Many consumers still associate plumbing with a guy with a dirty toolbox coming to your house to fix leaking pipes. But the plumbing industry is way more advanced than that and notions like that harm plumbing professionals. In fact, the sector is reaching new heights by improving customer service and integrating new and improved field service solutions.
The more the industry grows, the more limitations it encounters. Today, plumbing companies mainly struggle to ensure workplace safety and a comfortable working environment for their employees, develop and integrate sustainable equipment, and manage water consumption.
Although limiting, these issues push the plumbing industry forward to search for solutions and seek improvement. Recent discoveries inspired us to collect the main trends that will dominate the sector and lead the way to advanced plumbing.
9 plumbing industry trends to follow
1. Educating your customers
As we mentioned at the beginning, many people still understand a plumber as an old-school repairman. Along with this association comes small prices and searching for the cheapest deal out there. But often, the cheaper the service is, the lower its quality and safety.
And it’s okay if everything ends fine, but a lot of times, when a repair fails and water floods your apartment, or even worse, you have to pay double if not triple.
By educating the audience, a service must show them that plumbing is not a basic process that everyone can do after watching a YouTube video. It’s a job that requires a thorough assessment and mechanical skills.
You have to help customers understand that high quality, in the end, saves money and helps avoid emergencies. And as most of the consumers are online now, you have to find a way to start communication and introduce them to your educational content.
It could be as simple as a company’s blog or social media channels. Because if these days business doesn’t have any online presence, does it even exist?
2. Online reputation
These days, for a plumbing business to establish and flourish, it’s critical to have good online reviews and positive digital communication with clients. Even one lousy comment can cost several potential clients, so you have to ensure that users are satisfied.
You shouldn’t be afraid to engage with your customers online, assist them with questions they have. It will help establish a respectful and helpful position, and in the end, shows customers why your service is better than competitors’ and what value for the price it delivers.
3. Water and energy consumption
Annually, Europeans, on average, use 243 000 cubic hectometres of water for economic activities. Although the largest consumer is the agriculture industry, the plumbing industry has to make an effort to contribute to a better future.
Many household owners don’t even realize that their home appliances, like toilets and sinks, might be using more water than they are supposed to. Leaking pipes, outdated devices, or equipment faults can result in a growing electricity and water bill.
Occasional checkups and maintenance are essential to keep water consumption low and avoid accidents. Another point to keep in mind is that a lot of wasted water could be saved with modern toilets. Modern toilets reduce consumption and can also use more sustainable solutions such as rainwater or sinkwater.
4. More attention to aging pipes
Aging pipes can become a severe problem if not managed properly. Even now, a lot of households still have old pipes that passed their utilization term, which can cause water contamination and leaks.
Many especially shared households are reluctant to change pipes because replacement costs a lot of work and investment.
Again, the first step a plumbing business can take is to educate consumers on how essential it is to do checkups and take care of aging equipment. And although there might be no problem, it can be inconspicuous and rapidly evolve into something more serious.
5. Self-maintaining technology
From smart toilets to self-maintaining pipes, all these new touchless plumbing fixtures make life easier for people. At the same time, it can help prevent damages and leakages. A modern plumbing business also uses automated sensors to avoid emergencies and maintain damage control.
Everything could be controlled via one system and notify tenants and the responsible plumbing company if something has been intact.
6. Improved employee management
When there’s a call, you can’t waste time. It’s complicated to follow up with every technician, which makes it even harder to appoint them. Field service best practices show that plumbing software is one of the most effective tools to improve workforce productivity and efficiency.
The cloud-based solution can help your company schedule employees, keep up with task updates, and conduct administrative work. While all the trends and tips above are essential to a company’s growth, it will be challenging to attain them with weak team management.
7. Predictive maintenance
Predictive maintenance is based on IoT and artificial intelligence solutions. Sensors installed in the equipment such as pipes, sewage systems sense when there’s a potential system failure. The system then notifies the responsible company, and it can solve the issue before it causes more trouble.
While it might be more costly to start the predictive maintenance strategy, it can save a lot of money in the long run, especially if you’re dealing with large facilities.
8. Online payments
It’s not a secret that many customers pay technicians and plumbers in cash. However, cash isn’t always the most convenient for the customer and can pose tax evasion risks. Nowadays, more and more consumers rely on safe and easy online payment options.
That pushes plumbing companies to implement online payments to ensure reliability and customer convenience. You can choose from in-app payments using specially-designed platforms or provide card payments. Either way, it’s important to notice your customer tendencies and preferences.
9. Mobile-first field service management
If you still aren’t using field service management software to improve your team’s work, then it’s time to consider. Mobile-first means that field technicians and plumbers can access all the necessary information about a task, customer, and equipment on their mobile devices.
In this day and age, it’s not only a nice add-on, it’s a necessity if you want to stand out and enhance your service efficiency. The mobile-first approach equips your team with the latest software, knowledge base, and other resources for a fast and smooth field service experience.
Implementing plumbing industry trends with Frontu FSM
Following trends can help you boost your plumbing services and offer leading solutions for customers.
Once again, here are nine plumbing trends to follow:
- Customer education
- Online reviews and reputation
- Water and energy consumption management
- More attention to aging pipes
- Self-maintaining equipment
- Employee management
- Predictive maintenance
- Online payments
- Mobile-first approach
Frontu is one of the leading field service management software providers in the Baltics. We carefully developed our FSM solution based on the current trends and situation in the sector to tailor the plumbing industry. We gauge our customers’ experiences and design even better tools to simplify their business operations. We are ready to help you get started.
If you want to be trendy and give your business a giant boost, book a demo.
