, water heaters and drain contracts, so most plumbers will find their real figure is higher.
Run your numbersWorked example
$26,930 a year,
from the defaults.
An example plumbing company taking 50 calls a week, using the sourced defaults below. If it answered 80% of the calls it misses, it would keep about $21,544 of that a year. Your numbers will differ, so run your own below.
| Step | Result |
|---|---|
| 50 calls a week × 27% missed | 13.5 missed calls a week |
| × 52 weeks | 702 missed calls a year |
| × 45% new customers | 315.9 new callers |
| × 50% who never reach you again | 158 lost enquiries |
| × 50% booking rate | 79 repairs |
| × $341 each | $26,930 a year |
Calculator
Now use your
own numbers.
It starts on the plumbing defaults. Change any field and the result updates as you type. The address bar keeps a shareable link.
Estimated revenue at risk from missed calls
$26,930a year
$2,244 a month · about 79 repairs a year
You would keep$21,544about 63.2 repairs a year
Still at risk$5,386a year
Assumes an answered caller books at your usual rate of 50%.
How this is worked out
- 50 calls a week × 27% missed × 52 ÷ 1258.5 a month
- × 45% new customers26.3
- × 50% who never reach you again13.2
- × 50% you would normally book6.6 repairs
- × $341 average first job$2,244 / month
- × 12 months$26,930 / year
- × 80% answered (scenario)$21,544 kept
The link holds only these numbers, with no name, email or business details.
Email me a PDF of this estimate
Close the gap
Find out where your calls slip.
The $249 Website & Lead-Flow Audit tests how a call or form actually reaches you, including after hours, and gives you a ranked list of fixes. Or bring these numbers to a free 20-minute call about a Tether pilot.
An estimate from the numbers above. It is not a forecast or a promise that any revenue can be recovered. Your figures stay in this browser unless you copy the link.
Why it happens
Where plumbing calls
go unanswered.
Emergencies come first
A burst pipe caller who reaches voicemail is likely to try the next number straight away.
Evening and weekend leaks
Leaks are found when people get home. That is usually after the office has closed.
Make it yours
When to change
the defaults.
- If you charge a call-out or emergency fee, add it to the job value.
- If water heater installs are a big share of your work, try a higher job value with a lower booking rate.
- If you already forward calls after hours, lower the missed percentage to your daytime rate.
Tether / Sample conversation
See how Tether
would answer your call.
A sample conversation, written by us, showing how Tether, the MoxiSync AI receptionist, could handle a call you would otherwise miss and what your team would receive. It is not a recording or a live agent. Tether is offered through guided pilots that are scoped and tested with each business.
Sample conversationWritten by MoxiSync to show how Tether could handle this call. Not a recording, and not a real caller.
Saturday, 9:15 am · both plumbers are on jobs
- Tether · AI receptionist
Thanks for calling. Both plumbers are on jobs right now. I can take the details and get the right person to call you. What's happening?
- Caller
There's water coming through the kitchen ceiling. I think it's from the bathroom upstairs.
- Tether · AI receptionist
Okay. Do you know where your main water shut-off is? Turning it off now can limit the damage.
- Caller
Yes, it's under the stairs. I'll turn it off.
- Tether · AI receptionist
Good. I'm flagging this as an active leak and sending it to the team now with your address. Someone will call you back to confirm a time.
Tether: Good. I'm flagging this as an active leak and sending it to the team now with your address. Someone will call you back to confirm a time. Outcome: Active leak flagged: callback to confirm a time
OutcomeActive leak flagged: callback to confirm a time
- Active leak
- Ceiling damage
- Water shut off
- Address taken
- Callback to confirm a time
Sample call with AI voices, not a real customer.
Where the defaults come from
Sources and
estimates.
We picked the conservative end of every range. Most published missed-call figures come from companies that sell answering services, so we say when a number is one of those, or our own estimate.
| Default | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Calls a week | 50 a week | MoxiSync estimate. Example volume of 50 inbound calls a week for a small, owner-led business. Replace it with your own phone log. |
| Missed-call rate | 27% | Invoca (2022), as cited by The Open University's OpenLearn Create. Around 27% of calls to home-service companies go unanswered. Vendor-sourced; we use it as stated rather than the higher 62% figure often repeated online. |
| New-customer share | 45% | MoxiSync estimate. Under half of missed calls are new customers. |
| Never call back | 50% | MoxiSync estimate. Half of missed new callers never reach you again. Lower than the ~85% 'don't call back after voicemail' figure attributed to Dialzara (2023), because we could not verify that study. |
| Booking rate | 50% | MoxiSync estimate. Half of new repair enquiries become a booked job. |
| Average first job | $341 | Angi plumber cost guide (2026 data). National average plumbing repair of about $341, from roughly 94,000 verified projects (most pay $182–$501). |
Common questions
Plumbing missed calls,
answered.
Why $341?
Angi's 2026 plumber cost guide reports a national average repair of about $341, based on roughly 94,000 verified projects. It is a conservative starting point, not a typical ticket for every company.
What counts as a missed call?
Any call that wasn't answered by a person: rang out, went to voicemail, or hung up in a queue. Count repeat calls from the same number once.
Is the 80% scenario realistic?
It is a what-if you can change. It shows what the same callers would be worth if most of them reached someone, at your usual booking rate.
$249 / Website & Lead-Flow Audit
Check how calls reach you
A recorded audit of your website and enquiry path, including after hours, with a ranked list of fixes.
See the auditKeep reading
Related.
Missing plumbing calls?
Bring your numbers to a free 20-minute call. We'll look at where calls slip and whether a Tether pilot fits.