A plumbing dispatcher script gives everyone who answers your phone the same words for the same moments. Those words matter most at two points in a call. The caller asks what it costs and hears a vague answer, or nobody actually asks them to book. Either way, they hang up and call the next plumber on the list.
The script below fixes the price answer and the booking ask. It also covers the greeting, three questions to ask, and what to do when the call is an emergency. It works as a plumbing CSR script for a busy office or as a cheat sheet for an owner answering from the truck.
The fees in the examples are made up. Put your own in before anyone uses the script.
Answer with your company name and one open question
The first few seconds tell the caller whether they reached a real company. Start with "Thanks for calling [Company], this is [Name]. What's going on with your plumbing today?"
An open question gets the problem in the caller's own words. "How can I help you?" usually gets "I need a plumber," and then you have to ask again.
Get a name and a number early, in case the call drops while they walk down to the basement: "Before we go any further, can I get your name and the best number to reach you?"
Ask three questions before you talk about time or price
Three questions tell you what kind of visit the caller needs. Ask them in this order.
- What's happening, and where in the house? A dripping faucet in a guest bathroom and water under the kitchen sink are different visits.
- Is any water running or leaking right now? The answer tells you whether to switch to the emergency steps further down.
- Do you own the home, and how will the plumber get in? A renter may need the landlord's OK, and a gate code saves a wasted trip.
Write down the caller's exact words, not your guess at the cause. "Water coming up through the basement floor drain" tells the plumber more than "clog."
How to answer price questions without losing the caller
Callers often ask about price before they agree to anything. A vague answer like "it depends" sounds like you're hiding something. Guessing a price is worse. The plumber may have to change it at the door.
If you're wondering how to answer "how much do you charge?", give three facts: what the visit costs, what it includes, and when the caller gets a firm price.
With a made-up fee, it sounds like this: "Our visit fee is $79. The plumber finds the cause and gives you a firm price before touching anything." Only add "and the $79 comes off the repair" if your company really does take the fee off.
If you have set prices for common jobs, say them, but only from your written price list. A number someone makes up on the phone either costs you money when the plumber honors it or costs you the customer's trust when the plumber changes it.
On a bigger job, like a water heater or a sewer line, some callers ask for a rough price. Stay polite and don't guess: "I don't want to guess and get it wrong. The plumber will give you the exact price before any work starts, and you can say no."
Ask for the booking with two times, not an open question
Plenty of good calls end with "OK, let me think about it" because nobody asked the caller to book. Offer two specific windows: "I can have a plumber there [day] between [time] and [time], or [day] between [time] and [time]. Which works better?" A choice between two is easier to answer than "When works for you?"
Then read the details back, so nothing is wrong when the plumber pulls up: the day, the window, the address and the visit fee. Tell the caller they'll get a text confirming it.
Some people would rather book by text than by phone. Appointment booking for home services offers them only the times that are actually free on your calendar, so a text booking won't land on a time that's already taken.
When it's an emergency, get a plumber on the line
Some calls can't wait for a booking window. Before anyone uses the script, the owner writes down which calls count as emergencies. Water that won't stop and sewage backing up into the house are common examples.
On an emergency call, the person answering has one job: get the address and a callback number, then connect the caller to the on-call plumber. "That sounds urgent. I'm going to get our on-call plumber on the line for you now. First, what's the address?"
If the on-call plumber doesn't pick up, tell the caller exactly what happens next and when, such as a callback within [time]. "Someone will call you back" leaves them free to call another company.
Important
An emergency plumbing call script never tells the caller what to do with the gas, the water main or anything electrical. Those instructions come from the plumber, not from the person answering the phone.
The same three questions for HVAC, electrical and roofing calls
The greeting, the price answer and the booking ask work in any trade. Only the three questions change, along with what counts as urgent. If you also run HVAC, this is your HVAC dispatcher script with three lines swapped.
Trade | First question | Second question | Third question | Goes straight to a person when |
Plumbing | What's happening, and where in the house? | Is any water running or leaking right now? | Do you own the home, and how will we get in? | Water won't stop, or sewage is backing up |
HVAC | What is the system doing: no heat, no cooling, or a strange noise? | Is it the whole house or one room? | Roughly how old is the system? | No heat in freezing weather, or whatever else is on your list |
Electrical | What's happening: an outage, flickering lights, or a breaker that keeps tripping? | Is anything sparking, buzzing or smelling hot? | How old is the panel, and are you planning any work? | Anything is sparking, buzzing or smelling hot |
Roofing | Is water coming in right now? | What happened: a storm, missing shingles, or an older roof? | Have you already opened an insurance claim? | Water is coming in now |
The "goes straight to a person" column shows common examples. Your own written emergency list decides what goes straight to a person.
When the caller hangs up before anyone answers
Some callers never hear the script. The phone rings out while everyone is on a job, and they move on to the next number.
A missed call text back sends them a text within moments, from your business number. The conversation keeps going while you finish what you're doing, and the caller has a reason not to dial someone else.
Put the script on every line, even after hours
A script only works when someone is there to use it. At 9pm, or when every line is busy, nobody is.
An answering service script often ends with taking a message and promising a callback. By morning, the caller may already have booked someone else.
An AI receptionist for home services can follow your script instead. It answers in your business name with your greeting, works from a facts sheet you keep up to date, and offers only the times that are open on your calendar. When a call is on your emergency list, it transfers the caller to the number you set. Every call lands in your inbox with a recording and a summary.
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Build the facts sheet straight from your script: the greeting, the visit fee and what it covers, your price list, your emergency list and your on-call number. Then forward your main line to the AI Receptionist after hours or when every line is busy, and callers get the same answers day and night.
Copy the full plumbing dispatcher script
Here is the whole call in order. Replace everything in square brackets before anyone uses it.
Fix the price answer first
If you change one thing this week, make it the price answer. It's where many calls quietly end, and it's the easiest part to fix.
Write down your visit fee and what it covers, then have everyone who answers the phone say the same words. Add your price list, your emergency list and the on-call number, and the script is ready to use.
