How we list plumbers

The rules every listing follows – who is listed, on which city page, and what a paid placement can and cannot change.

Who gets listed

A business is listed when its own website shows that it does plumbing work – for homes, businesses or both – and shows a real local business: a phone number and a base location (a street address, or the town it says it is based in). Franchise locations are listed when the location has its own local page, phone number and address. Directories and review sites can help us find names, but they never count as proof.

We leave out lead-generation and referral networks, call centers that pose as local plumbers (keyword names, no address, the same site repeated for many cities), heating-and-cooling or electrical companies that do not offer plumbing, businesses without their own website, and any site we cannot confirm.

Which city page a business appears on

A business appears on a city page when its base is within about 25 miles (straight line) of that city, and its own website names that city or nearby towns it serves. Plumbing is often urgent, so we list businesses close enough to come quickly. A business close to two cities can appear on both. A business appears on at most two city pages.

In smaller metro areas – those with fewer than a million people – the distance is about 35 miles, because plumbers there routinely cover a wider area. The business’s own website must still name that city or nearby towns, and the city page says which distance applies.

Businesses outside the metro areas we cover city by city may be listed on their state page, under “Elsewhere in” that state.

How we check

Every record is read from the business’s own website. Details that cannot be confirmed are left blank rather than guessed. A sample of listings in every city was checked a second time by a reviewer trying to prove it wrong. Each listing shows the month it was last checked; we re-check every listing at least every six months, and a business whose website is down on two checks in a row is removed.

What a listing shows

The base location, the towns the business names on its site, the services it lists, whether it says it offers 24/7 emergency service, any license number it prints on its own site, its published phone number and a link to its website. We do not publish ratings, reviews, rankings or “best” lists, and we do not yet check licenses on state lookups – each state page links to the official lookup so you can.

Order and paid placements

Free listings are shown alphabetically, and that order is never for sale. Businesses can pay for an Enhanced profile or the one City Spotlight on a city page; both are labeled. Paid placements are offered only on city pages where the business passes the rules above. Paying never adds a city, never changes the A to Z order and never changes what we say about a business.

Requests

When someone sends a request through the site, we pass it to listed plumbers who serve their area. Where a city has a Spotlight, requests from that city page for areas the Spotlight plumber serves go to it. We do not sell anyone’s details to anyone else.

Our decision

Whether a business is listed, and on which pages, is our decision alone, made under these rules. Being named on a business’s website, or asking to be listed, does not guarantee a listing.

Corrections and removals

Any business can ask us to correct or remove its listing through the form on the plumber page. Removal requests are honoured without questions.