PlumbingBossPro Blog — Running a Plumbing Business

Winning Property Manager and Restaurant Accounts for a Plumbing Business

A homeowner might call you once every few years. A property manager with dozens of rental units, or a restaurant owner with several locations, can call you every week. Those accounts bring steady work and fill the schedule, but they expect a different kind of service. Winning them takes reliability, good records and billing that fits how they pay.

Where These Accounts Come From

Many commercial accounts start as a referral, the subject of Getting Reviews and Referrals for a Plumbing Business. A landlord's tenant liked your work. A restaurant manager heard about you from the place next door. Others come from walking in, introducing yourself and leaving a card.

Either way, the first job is an audition. Show up on time, handle the tenant or the kitchen staff respectfully, report back clearly and bill correctly. The second call depends on how the first one went.

What Property Managers Want

Property managers juggle tenants, owners and dozens of addresses. They want a plumber who makes their life easier:

• Fast response. A tenant with no hot water calls them every hour until it is fixed.
• Clear reporting. What was wrong, what was done, what is recommended.
• Photos. They often need to show the owner what was found.
• Simple billing. One statement, not a stack of separate invoices.
• Respect for tenants. Knock, explain and clean up, the same as a homeowner's house.

What Restaurants Want

Restaurants care about one thing above all: staying open. A backed-up grease line during dinner service is a disaster. What they want:

• Grease-line jetting on schedule. Before it backs up, not after.
• Work around their hours. Early morning or after close.
• Quick emergency response. When something does go wrong.
• One bill across locations. For owners with more than one restaurant.

Set Them Up Properly in the System

The biggest mistake with commercial accounts is treating every address as a separate customer. In PlumbingBossPro, one client can have many addresses. A property manager is one client, and every rental they manage is an address under that client. A restaurant group is one client with each location underneath.

Each address keeps its own equipment and notes: the water heater in unit 4B, the backflow preventer at the north location, the sewer cleanout behind the dumpster, gate codes and who to call before entering. The plumber sees it all on the job card.

Recurring Work for Commercial Accounts

Commercial accounts are a natural fit for recurring service:

• Grease-line jetting every 14 or 30 days for restaurants.
• Backflow tests on whatever schedule each property needs.
• Yearly water heater flushes across a landlord's rentals.

Each recurring service is set by minimum days between visits, and due visits land on the Waiting List map. You never have to remember that the restaurant on Main Street is due this week.

One Monthly Statement

Property managers and restaurant owners do not want ten invoices a month. Set the account to Monthly billing, and they get one statement each month covering every address, with each line labeled with the address. That makes it easy for them to approve and easy for their bookkeeper to split by property.

One clean statement is a real reason for a property manager to stay with you rather than try someone cheaper. For more on billing that does not leak, see Cash Flow in a Plumbing Business: Getting Paid the Day the Work Is Done.

Keep the Account

Commercial accounts can be lost as quickly as they are won. Keep them by being consistent: same quality, same reporting, same response time, every visit. Print a Plumbing Inspection Report after maintenance visits so the manager has something to show the owner. Check in with them every few months to ask how things are going.

Two-way texting from the office helps here as well. A property manager can text a request for a unit, the office can text back a time, and the plumber's notes and photos are ready to forward once the job is done. Tags and custom fields on the client can hold details like the manager's preferred contact or who approves larger repairs.

Do not let commercial work crowd out everything else, though. One very large account can become a risk if it is too much of your schedule and they leave.

Steady Work Builds a Steady Company

Property manager and restaurant accounts bring repeat work, predictable schedules and fewer marketing costs. Set them up right, serve them well and bill them simply. For more on growing a plumbing company with commercial accounts, visit the PlumbingBossPro plumbing business software page.