🚨 A Plumber's $40K Wake-Up Call
Carlos owns a plumbing company in San Antonio. Eight guys, two trucks, and a reputation he built over eleven years of showing up on time and doing clean work.
Last fall he started noticing something. His close rate on repiping jobs dropped from about 60% to under 40%. Same prices. Same quality. Same crews. He couldn't figure it out.
Turns out, his follow-up was the problem. A homeowner would call about a repipe, Carlos or his office manager would schedule a walkthrough, and then the estimate would take two or three days to land in the customer's inbox. By then, they'd already gotten two other quotes. One of those guys was sending estimates the same afternoon.
Carlos wasn't losing on price. He was losing on speed. And every lost repipe was $8,000 to $14,000 walking out the door.
So he tried something. He started using an AI tool to build estimates on-site. His tech snaps photos of the existing plumbing, notes the footage and fixture count, and the AI drafts a clean line-item estimate in minutes. Carlos reviews it on his phone, adjusts his markup, and emails it before the truck leaves the driveway.
His close rate came back up to 58% in the first six weeks. He didn't change his pricing. He didn't run a single ad. He just got faster.
Most plumbing companies lose jobs they should've won because the estimate showed up too late. If that sounds familiar, the AI Readiness Assessment shows you exactly where speed is costing you money. Takes two minutes. → Take the Quiz
📰 What's Happening in the Trades
• Heat pump shipments jumped 16% in February 2026 year-over-year — residential is stabilizing after a brutal 2025 dip.
• The HVAC tech shortage hit 40,000 open positions this year, with plumbing short another 20,000 licensed pros. Retention matters more than recruiting right now.
• A class-action lawsuit is alleging major HVAC manufacturers engaged in price-fixing over the past five years. Worth following — it could create pricing pressure and customer questions on your end.
• Construction added 26,000 jobs in March alone, but overall the industry still needs 530,000+ workers in 2026. The labor squeeze isn't easing up.
• Rinnai took a 2026 Green Good Design Award for their electric heat-pump water heater. If you're not offering heat-pump water heaters yet, your competitors probably are.
🤖 Try This Today
Stop writing service agreements from scratch. Open ChatGPT and paste this:
"Write me a professional residential plumbing service agreement for a whole-house repipe. Include sections for scope of work, materials, warranty terms, payment schedule, and homeowner responsibilities. Make it clear and professional but not full of legal jargon."
You'll get a solid first draft in 30 seconds. Read through it, add your company name, adjust your warranty terms, and save it as your template. Update it once a quarter and you'll never write another agreement from a blank page.
💰 Protect Your Margins
Copper is still running hot. Prices stayed elevated through Q1 and forecasters aren't expecting relief anytime soon. The A2L refrigerant transition is also pushing equipment costs up 10-20% over legacy R-410A systems. If you quoted a job more than 30 days ago using old material pricing, pull it back up and reprice it before you get locked in. Twenty minutes of spreadsheet work could save you from eating thousands in margin on a single job.
⚡ Real Results
A plumbing company in Austin had three office staff answering phones and scheduling. After-hours calls went to voicemail and about half never got returned. We set up an AI call assistant that answers every call 24/7, qualifies the lead, and books directly onto their calendar. They went from missing roughly 15 calls a week to zero. Two months in, their Monday morning schedule was already full before the office even opened. Want to see what this looks like for your shop? → Book a Free AI Audit
🎵 The Drifter's Dedication
This week's dedication goes out to BVAC Services in Bryan, Texas.
Jose and Priscilla Gonzales were high school sweethearts at Travis B. Bryan High. When COVID hit in 2020 and families were stuck at home with broken AC in Texas heat, Jose decided it was time to stop working for somebody else and build the company he'd always dreamed of. Priscilla runs the office, Jose runs the calls, and five years later they're one of the most trusted HVAC shops in the Brazos Valley.
Listen to "High School Sweethearts & Texas Heat" →
Know a contractor who deserves their own song? Reply to this email with their name and story.
📅 Mark Your Calendar
• PHCC Legislative Conference — May 5-6, Washington DC. Plumbing and HVAC contractors meet lawmakers on energy and workforce policy. If you've never gone, this is the year.
• ASHRAE Annual Conference — June 27-July 1, Austin, Texas. Building automation, energy management, and sustainability. Registration runs $885-$1,185 depending on membership.
• ECA 54th Annual Spring Conference — June 3-4, Fontana-On-Geneva Lake, Wisconsin. Electrical contractors networking and education.
💬 Your Turn
Quick question for you: what's the one task in your business that eats the most time every week? Scheduling? Estimates? Follow-ups? Invoicing? Reply to this email with your answer. I read every single one, and the most common answer becomes next week's AI Tip.
That's it for this week. If you got something out of this, forward it to a contractor friend who's still doing everything the hard way.
The AI Readiness Assessment takes two minutes and shows you exactly where AI can save you time and money in your business. No pitch, just a clear picture of where you stand. → Take the Assessment
Until next time,
Greg Adams
The AI Memo