This is a post about a policy we run that costs us money on paper and saves us money in practice. If you run a plumbing shop doing less than $20k/month and you’ve reached out to Titan Pipelines, there’s a good chance I told you no — politely, but firmly. This post is the long version of why.
It’s also the post I send to owners I’ve turned down, with a list of what to actually do first. If you got the link to this post in your inbox, that’s why.
The Policy, In One Line
We don’t onboard plumbing shops doing less than $20k/month in revenue. Yet. When someone below that threshold books a discovery call, my job on that call is to tell them honestly that they shouldn’t hire us — and to give them a real list of things to do that doesn’t include sending us money.
That’s not a humblebrag. That’s a math thing, and it’s also a churn thing.
The Math Reason
Our entry-tier retainer is $197/mo (Foundation) and our most popular tier is $497/mo (Lead Recovery). Most owners I talk to are at Lead Recovery — that’s where the missed-call math actually works.
If you’re doing $15k/month in revenue:
- Lead Recovery’s $497/mo is 3.3% of monthly revenue
- Plus $2,500 setup is roughly 17% of one month of revenue
- Plus the time cost of onboarding (your time, not ours)
That’s a heavy number for a shop that’s still figuring out cash flow. The risk isn’t that you can’t afford it on paper — it’s that month 3 hits, you have a slow week, and you start resenting the $497 line item even if it’s recovering more than that in jobs. Resentment kills retention, and retention is the only number that matters in this business.
If you’re doing $25k+/month, that same $497/mo is 2% of revenue. That’s a different psychological number. It feels like a tool. Below $20k, it starts feeling like a tax.
The Churn Reason
I track every cancellation. The pattern is consistent: shops below the $20k/mo threshold churn at roughly 2-3× the rate of shops above it. Not because the system stops working — the missed-call recovery math is the same regardless of revenue band — but because:
- Smaller shops have more variable cash flow month to month
- The owner is doing 100% of the operational work and has zero buffer to evaluate ROI clearly
- Any unexpected cost (truck repair, missed payroll week, slow February) becomes a “what can I cancel?” question, and a $497/mo line item is the easiest target
- The recovered revenue from the system is invisible (you never see the customers you would have lost) while the $497/mo line item is visible every month
Net result: smaller shops cancel even when the system is making them money. We could fight this with longer contracts and cancellation friction — most agencies do. We don’t, because trapping unhappy customers makes me genuinely uncomfortable and also makes our reputation worse than the lost MRR is worth.
So the policy: don’t onboard them in the first place. Tell them what to do for free, send them the resources, ask them to come back when revenue is up.
What I Actually Tell Owners Below $20k/mo
If you’re under the threshold and you booked a call, here’s the conversation I have. It’s the same advice I’d give a friend.
1. Optimize your Google Business Profile (free, 2 hours)
This is the single highest-ROI thing you can do, and it costs $0. Most plumbers under $20k/mo have a GBP that’s half-filled-out, with under 20 reviews, posting nothing weekly. Fix that:
- Fill every section completely. Services, hours, service area, description with your keywords, photos.
- Post weekly — a photo of a completed job, a seasonal tip, a service reminder. Google ranks active profiles higher than dormant ones.
- Get reviews systematically. After every job, text the customer a direct link to your review page. Not email, text. The conversion rate is dramatically higher.
A plumber with 100 reviews and an active profile in a mid-sized market will outrank a competitor with a better website and worse profile, every single time. Full breakdown: How to get more plumbing leads.
2. Build a basic missed-call text-back yourself (one Saturday)
You don’t need us for this. The DIY version costs about $20/month and takes a Saturday afternoon to wire up:
- Buy a Twilio business number (~$1/month)
- Wire it to a Zapier or Make automation that fires on missed calls
- Write a one-line text in your name explaining the missed call
- Notify your phone when replies come in
Full how-to: What is a missed call text-back system?. This alone will recover roughly $2,800-$4,200/month if you currently miss 6-8 calls a week — see How plumbers lose 6-8 calls a week for the math.
If you’re under $20k/mo, that single recovered-revenue line is the fastest way to get over $20k/mo.
3. Don’t pay for ads yet
Google Local Services Ads and standard Google Ads work, but they’re an amplifier — they amplify whatever your conversion is. If your GBP is weak and your website is broken, paid ads pour money into a leaky bucket. Fix the bucket first.
I’d rather see a sub-$20k shop spend $0 on ads and 4 hours fixing their GBP than spend $1,500/mo on ads and never fix the foundation.
4. Get your average ticket up
This is the lever most owners ignore. Every time you bid a job, the difference between $250 and $400 is the difference between “this $497/mo retainer feels like a tax” and “this is obviously paying for itself.” Bigger tickets fix everything.
Easiest moves: stop quoting flat rates that compete with handymen, present financing on bigger jobs (water heater replacements, repipes), don’t apologize for after-hours pricing.
5. Come back when you hit $20k/mo
When monthly revenue is consistent at $20k+ for two months in a row, book another call. The math will work then. The retention will work then. We’ll be glad to hear from you.
Why I Wrote This Publicly
Three reasons.
One: It saves discovery-call time. If you’re under $20k/mo and you find this post first, you self-qualify out and we both save 15 minutes.
Two: Most agencies in this space do the opposite — they sell to anyone with a credit card, churn them in 4 months, and rebuild the funnel from scratch. That model works at scale but it leaves a wake of pissed-off owners who tell every other plumber in their network “those agency guys ripped me off.” I’d rather build a slower, less-churn-y customer base than scale a churn machine.
Three: It makes the brand stronger. Saying no to bad-fit customers is a trust signal in a category full of agencies that will sell anyone anything.
What If You’re Right At the Threshold?
If you’re at $18k-$20k/mo and growing, the conversation is different. We’ll talk about whether the right move is Foundation ($197/mo, lower risk) versus jumping straight to Lead Recovery ($497/mo) and using the recovered-call revenue to push you over the threshold faster.
That’s a real conversation, and worth having. If that’s you, book the audit call and let’s run the numbers.
What If You’re Way Above $20k/mo?
Then the question isn’t “should I work with Titan” — it’s which tier. Walk through the Foundation vs Lead Recovery vs Always Open breakdown, run your numbers in the missed-call calculator, and book the audit. The math gets easier the higher up you go.
The One-Line Version
If you’re a plumbing owner under $20k/mo, the highest-ROI thing you can do this month isn’t hire us. It’s fix your Google Business Profile, build a $20/mo DIY missed-call system, and get your average ticket up. Then come back. We’ll be here.
Titan Pipelines builds growth systems for 1-3 truck plumbing shops doing $20k+/mo. See pricing, the Rivera Plumbing case study, or book a free 15-min audit if you’re at or above the threshold.
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