The Mabel blog
Why a text-back receptionist suits plumbers
Peter Nicholl, founder of Mabel5 min read
Hands wet, phone in the van, a leak on the line. What a plumber's missed call costs, the words Mabel treats as urgent, and the jobs it books into a free slot.
Why does a plumber's phone always ring at the wrong moment?
Plumbers are the trade Mabel was built for first, so this is the one to start with. The phone goes when you're under a sink with a compression joint half tight, or holding a cistern in place with your knee. You don't answer it. You can't. By the time your hands are dry the caller has gone, and if it was a leak they've rung someone else.
That's the irritating part: the calls you most want are the ones you're least able to take. A dripping tap can wait for a call back tonight. Water through a ceiling can't, and the person with water through the ceiling isn't going to leave a voicemail and hope.
What happens when a call rings out?
The caller hears one short spoken message, that you're on a job and a text is coming, and then the text arrives. For an example business it reads like this:
Sorry we missed your call to Patel Plumbing. Ravi is on a job. Book in a minute here: mabelhq.co.uk/b/Ab3dE5gH7j Or just reply to this text and we'll take your details here.
From there it's a one-page form, or a text conversation if they'd rather. Mabel asks which job from your list, a few words about the problem, the postcode and the house number, and offers times that are free in your calendar, with room to drive between jobs. Then it reads the booking back:
Just to confirm: 10am Monday 12 October for Leak repair at 14 Oak Lane, Leeds, LS1 4AP. Reply YES to book or NO to pick a different time.
They reply YES, and you get a text with the job. Until you confirm it, the customer is told it's a request, not a done deal:
Your request is in for 10am Monday 12 October. Ravi will confirm it shortly.
You confirm with a tap when you're out from under the sink, and they get a confirmation text from the same number.
Which words does Mabel treat as urgent for a plumber?
A new plumber's account starts with these: gas smell, smell gas, carbon monoxide, leak, leaking, burst, flood, flooding, water everywhere, no water, overflowing and ceiling dripping. You can add or remove any of them. If a customer's text uses one, you get their exact words straight away, and they read:
This sounds urgent, so we've let Ravi know straight away, and you'll get a call back as soon as possible.
No number is given out unless you've set an emergency number in Settings, and your own mobile is never given out. The booking carries on underneath, so they can still pick a time if that's what they want. What Mabel won't do is tell them to turn the water off at the stopcock, or anything else about the job itself. It books; the plumbing advice is yours.
Which plumbing jobs can it book?
The plumber's list at set-up starts like this, with the rough times a new account suggests:
- Leak repair: 1h
- Dripping tap: 1h
- Blocked sink: 1h
- Blocked toilet: 1h
- Toilet repair: 1h
- New toilet fitted: 3h
- Tap replaced: 1h
- Burst pipe: 2h
Those are the first eight of twenty. You pick the five you get most to start with, and can have up to ten on the menu later in Settings. The times are what Mabel uses to find a slot, so a blocked sink fits in an hour's gap and a new toilet gets the afternoon.
What about bathroom jobs that need a visit first?
A bath fitted is an all-day job, and nobody sensible books one off a text. On the list it sits beside 'Bathroom quote', an hour. That's the one the customer picks. Mabel books the hour, you turn up, measure and quote as you always have. The same goes for a new shower or a full suite: the booking is the visit, not the job.
Mabel never quotes a price, for a quote visit or anything else. If a customer asks what it'll cost, the answer is that you'll tell them when you've seen it.
Can it send me a photo of the leak?
Switch on photos in Settings and Mabel asks the customer for a picture of the problem with their booking: the weeping joint, the cracked cistern, the tap that won't stop. It's optional for them, a booking never waits on it, and every photo is checked before you see it. You know what you're walking into, and what to bring.
Where does it fall short?
A landline can't get a text, so that caller hears you'll see they rang and will call back. A withheld number is asked to text you or ring back from a number Mabel can see. One text goes per number in 24 hours: a second call mid-booking gets a nudge to reply to the last message, not a fresh start. And some people will always ring the next plumber instead of reading a text. The rest get booked.