Last Updated on October 12, 2026
Pimlico Plumbers and Hometree score highest of the five UK plumbing and heating brands compared, tied at 6.3 out of 10 on the Whito leaderboard.
Opinion and analysis. Whito read every brand below by hand on 12 October 2026, using publicly visible activity only. Each channel is scored 0 to 10 against fixed anchors, set out under How we scored, so a score describes what we could see on the day, not the quality of the service. Brands cannot pay to appear or to change a score. Where a figure is not published, we say so.
Most plumbing firms think the job is won on the phone. On this board, the brands that score well have done the work before the phone rings: a price a customer can read, a reply under each review, and a name that can be checked.
Pimlico Plumbers and Hometree tie at 6.3. Pimlico publishes a full rate card, effective 15 January 2026, and replies to 19 of its latest 20 Trustpilot reviews. Hometree sells cover online and holds 4.7 from 18,393 reviews. Search is the weak channel for all five: no brand appeared in more than 1 of 10 UK searches.
Metro Plumb scores lowest at 4.1. It runs ads and links five social platforms, but its homepage captures no email, shows no prices and sits at 3.9 from 647 Trustpilot reviews, with no replies in the latest 20.
The leaderboard
| Rank | Brand | Social | Website | SEO | Paid | Reviews | Brand | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Pimlico Plumbers | 6 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6.3 |
| =1 | Hometree | 6 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 6.3 |
| 3 | 24|7 Home Rescue | 6 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 6.1 |
| 4 | Aspect | 6 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 5.7 |
| 5 | Metro Plumb | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 4.1 |
Average is the simple mean of the seven channel scores, rounded to one decimal place. Read 12 October 2026.
Company verdicts
Pimlico Plumbers, 6.3
Pimlico Plumbers scores 6.3, tied for the top of the board. Its website scores 7: a page per trade, an online booking request and a full rate card effective 15 January 2026, with plumbing at £130 an hour by day. Those rates are shown excluding VAT, and no registration numbers sit beside the accreditation logos. Reviews score 8, with 4.4 from 12,402 on Trustpilot and replies to 19 of the latest 20. Paid scores 8, with about 600 Google ads in 30 days. Brand scores 6 because the site names staff and tells a dated story: one man in 1979, 210 engineers by 2021, part of Neighbourly since 2021. The clear gap is search: pimlicoplumbers.com appeared in 1 of 10 UK searches.
Hometree, 6.3
Hometree also scores 6.3. Its website scores 9: product pages for boiler, plumbing and drains and landlord cover, online checkout, and FCA reference numbers in the footer. Reviews score 8 from a 4.7 rating on 18,393 Trustpilot reviews, held back because none of the latest 20 has a reply. Paid scores 8, with 46 Google ads and 3 Meta ads. Its newsroom describes a business in expansion, including a £250m Barclays facility and an agreement to buy OVO’s Home Services division, which includes CORGI HomePlan. Email scores 4: a customer portal and checkout, but no newsletter. The clearest gap is the headline price, ‘from £12.95’, which does not say whether it is per month or per year.
24|7 Home Rescue, 6.1
24|7 Home Rescue scores 6.1. Reviews score 9, the highest on the board, from 4.7 on 104,193 Trustpilot reviews, although only 1 of the latest 20 has a reply. Its website scores 8, with monthly ‘from’ prices on the page (boiler cover £8.99, home emergency £3.99) and an FCA reference shown. Email scores 6, also the highest here, because a customer app and portal keep policyholders in contact. It links all six major social platforms, and paid scores 8 with about 200 Google ads. Search holds it back: 247homerescue.co.uk did not appear in any of 10 UK searches. The homepage is also boiler-led and does not mention plumbing or drains cover.
Aspect, 5.7
Aspect scores 5.7. Its website scores 8: a page per trade, an online booking portal, a postcode availability check and £10 off jobs booked online. Prices appear only after a visitor enters a postcode and a service, so no figures sit on a page anyone can read in advance. Reviews score 8 from the largest volume on the board, 21,676 Trustpilot reviews at 4.0, with replies to 13 of the latest 20. Paid scores 6: about 900 Google ads, but no Meta ads found. Email scores 3, with a customer login but no newsletter. Brand scores 4 because no named people appear on the site, only generic support managers. That missing human face is its clearest gap.
Metro Plumb, 4.1
Metro Plumb scores 4.1, the lowest of the five. Paid is its strongest channel at 8, with 47 Google ads and 7 Meta ads, and it links five social platforms. Its website scores 6: six service categories, an online booking form and a postcode finder, but no prices despite promising ‘fixed local prices’. The homepage is inconsistent on size, describing ‘over 30 regional plumbing centres’ in one place and ‘over 40 depots’ in another. Reviews score 3, from 3.9 on 647 Trustpilot reviews with no replies in the latest 20. Email scores 0. Metro Plumb launched in February 2016 as a sister brand to Metro Rod, which Franchise Brands plc bought in March 2017. Reviews are its clearest gap.
What the channels show
Prices split the board
The four brands that score 7 or more on website all show some price. Hometree (9) has an online checkout, 24|7 Home Rescue (8) lists monthly prices, Aspect (8) shows prices after a postcode, and Pimlico Plumbers (7) publishes a full hourly rate card. Metro Plumb (6) promises fixed local prices but shows none. A price on the page is the single clearest step between a brochure site and a site that sells.
Replies matter more than volume
All five have hundreds or thousands of Trustpilot reviews, so volume is not the difference. Replies are. Pimlico Plumbers answers 19 of its latest 20 and Aspect 13, while Hometree and Metro Plumb answer none and 24|7 Home Rescue answers 1. A reply costs nothing and is visible to every future customer reading the page. It also shows how a firm handles a complaint, which matters more to a worried householder than one more five-star review.
Search is wide open
Across 10 UK searches, including town searches such as ‘plumber Bristol’ and ‘plumber Leeds’, no brand appeared more than once. Pimlico Plumbers, Hometree and Aspect each appeared in 1 of 10. 24|7 Home Rescue and Metro Plumb appeared in none. The national names are not holding local search, which leaves room for local firms. Each of the ten searches is a place where a well-built local page competes with far smaller rivals than these brands.
Paid ads carry the big names
Four of five score 8 on paid. Aspect ran about 900 Google ads in 30 days and Pimlico Plumbers about 600, while Hometree (46) and Metro Plumb (47) ran far fewer Google ads but also ran Meta ads. Paid fills the gap left by weak search, but it is a cost that stops the day spending stops. A local firm cannot match that spend, so the cheaper channels, reviews and local pages, matter more.
Key lessons for any plumbing or heating business
Publish your rates with VAT included
Pimlico Plumbers shows a full day, evening and overnight rate card, which few rivals do. It shows the rates excluding VAT, so £130 an hour becomes £156 for a householder. Publish your call-out and hourly rates with VAT included and the customer sees the real number before they ring.
Print your registration number
Pimlico Plumbers, Aspect and Metro Plumb all show accreditation logos with no registration numbers. A Gas Safe number beside the logo lets a customer check you in seconds. It is free, and none of these three national firms does it on the pages we read.
Answer every review
Pimlico Plumbers replies to 19 of its latest 20 Trustpilot reviews and scores 8 on reviews. Metro Plumb replies to none and scores 3. Set a weekly slot to answer every review in your own words, good and bad, and thank people by name where they give it.
Put real names on your site
Only Pimlico Plumbers passes the named-people check, with a founder story and named staff. Every other brand relies on generic claims about engineers. A photo and a name for you and your team is something a large firm finds hard to match.
Go after town searches
No brand appeared in more than 1 of 10 UK searches, including town searches. A clear page for each town you actually cover, with your prices and real jobs, competes in a space the national names are not holding. Start with the town that brings you the most work.
Steal this playbook
Five moves from this leaderboard, ranked by return on effort.
- Add your Gas Safe number beside every logo. None of the three national call-out firms on this board shows one, so it is an easy trust signal to win.
- Reply to every review this week. Pimlico Plumbers answers 19 of its latest 20 and scores 8 on reviews, while Metro Plumb answers none and scores 3.
- Publish a rate card with VAT included. The brands with prices on the page score 7 to 9 on website; Metro Plumb, with none, scores 6.
- Build one page for each town you cover. No national brand appeared in more than 1 of 10 UK searches, so local pages face little big-brand competition.
- Add an email sign-up with a reason to join. Metro Plumb captures no email at all, while 24|7 Home Rescue’s app and portal earn the top email score of 6.
The evidence behind the scores
One line per channel, as read on 12 October 2026. Review figures change daily; these are the numbers on the day we looked.
Pimlico Plumbers
- Social 6: Links to Facebook, X and Instagram from its homepage, three platforms in all.
- Website 7: A page per trade, an online booking request form and a full hourly rate card at pimlicoplumbers.com/rates (plumbing £130/hr by day, ex VAT); accreditation logos without registration numbers.
- Email 4: A mailing list sign-up for news and offers on the homepage; no customer account, app or loyalty scheme seen.
- SEO 5: 1 of 10 UK web searches returned pimlicoplumbers.com in the top ten, plus credit for an advice and guides library.
- Paid 8: Google Ads Transparency Centre, UK, last 30 days, by domain pimlicoplumbers.com: about 600 ads. Meta Ad Library, UK, active ads naming the brand: 2.
- Reviews 8: Trustpilot 4.4 from 12,402 reviews, with a company reply on 19 of the latest 20.
- Brand 6: Same name everywhere, a clear positioning line (‘London’s No.1 – improving and maintaining properties for over 45 years’) and named staff with a founder story; no long-running asset or three recent news mentions found.
Hometree
- Social 6: Links to Instagram, LinkedIn, X and Facebook, four platforms in all.
- Website 9: Product pages for boiler, plumbing and drains and landlord cover, online checkout, a ‘from £12.95’ price headline with no unit stated, and FCA numbers in the footer.
- Email 4: A customer portal login and online checkout collect email; no newsletter or referral scheme seen.
- SEO 5: 1 of 10 UK web searches returned hometree.co.uk in the top ten, plus credit for an advice and guides library.
- Paid 8: Google Ads Transparency Centre, UK, last 30 days, by domain hometree.co.uk: 46 ads. Meta Ad Library, UK, active ads naming the brand: 3.
- Reviews 8: Trustpilot 4.7 from 18,393 reviews, with no company reply on the latest 20.
- Brand 4: Same name everywhere and a clear positioning line (‘Helping keep your home working all year round’); no long-running asset, named people or three recent news mentions found.
24|7 Home Rescue
- Social 6: Links to all six major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn.
- Website 8: Product pages with monthly ‘from’ prices (boiler cover £8.99, home emergency £3.99), an FCA reference, quote links and a claims portal.
- Email 6: A customer portal, the 24|7 Home Rescue app for claims and accounts, and an affiliate programme; no newsletter seen.
- SEO 2: 0 of 10 UK web searches returned 247homerescue.co.uk in the top ten.
- Paid 8: Google Ads Transparency Centre, UK, last 30 days, by domain 247homerescue.co.uk: about 200 ads. Meta Ad Library, UK, active ads naming the brand: 2.
- Reviews 9: Trustpilot 4.7 from 104,193 reviews, with a company reply on 1 of the latest 20.
- Brand 4: Same name across all six social handles and a clear positioning line (‘We Help, We Repair, We Care!’); no long-running asset, named team or three recent news mentions found.
Aspect
- Social 6: Links to Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, three platforms; the site has a video posts section but no YouTube link.
- Website 8: A page per trade, an online booking portal, a postcode availability check and prices shown via a postcode tool, with £10 off online bookings; no registration numbers.
- Email 3: A customer login portal and a credit account application; no newsletter sign-up seen.
- SEO 5: 1 of 10 UK web searches returned aspect.co.uk in the top ten, plus credit for an advice and guides library.
- Paid 6: Google Ads Transparency Centre, UK, last 30 days, by domain aspect.co.uk: about 900 ads. Meta Ad Library, UK, active ads naming the brand: none found.
- Reviews 8: Trustpilot 4.0 from 21,676 reviews, with a company reply on 13 of the latest 20.
- Brand 4: Same name everywhere and a clear positioning line (’24-hour property maintenance experts, covering London and the South East’); no long-running asset, named people or three recent news mentions found.
Metro Plumb
- Social 6: Links to Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and YouTube, five platforms; the YouTube link is the same channel Metro Rod uses.
- Website 6: Six service categories with individual pages, an online ‘Book your local plumber’ form and a postcode finder; no prices and logos without numbers.
- Email 0: No email capture found on the homepage: no newsletter, account, app or offers sign-up.
- SEO 2: 0 of 10 UK web searches returned metroplumb.co.uk in the top ten.
- Paid 8: Google Ads Transparency Centre, UK, last 30 days, by domain metroplumb.co.uk: 47 ads. Meta Ad Library, UK, active ads naming the brand: 7.
- Reviews 3: Trustpilot 3.9 from 647 reviews, with no company reply on the latest 20.
- Brand 4: Same name everywhere and a clear positioning line (‘Local plumbers. Trusted nationwide.’); no long-running asset, named team or three recent news mentions found.
How we scored
Who is on the board. Five UK brands with national or multi-region reach that a household customer needing a plumber or heating repair is likely to meet, spanning different models: Pimlico Plumbers (long-established London multi-trade firm with employed engineers, part of Neighbourly since 2021), Aspect (London and South East multi-trade maintenance firm with online booking), Metro Plumb (national franchise network, sister to Metro Rod under Franchise Brands plc), Hometree (online-first heating and home cover provider, plumbing and drains cover included) and 24|7 Home Rescue (online-first boiler and home emergency cover with its own repair service). Chosen for relevance and size, not marketing strength. HomeServe, Dyno-Rod and Checkatrade are left out because they already appear on another of our boards, and My Plumber is left out because its footer says it is part of Fantastic Services, which also appears elsewhere. Brands were chosen for relevance and size, not for marketing strength.
- Social: which platforms the brand links to from its own site, and whether we could see recent posting and video.
- Website: 2 for a brochure page, 4 with a contact route on mobile, 6 with a page per service and a one-step enquiry, 8 with prices or ranges and registration numbers shown, 10 with online booking or an instant priced quote.
- Email: visible capture only, as we did not subscribe test inboxes for this edition. 2 for a bare newsletter form, up to 10 for a loyalty or app ecosystem with personal offers.
- SEO: ten UK searches for this trade, run through a standard web search API on 12 October 2026 (not personalised, no location set beyond the town in the query); we counted how many returned the brand’s own site in the top ten results. 0 of 10 scores 2, 1 to 2 scores 4, 3 to 4 scores 6, 5 to 6 scores 8, 7 or more scores 10, plus 1 for a substantial advice library. The searches: emergency plumber London; emergency plumber Manchester; plumber Bristol; plumber near me; boiler repair cost UK; leak detection plumber; plumber Birmingham; plumber Leeds; plumber Glasgow; plumbing and drains cover.
- Paid: the Google Ads Transparency Centre (UK, last 30 days, by domain) and the Meta Ad Library (UK, active ads whose text names the brand, counted by the advertiser page). 2 for nothing found in either, 4 for active in one with fewer than 10 ads, 6 for active in both or 10+ in one, 8 for active in both with 10+ in at least one, 10 for 50+ Google ads and 10+ Meta ads. Paid describes visible activity, not quality. A low paid score is not a fault.
- Reviews: a fixed formula. Rating (4.7+ scores 4, 4.5 to 4.69 scores 3, 4.0 to 4.49 scores 2, 3.5 to 3.99 scores 1) plus volume (10,000+ scores 4, 1,000+ scores 3, 100+ scores 2, 20+ scores 1) plus replies to the latest 20 reviews (half or more scores 2, some scores 1).
- Brand: five checks worth 2 each: the same name and logo everywhere, one clear positioning line, a distinctive asset used for years, three or more independent press mentions in 90 days, and named people or expertise on the site.
These anchors are fixed for this edition, so the five scores can be read against each other. Boards published before October 2026 used scores relative to the other brands on the board, so compare across boards with care.
Common questions
Which plumbing and heating brand scores highest on the Whito leaderboard?
Pimlico Plumbers and Hometree tie at 6.3 out of 10. Pimlico earns its score with a published rate card, replies to 19 of its latest 20 Trustpilot reviews and named staff. Hometree earns its score with an online checkout and 4.7 from 18,393 Trustpilot reviews. Both appeared in only 1 of 10 UK searches.
Which plumbing brand scores lowest, and why?
Metro Plumb scores 4.1. It runs Google and Meta ads and links five social platforms, but its homepage has no email capture and no prices, and it did not appear in any of 10 UK searches. Its Trustpilot rating is 3.9 from 647 reviews, with no replies on the latest 20.
How do these plumbing brands compare on reviews?
Volume is high across the board, from 647 reviews for Metro Plumb to 104,193 for 24|7 Home Rescue. The difference is replies. Pimlico Plumbers answers 19 of its latest 20 Trustpilot reviews and Aspect 13, while Hometree and Metro Plumb answer none. Ratings run from 3.9 to 4.7.
What can a local plumbing firm copy from these brands?
Publish your rates with VAT included, as Pimlico Plumbers does with its rate card but excluding VAT. Print your Gas Safe number beside the logo. Reply to every review. Put real names on your site. Build a page for each town you cover, because no national brand appeared in more than 1 of 10 UK searches.
Should a plumbing firm publish its prices online?
On this board, the brands that show prices score higher on website. Hometree scores 9 with an online checkout, 24|7 Home Rescue 8 with monthly prices and Pimlico Plumbers 7 with a full rate card. Metro Plumb, which promises fixed local prices but shows none, scores 6. Show prices including VAT so the figure is the one a householder pays.
Corrections and right of reply
If your business is scored here and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk. We check it against the source, correct it within five working days if we are wrong, and publish your statement alongside if you want us to. Scores are never changed for payment or because a business has claimed a Whito listing. Full route: corrections, right of reply and removals.
Related: all UK marketing leaderboards · Plumbers on Whito
If your business is named here and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk and we will check it and correct it. If you want to respond, send us a statement and we will publish it alongside. Full detail: Corrections, right of reply and removals.
