How to Add Water Treatment to a Plumbing Company

Nine Steps to Adding Water Treatment

Know your market's water

Hard water sells softeners. Chlorinated or chloraminated water sells filtration. Well water sells testing first. Start with your utilities' own reports. See hardness by city.

Check your state's licensing

In Texas, licensed plumbers are exempt from TCEQ's Water Treatment Specialist license. In California, look at CSLB's C-55 and C-36 classifications. See the Texas and California guides.

Pick equipment you can stand behind

Ask any manufacturer for the specific NSF/ANSI certifications behind each claim, the warranty terms, and what they require of you as a dealer.

Train the right people

Send the technician homeowners already like, not the fastest wrench in the shop. Send two if you can, so the skill survives one person leaving.

Make it part of every call

A tech who brings up water on one call in five has cut the opportunity by eighty percent before close rate ever matters. Consistency beats skill.

Test on site

A water test in the kitchen turns a utility report into this home's answer. It is the difference between a pitch and a diagnosis.

Price it and package it

Decide installed prices, service plans and financing before the first call, not in the driveway.

Plan install capacity

About 40 installs a year is close to one a week of truck and tech time. Sell more than you can install and the win turns into a scheduling problem.

Track the numbers

Offers made, tests run, systems sold, installs completed. If you are not counting offers, you cannot fix the step that is leaking.

What One Truck Can Add, With Every Input Shown

A truck running three calls a day, 260 working days a year, enters about 780 homes. These figures use HALO's $6,000 to $8,000 installed price to the homeowner, at the $7,000 midpoint, and a 35 percent gross margin.

Stage	Close rate	Systems a year, 1 truck	Revenue	Gross profit at 35%
Out of the class	5%	39	$273,000	$95,550
Inside a year	10%	78	$546,000	$191,100
A couple of years in	20%	156	$1,092,000	$382,200

These are Roger Wakefield's expectations for a technician working the process daily. They are not a projection of your results and not a guarantee. Gross profit comes before overhead and payroll. Run your own numbers in the revenue per truck calculator and the profit margin calculator, and see the $300,000 claim broken down.

The Mistakes That Kill It

Do

Send the tech homeowners trust
Offer it on every call
Test before you recommend
Back every claim with a certification
Match sales to install capacity

Don't

Send your best installer just because he is your best installer
Leave it to whoever feels like bringing it up
Sell a softener for a taste problem, or a filter for a scale problem
Say "filters contaminants" without proof
Sell faster than you can install

Where the HALO Water Tour Fits

Three consecutive days that cover the parts of this list a plumbing company cannot get from a supply house: water science, the HALO product line and which home needs which system, and selling water treatment in the home without sounding like a salesman. A certification exam closes every day.

There is no equipment purchase requirement, no territory or franchise fee, and no royalty. The seat is $5,000, with team pricing from three seats. If you want to think it through first, book a 30-minute fit call and bring your truck count.

Adding Water Treatment Questions

Is water treatment profitable for a plumbing company?

It can be, because the customer acquisition is already paid for. One truck entering about 780 homes a year at a 5 percent close rate lands 39 systems. At a $7,000 installed price that is $273,000 of revenue and $95,550 of gross profit at a 35 percent margin, before overhead and payroll. Those are Roger Wakefield's expectations for a technician working the process daily, not a projection or a guarantee.

How much does it cost to add water treatment to a plumbing business?

Training through the HALO Water Tour is $5,000 a seat, plus travel and the days off the truck, with no equipment purchase requirement, territory fee or royalty. Equipment costs depend on your supplier and what you stock.

Do I need a separate license to sell water treatment?

It depends on the state. In Texas, licensed plumbers are exempt from TCEQ's Water Treatment Specialist license. In California, CSLB's C-55 and C-36 classifications apply. Check your own state before you start.

Who in my company should get trained first?

The technician homeowners already like and trust, ideally two of them. Water treatment is sold in a conversation, so the best talker usually outperforms the fastest installer.

How do I get technicians to actually bring it up?

Make the offer part of every call and track it. Consistency matters more than skill: a tech who offers it on every call with an average close rate outsells a great closer who offers it on one call in five.