SaaS for plumbers

After last week’s exercise, let’s practice what I preached with an idea as far from our bubble as possible: a SaaS made only for plumbers. I really believe niching down is the best idea these days 😄

So not for “craftsmen” or “construction companies”, just plumbers. The market is already SUPER huge. Most tools they can buy today are either generic invoicing apps or huge construction suites built for companies with an office and a secretary, while the typical plumber works alone from his van, gets called for an emergency leak at 7am and writes his quotes at 10pm on the kitchen table lol

What it could do:

Never miss a call again: when he’s under a sink, an AI answers, understands if it’s an emergency and books the slot directly in his calendar Plan the day around the van’s route, and warn the next client automatically when he’s running late Turn a photo or a voice note into a proper quote, using his own rates and his supplier’s prices Help them earn more on every job: quotes with 3 options instead of a yes or no, tracking of which quotes get signed and why, and once you have enough users, an anonymous comparison with the prices of other plumbers in his area Handle all the recurring stuff they hate, like yearly boiler maintenance reminders and follow-ups on unsigned quotes or unpaid invoices Why I think it can work:

They will NEVER build it themselves, and most of them don’t like their current tools. I actually talked about this with my electrician a few months ago lol Once a plumber has his clients, quotes and invoices in your product, he basically never leaves, so the chrurn would be super low The market is proven, there are SaaS for this since the 2000s. They're super old and haven't adapted to AI yet

How? Building the whole platform is the easy part now, AI makes that super fast, so go ahead and build all of it 😂. The hard part is getting a plumber to switch IMO, because moving all his clients, quotes and invoices to a new tool is the last thing he wants to do after a long day. So don’t pitch the platform, pitch one painful problem first (missed calls would be my choice, because every missed call is a lost job and the plumber knows it), and let him discover the rest once he’s in.

ALso, super important: sell it in person!! No need for social medias, emails etc, just go meet the plumbers around you, you'll figure out the scaling part after if needed

The catch is that it’s a slow grind, one customer at a time, so don’t try to win by being the cheapest. A plumber won’t switch tools to save $10 a month, but he will if you make him win one more job every week, so price on that value.

Bonus: once the playbook works for plumbers, it works for electricians, locksmiths or roofers too, each with its own product and its own brand ahah, a potential big company!