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Please Advise. Website for Plumbing contractor.

by LuisEAvila
12 replies
Hello guys,

This might be a bit off topic for internet marketing but was looking for some help.

A good friend of mine owns a local commercial plumbing company. So he doesn't do anything residential, he just places bids against other commercial plumbing companies in the area.

I asked him if he'd be interested in getting a website done for his company but he said he just never really needed it because he doesn't do marketing due to the fact that his jobs come from bids. So if he places the lowest bids he usually gets the job.

Can any of you guys advise on this? Do companies like this don't need websites? I mean, of course it can represent his company more professionally but these companies get the job based on bids not really marketing efforts.
#advise #contractor #plumbing #website
  • Profile picture of the author Absolute Logo
    Personally I think he should get a website. Anyone that doesn't know something immediately hops on to Google and looks it up. If one wants to learn more about his business how do they go about doing that? I think a website would only be beneficial.
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  • Profile picture of the author prostarprofitsdotcom
    Yes they do but not a post card website you need a squeeze page and he need to sell something other than price.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rhinovette
    Even though he is winning jobs by submitting bids, I would expect that it may not always be the lowest bid that gets the job. With this in mind, Absolute Logo has a point with everyone turning to big G. You could also use this as a selling point with your friend as it could re enforce their strengths to potential contracts.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    He might not need the site to make sales but there are plenty of other things a site can accomplish. He can create an online brochure that details everything he does. That way when he bids a contract the potential buyer can easily go online to check him out.

    And even if he's just bidding commercial contracts he could pick up additional work if he were to offer a PDF "info pack" on his services as an optin.

    Another thing is, these days people expect businesses to have a Website and any business that doesn't runs the risk of not being taken seriously. Considering the low cost of putting a simple informational site together it's kinda silly not to have one.
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    • Profile picture of the author businessmatt
      I am in a similar line of work (Electrical) and while your friend doesn't really NEED a website, and will get along just fine without it, he could benefit from one. It's pretty rare in my experience for someone going over bids to look at a website, that's just not how the industry tends to work. Where it can benefit though is as a place to showcase past work, and a place to list basic information about the company (mainly potential employees).

      Here is a link to a company in my area to give you an idea of what type of website would be beneficial to a contractor.

      Muth Electrical Management Inc. : Electrical Contractor in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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      • Profile picture of the author dsouravs
        Well think about thousands of individual freelancers who do web design or php job...They bid in odesk, freelancer, elance and gets jobs...Majority of them dont own websites...I mean paid domains with professional web design service design....
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  • Profile picture of the author StevenWatanabe
    I'd recommend a google places listing. Build up the citation sites and reviews of his previous work and then list his business on places. It can get him on page one faster with targeted(local) leads. Do this on top of the website of course
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  • Profile picture of the author Rometally
    Website makes the professionally in their field, It will be help in the work as well as your contact with the big project so that's why you should make this effort for your future.
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  • Profile picture of the author roofex
    We Bid for roofing work but only 20% of our contracts come from this, we mainly rely on our website for Leeds organically through Google
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    http://www.roof-repairs-uk.co.uk
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  • Profile picture of the author David Micheal
    He can make more money if he can market its service. You can give him free ebook about benefit having website to make more money for encouraging him to make website.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    He might be losing business because he doesn't have a website. There is really no way to know that or test it. But the website would likely be a rather simple one. In fact, since he is a COMMERCIAL plumber on bids, it would be VERY simple! I mean he probably shouldn't put replacement work prices, and the bids and potential retail problems would probably mean he couldn't put prices down. MOST work he does will be like parts and labor.

    You would think he would LIKE residential business, since it is easier, more predictable in some cases, and the markup is better. HECK, in some cases, he could hire people off the street at minimum wage!

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author miklanderson2
    In a previous life I worked for a contractor that took out bids on various aspects of the work we did. Whenever we got bids from a company we weren't familiar with, the first thing we did was look up their website to try to get a feel for what the company was all about. Not having a website at all wouldn't completely eliminate a company from the running, but it was a big negative check mark right off the bat. In this day and age, there's no good reason not to have a website.
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