UK Plumber Statistics 2026: AI Visibility, Verification and Marketing Data

Updated 10 October 2026. Compiled from Whito’s own published studies, each figure dated and linked to the study it came from. Refreshed with each quarterly edition of the Whito AI Visibility Index.

This page folds every plumber figure from across Whito’s published studies into one place. No figure below is restated from another statistics site. Every one comes from a Whito study, with the collection date and the source study beside it. Where a study’s figure rests on published third-party pricing, the entry says so.

Two AI engines named 75 different plumbers across 12 UK cities and not one of their 24 answers linked the Gas Safe Register. Of 179 plumbing firms’ websites read on one day in October 2026, 117 published no emergency call-out price at all. Google’s AI named an independent local firm in all 13 towns it was asked about, and no national chain. The rest of this page puts a source and a date on those figures and on every other plumber number Whito holds.

The key figures

Sources: Whito original studies collected June to October 2026, and Whito’s May to July 2026 cost and marketing data reports. Each figure is sourced individually below.

What AI recommends when someone asks for a plumber

1. ChatGPT and Gemini named 75 different plumbers across 12 UK cities from one identical prompt. 24 answers produced 86 mentions, and the two engines agreed on only 11 names.
Source: Whito’s plumber register study. Base: 24 answers, 2 engines x 12 cities, collected 26 September 2026.

2. Google’s AI named an independent local firm in all 13 towns tested, and no national chain at all. Every named firm with a public profile was rated between 4.8 and 5.0, an average of 4.95 stars.
Source: Whito’s Google AI plumber study. Base: 13 towns, Google AI Mode, collected June 2026.

3. Asked for the best plumber in Leeds, Manchester and Bristol, three engines never named the same firm: eight different firms across the nine answers. One engine declined to name a Leeds plumber at all, and for Bristol one engine led with a firm rated 3.7 while the others named firms rated 4.9.
Source: Whito’s engine disagreement study. Base: 3 engines x 3 cities, collected 30 June 2026.

4. Google AI Mode named 4.5 plumbers per answer on average across 20 towns, and a directory or review platform sat behind the recommendation in 19 of the 20.
Source: The Whito AI Visibility Index, Q3 2026. Base: 20 Google AI Mode answers for plumbers, collected 22 August 2026.

Verification: the register behind the recommendation

5. Only 34 of the 75 AI-named plumbers, 45%, could be matched to an active company registered in or near the city. Four names matched only dissolved companies, two more had strike-off proposed, and the first business named matched an active local company in just 11 of 24 answers.
Source: Whito’s plumber register study, Companies House pass, 26 September 2026. The sole-trader caveat is stated in the study: an unmatched name is not proof of a problem.

6. None of the 24 answers linked the Gas Safe Register. 13 answers mentioned Gas Safe, and of the 75 firms named, 47 advertise gas or boiler work but only 13 of those print a Gas Safe registration number on their site.
Source: the same study, collected 26 September 2026.

7. Asked for a gas engineer in the same 12 cities, three engines said 20 times that a named firm was Gas Safe registered, and gave a registration number with that claim twice. 36 answers named 140 firms. Where a number could be found and checked, the register agreed: 5 of 5 were registered.
Source: Whito’s gas engineer register study. Base: 36 answers, 3 engines x 12 cities, collected 3 October 2026.

What a plumber publishes about price

8. 117 of 179 plumbing firm websites, 65%, published no emergency call-out price at all. Only 24 published a figure in pounds, from £50 to £190.
Source: Whito’s emergency call-out price study. Base: 179 firm websites across 8 towns, read 2 October 2026.

9. “No call-out charge” was the commonest published price. 38 of the 62 firms that published anything said it, and 37 of those 38 gave no labour rate alongside it. 50 of the 62 did not say whether VAT was included.
Source: the same study, read 2 October 2026.

10. The highest published figure, £190 plus VAT in Manchester, covers the first 90 minutes. Bristol was the most transparent town checked, with 13 of its 22 firms publishing something.
Source: the same study, read 2 October 2026.

What plumber marketing costs

11. Whito’s costing puts a sole trader plumber’s marketing at £200 to £500 a month. Google Ads clicks run £4 to £9 for “plumber near me” and £8 to £25 for emergency terms.
Source: Whito’s plumber marketing cost report, May 2026, from published UK platform and keyword pricing.

12. Shared plumbing leads cost roughly £2 to £40 each on UK platforms. Small repair leads run £5 to £15 and boiler installation leads £20 to £40.
Source: Whito’s plumbing lead cost comparison, July 2026, from published UK platform pricing.

13. A UK plumber charges £45 to £75 an hour outside London, and £65 to £105 in London and the South East.
Source: Whito’s plumber marketing data report, early 2026, from published trade rate guides.

Demand, reviews and websites

14. “Plumber near me” generates 90,000 to 120,000 monthly UK searches, and emergency search terms rise 40 to 60 per cent between October and February.
Source: Whito’s plumber marketing data report, Google Keyword Planner ranges, early 2026.

15. The 75 AI-named plumbers carried a median rating of 4.9 stars. The lowest rating among them was 4.4.
Source: Whito’s plumber register study, collected 26 September 2026.

16. 13 of 149 working plumber homepages, 9%, turned away an automated reader that opened normally for a person. That was the lowest refusal rate of the five trades checked.
Source: Whito’s AI browser readiness study. Base: 155 plumber homepages sampled, 149 working, read 8 October 2026.

Every Whito study behind this page

• AI named the plumber, neither engine pointed to the Gas Safe Register. 75 plumbers, the Companies House split and the 0-of-24 register link count. September 2026.
• Emergency plumber call-out prices. What 179 UK firms actually publish, across eight towns. October 2026.
• We asked Google’s AI to recommend a plumber in 13 UK towns. Independent firms every time, zero chains. June 2026.
• The gas engineer sister study. 140 firms named, 20 registered claims, a number given twice. October 2026.
• AI engines disagree on the best tradesperson. Zero agreement on every plumber question. June 2026.
• The Whito AI Visibility Index, Q3 2026. Plumbers’ 4.5 names per answer and the 19-of-20 directory dependence. August 2026.
• AI browser readiness. 155 plumber homepages read by an automated reader. October 2026.
• UK trades marketing statistics. The cross-trade picture. August 2026.
• What plumbing leads really cost and what plumber marketing costs. Published platform and keyword pricing compared. May to July 2026.
• Plumber marketing data. Search volumes, rates and job values. May 2026.

Marketing guidance for the trade itself lives at Whito for plumbers.

Method and known limits

This page is a compilation, not a new collection. Every figure was published in a Whito study first, and each entry above names its study, its base and its collection date. The studies use different samples collected on different dates, so figures are not directly comparable across entries: the September register study used 12 cities and two engines, the October price study used eight towns, and the June Google AI study used 13 towns and one engine. Where a figure comes from published third-party pricing inside a Whito report, the entry says so. Nothing here has been restated from another statistics site.

This page is refreshed when a new edition of the AI Visibility Index is published, quarterly. The next index edition is due December 2026. Corrections are noted on the page with a date, never quietly edited.

How to cite this page

Common questions

How many plumbers do AI engines recommend in the UK?

In Whito’s September 2026 study, ChatGPT and Gemini named 75 different plumbers across 12 UK cities from one identical prompt, agreeing on only 11 names. In a June 2026 test, Google’s AI named an independent local firm in all 13 towns it was asked about.

Can you trust an AI-recommended plumber?

Check before you hire. Only 45% of AI-named plumbers matched an active registered company in or near the city, and none of the 24 answers linked the Gas Safe Register. For gas work, check the firm on the Gas Safe Register yourself. Many honest sole traders are not registered as companies, so an unmatched name is a prompt to check, not a verdict.

How much does an emergency plumber call-out cost in the UK?

Most firms will not say: 117 of the 179 plumbing websites Whito read in October 2026 published no price at all. The 24 published figures ran from £50 to £190. “No call-out charge” is the commonest published price, and it means £0 to turn up; the work itself is still charged.

How much does plumber marketing cost in the UK?

Whito’s costing puts a sole trader’s marketing at £200 to £500 a month. Google Ads clicks cost £4 to £9 for “plumber near me” and £8 to £25 for emergency terms, and shared leads cost roughly £2 to £40 each on UK platforms.